Kipling was one of the most popular writers in the United Kingdom, in both prose and verse, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is regarded as a major innovator in the art of the short story his children's books are classics of children's literature and one critic described his work as exhibiting 'a versatile and luminous narrative gift'. His poems include Mandalay (1890), Gunga Din (1890), The Gods of the Copybook Headings (1919), The White Man's Burden (1899), and If- (1910). Kipling's works of fiction include The Jungle Book (1894), Kim (1901), and many short stories, including The Man Who Would Be King (1888). Joseph Rudyard Kipling was a journalist, short-story writer, poet, and novelist. 78 on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked Kim No. The exploits that Kim has as a spy, his endearing relationship with the lama, and the craftsmanship of Kipling’s writing have made this adventurous and descriptive novel to stand as a minor classic of historical English literature. Kim eventually comes upon the army regiment that his father had belonged to and makes the acquaintance of Colonel Creighton who recognizes Kim’s great talent for blending into the many diverse cultures of India and trains him to become a spy and a mapmaker for the British army. A significant portion of the novel is devoted to such descriptions, which have been lauded both as magical and visionary, and derided as stereotypical and imperialistic. Kipling’s account of Kim’s travels throughout the subcontinent gave him the opportunity to describe the many peoples and cultures that made the fabric of Indian society at that time. When he meets a wandering Tibetan lama who is in search of a sacred river, Kim becomes his follower and proceeds on a journey covering the whole of India. Although out and out an Irish boy, he grows up as a ‘native’ and acquires the ability to seamlessly blend into the many ethnic and religious groups of the Indian subcontinent.

Kim, a boy of Irish descent who is orphaned and grows up independently in the streets of India, is taken care of by a ‘half-caste’ woman, a keeper of an opium den. The book portrays people, culture and varied religions in India. The story is set in India in the backdrop of the political conflict between Russia and Britain, after the end of second Afghan war which ended in 1881. Kim, a picaresque novel by Rudyard Kipling, was published serially in McClure’s Magazine, before being published in book form in 1901.

Kim novel by rudyard kipling