| As the first English author who won the Nobel Prize for literature, Rudyard Kipling was ever acclaimed as one of the greatest writers of his time and enjoyed popularity at home and abroad. Today, however, he is no longer so widely read and his fame is sustained mainly by his tales for children. When it comes to his eclipse, the most important reason is the labeling of him as an imperialist writer. Based on the ideas expressed in his two major works, Orientalism and Culture and Imperialism, Edward W. Said, one of the most renowned critics, also labeled Kipling as an imperialist through the analysis of Kim, Kipling's masterpiece. However, in this novel and some of Kipling's short stories, there is strong evidence showing that the address on Kipling as an imperialist writer does him no justice.This thesis consists of four chapters.Chapter One introduces the history of the rise and fall of Kipling's literary status, and illustrates that Kipling is misunderstood to be an imperialist, based upon the definition of imperialism and the historical context of his time.Chapter Two gives an interpretation of Said's Orientalism and Culture and Imperialism and analyzes the relationship between binary typology (the inferiority of the Orient and its inhabitants, and the superiority of their counterparts the West and westerners) in Orientalism and imperialism, and the relationship between culture and imperialism. Said's criticism of Kipling as an imperialist is also referred to in this chapter.Chapter Three refutes Said's labeling of Kipling as an imperialist through a textual analysis of Kim, in which the blurring of racial distinction, the ironic and critical portrayal of western characters and non-stereotypical images of Indian characters are revealed throughout the novel.Chapter Four, based on two recurrent themes in Kipling's short stories, namely, Kipling's opposition to the imposition of Christianity, an integral part of western culture, to the Indian people, and his criticism of the white men who seek pleasures,profits and power in India, further refutes the labeling of Kipling as an imperialist.By challenging Said's view of Kipling as an imperialist, the author of this thesis hopes that the labeling of Kipling as an imperialist can clear up and that he will be given a rightful place. |
