The Unforgiving Minute: A Life of Rudyard Kipling

by Harry Ricketts

352 pages, Paperback

First published January 14, 1999

About the author

Harry Ricketts studied to Oxford and taught at universities in Hong Kong and the UK before moving to New Zealand in 1981. He is a professor in the English Programme at Victoria University of Wellington and also teaches creative non-fiction in the International Institute of Modern Letters. He has published over 30 books, including biographies, personal essays and collections of poems. He has also co-edited several anthologies of New Zealand poetry and a collection of new essays about World War I.

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this an interesting overview of the life of Rudyard Kipling. I had not realised how his diminutive size caused him so much frustration as he yearned to be part of the British Cavalry in India during the time of the Raj, but physically he was too small to be accepted for such a role. However his literary abilities did bring him much success, from tales about the Raj, the military, his stories for children and was much lauded by the British public. Unfortunately he never achieved fame as a novelist, despite most people's expectations that he would one day produce a novel and that it would be exceptional. His son was killed in Europe World War One and that seemed to be a turning point leading to much despair and an inability to settle anywhere. The book contains many useful reference notes as well as an index.

[M Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've long been a fan of Rudyard Kipling's poems, novels and stories but not so much of his politics. This fair-handed and thorough biography helps to explain how the brilliant author became such a political parody of arch-conservative jingoism. His difficult childhood, early career and, above all, the loss of two of his three children left him deeply scarred.

Definitely recommended for those who've loved Kipling's work but struggled with his personal legacy or for those who've avoided Kipling the writer out of disdain for Kipling the man.