Rudyard Kipling's Kim (1901) has received wide acclaim, ranking 78 in the Modern Library’s 1998 list of the 100 best English novels of the twentieth century and winning “best-loved novel” on the BBC's The Big Read poll in 2003. Despite this praise, it now trespasses into contested topics around race and coloniality with a sensibility that long pre-dates our own, so much so that its subject matter may be considered out-of-date or even offensive. In this talk, Durham University Assistant Professor Carmody Grey discussed why Kim should not be discarded, as the novel models and represents a mode of encounter which remains uniquely textured, subtle, and sensitive beyond its time.
This event was sponsored by the Future of the Humanities Project, the Georgetown Humanities Initiative, and Blackfriars Hall, Oxford. It is part of the year-long series, Cultural Encounters: Books that Have Made a Difference.
Photo courtesy of G.W. & C.B. Colton & Co. via Library of Congress
