Rudyard Kipling: A Man of Letters

In this short film Dr Juliette Desplat, Head of Modern Collections at The National Archives, and Janet Montefiore, Professor Emerita from the University of Kent, tell the sad story of the loss of Rudyard Kipling’s only son, John, in the First World War. Our records show how after John’s death Kipling used his celebrity and literary talent to boost public morale in supporting the war effort.

Rudyard Kipling was a great writer. He was also a divisive character, both in his own lifetime and today. He was a passionate imperialist and his reputation remains inextricably bound to his ideas about the British Empire.

Literary Lives traces the footsteps, through the marks they left in our records, of some of our nation’s famous, and less famous, authors, spotlighting moments in their lives that shaped them into the characters we recognise today.

Видео Rudyard Kipling: A Man of Letters канала The National Archives UK