Introduction

Despite Kipling's popularity as an author and his standing as a politically controversial figure, much of his work has remained relatively unexamined due to its characterization as children's literature. Sue Walsh challenges the apparently clear division between children's and adult literature, and poses important questions about how these strict categories have influenced critical work on Kipling and on literature in general.

Critical Questions

For example, why are some of Kipling's books viewed as children’s literature, and what critical assumptions does this label produce? Why is it that Kim is viewed by critics as transcending attempts at categorization?

Case Study and Re-evaluation

Using Kipling as a case study, Walsh discusses texts such as Kim, The Jungle Books, the Just-So Stories, Puck of Pook's Hill, and Rewards and Fairies, re-evaluating earlier critical approaches and offering fresh readings of these relatively neglected works.

Implications and Future Directions

In the process, she suggests new directions for postcolonial and childhood studies and interrogates the way biographical criticism on children’s literature in particular has tended to supersede and obstruct other kinds of readings.