Rudyard Kipling
Facts
Photo from the Nobel Foundation archive.
Rudyard Kipling
The Nobel Prize in Literature 1907
Born: 30 December 1865, Bombay, British India (now Mumbai, India)
Died: 18 January 1936, London, United Kingdom
Residence at the time of the award: United Kingdom
Prize motivation: “in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration which characterize the creations of this world-famous author”
Language: English
Prize share: 1/1
Life
Rudyard Kipling was born in Mumbai and lived with relatives in England between the ages of 6 and 17, when he returned to India. As a child he spoke English, Hindi and Portuguese. This is evident in his writing, which revolves around issues of language and identity. After returning to India, Kipling traveled around the country as a correspondent. Contemporary Great Britain appreciated him for his depictions of life, religions, traditions and nature in what was then the British colony of India.
Work
As a poet, short story writer, journalist and novelist, Rudyard Kipling described the British colonial empire in positive terms, which made his poetry popular in the British Army. The Jungle Book (1894) has made him known and loved by children throughout the world, especially thanks to Disney’s 1967 film adaptation. The Swedish Academy pointed out that Kipling’s special strengths were his personal portraits and descriptions of social settings that “penetrate to the essence of things” rather than just reproducing the transitory.
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