The Anglo-Indian Community of the 1880s in the early works of Rudyard Kipling

Abstract

The subject of the study is the Anglo-Indian community of the 1880s and the reflection of its characteristic features in the works of Rudyard Kipling in the mid-1880s - early 1890s - newspaper essays, poems, short stories. Such features of the Anglo-Indian community as isolation, its isolation from the indigenous population of India, hostility towards travelers who judge the state of the country based on short-term visits, not understanding the unique climatic, political, and social conditions of India are considered in detail. Special attention is paid to the attitude of the Anglo-Indian community to the emerging national movement demanding the expansion of the rights of Indians in the governance of the country. As a result of the study , the following conclusions were made: 1) the image of a traveler who describes India, but does not have knowledge about it and understanding of its conditions, often found in the early works of R. Kipling ("Paget, C. P.", "Anglo-Indian Society", "The Enlightenment of Padgett, a member of Parliament"), was characteristic of the Anglo-Indian literature of the period under study (in in particular, for the work of J. Abery-Mackay) and reflected the views widely spread in the Anglo-Indian environment; 2) the changing conditions of Indian life, such as the emergence and development of the national movement, are becoming a new plot in Anglo-Indian literature and Kipling's work, showing the negative attitude of the community to the strengthening of the political activity of the indigenous population India.