Introduction

At our inaugural meeting at Roseville on 24th February we had an attendance of 50, with 33 paid up members at the end of the day. We were entertained by readings and a talk by Susannah Fullerton, who told us why there should be a Rudyard Kipling society, spoke about his prose and his poetry, and emphasised how much material there was for future meetings. There was a lot of input from the audience on future meetings, place, time and content.

We decided on quarterly meetings to start with, and to have one dinner or luncheon meeting annually. The annual subscription was set at $10 concession, $15 individual and $20 family. A small display of books about RK, and a couple of his rarer books, a first edition of “They” and a copy of “One lady of Waraikei”. We also managed a copy of “Kipling Down Under”. A set of Kipling stamps postmarked at Batemans, and some CD’s of poems set to music aroused interest. For out next meeting if you have any items of interest, pictures of Batemans or Kipling himself, please brig them along.

With everyone helping we had no problems with the kitchen, and chair stacking and cleaning up afterwards. We are all grateful to Ian, Beverley Claridge who have volunteered as treasurers, for Janet Flint and Catherine & David Barker on membership, and Anne Morley Betty Williams and Margaret Jones for catering. Your help will be greatly appreciated. This only leaves the Secretary, Newsletter and website still looking for volunteers.

The general consensus of members is that the hall at 7 Lord St Roseville is well located for the majority of us, the closeness to public transport, the space and room for growth, and the kitchens, were other factors in its favour.

We need articles for our newsletter “The Jungle Book”, preferably under 1000 words, not necessarily of an academic nature, they can be in the form of a letter, but should be of general interest. - D.W.

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A Magistra's Thesis

The following article is reprinted from the Kipling Journal (UK). It is of particular relevance remembering that the question of how we are introducing RK to younger generations was raised by a member. A Magistra’s Thesis on the Jungle books in class by David Page. Early this year I was asked by Ms. Silvia Baumgartner, one of the Kipling Society members in Austria, for permission to quote from several Journal articles. They were for use in her Diploma presentation towards a Magister degree at the University of Vienna with the title “Bagheere and Baloo in class - A Didactic Approach to Kipling’s Jungle Books”. Naturally permission was given and once her degree had been awarded, Mag Baumgatner sent me a copy of the thesis to read. First it must be said that her thesis is written in English, and it is not just an academic dissertation, but has some very practical objectives as well. These are to develop and outline a set of projects based on the Jungle Books which could be used in a transdisciplinary approach to the teaching of English, and also some history, to pupils 14-16 years in Austria. In developing her thesis, she works through various topics which include “Definitions of Children’s Literature”; “Rudyard Kipling and his Literature for Children”; “The Jungle Books - Literature for Children?”; “Animal Characters in the Jungle Books”; “Mowgli - a Creature between Worlds”; “The Jungle Books in class”; and “The Jungle Books among Scouts”. the three projects are “Rewriting Mowgli’s Brothers”; “I am Two Mowgli’s”; and “Imperialism and the Jungle Books”. Once it has been decided by the teacher that literary texts should be used in a second language class, the Jungle Books met several of her criteria. Specifically, many teenagers can easily identify with Mowgli because elements of his identity crisis can be interpreted as typical teenage problems; because they are written for children, their language is fairly simple although younger pupils will certainly need some help: and they help students to understand cultures and ideologies different from their own. It seems to me that Mag Baumgartner’s ideas are not only appropriate to the Austrian education system but could also be used to great benefit in the UK. (And in Australia..Ed) They are not limited to the simple reading of text or stories, but to listening, speaking, reading and writing whilst the treatment of intercultural topics and the development of social skills are emphasised. I am therefore very happy to say that a copy of her thesis has been placed in the Society’s library in London. We should also thank her father for reading these stories to her at bedtime as a child.

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Future Meetings

Note these in your diary now!!!

• May 5th Saturday, 2pm: Lord St Roseville. - Professor Peter Alexander will talk on Kiplings Australian verse, we will also have some poetry readings and have some CD’s of RK’s poetry set to music. This should be a very interesting and informative meeting, come and bring a friend.

• August 25th Saturday, 2pm: Lord St Roseville - Provisionally booked as Kipling and South Africa - Ian Fullerton.

• November:
We would like a dinner meeting this month, and we would like your ideas on dates, times and location

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A Kipling Quiz - Answers

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A Kipling Poem

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