The Light That Failed

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was not yet 25 when he burst onto the literary scene in London, where his stories of Anglo-Indian life made him an instant celebrity. He won the Nobel Prize in 1907. Born in India in 1865 to an upper-class military family, he spent his early years in Britain and India and achieved his initial success as a reporter in India. In 1888 he published these short stories: "Soldiers Three," "The Story of the Gadsbys," "In Black and White," "Under the Deodars," "The Phantom Rickshaw" and "Wee Willie Winkie." "The Light that Failed" and "The City of Dreadful Night" were written by him in 1890.

He traveled widely and visited the U. S. a number of times, eventually building a house in Vermont. A restless wanderer, he ultimately settled in Sussex, only to have his world tumble into ruins with the death of his son in World War I.

Kipling is revered for his adult and children's stories and poems, but much of his life and writing is largely unknown in the United States. (Because he believed, and wrote, that Americans were ignorant provincials, his political views were not appreciated in the states.) Witty, profound, wildly funny, acerbic and occasionally savage, Rudyard Kipling's writings continue to delight readers of all ages.