Forefathers of Sword and Sorcery: Rudyard Kipling
“But my favorite writers, both of prose and verse, are British or Americans. They are A. Conan Doyle, Jack London, Mark Twain, Sax Rohmer, Jeffery Farnol, Talbot Mundy, Harold Lamb, R.W. Chambers, Rider Haggard, Kipling…” — Robert E. Howard to H. P. Lovecraft, December 1932
Today is Rudyard Kipling’s birthday. A fitting occasion on which to bestow the rank of Forefather upon him and it’s an honor he richly deserves. While Kipling’s influence doesn’t quite match the sweeping strength of H. Rider Haggard’s, Rudyard had his admirers amongst the First Dynasty of S&S scribes, as well as many more among the authors who followed in their footsteps.
A century ago, in the years just before the publication of Robert E. Howard’s “The Shadow Kingdom”, Rudyard Kipling—even moreso than his friend, H. Rider Haggard—was ubiquitous and read around the globe by both children and adults. He had won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907 and his poem, “If”, was known and loved in all the lands of the Anglosphere. Edgar Rice Burroughs profoundly admired his work and H.P. Lovecraft considered Kipling a “first-rate “ author.
Robert E. Howard was one of Kipling’s millions of fans. Considering REH’s passions for poetry and for tales of Asia, that affection isn’t hard to understand. Kipling was not just one of Howard’s “favorite writers”. Bob considered Rudyard to be his favorite poet and also his favorite “foreign” author—as opposed to Americans like Jack London or Lovecraft. REH’s personal library of Kipliana , considering Bob’s modest means, was respectable.
Clark Ashton Smith, the founder of the “second branch” of Sword and Sorcery, unabashedly admitted to reading Kipling tales as a youth. Many of his earliest stories boasted titles like “The Ghost of Mohammed Din” and “The Rajah and the Tiger”, titles which could’ve just as easily graced those in a Kipling collection. While CAS was more of a devotee of Bohemian poets like George Sterling, I have to think that Kipling’s sheer prowess in poesy had some effect on the young Klarkash-Ton.
When it comes to the rest of the First Dynasty authors, things are a bit more speculative. While I seem to recall—maybe—Fritz Leiber and C. L. Moore making fond mentions of Kipling, I can’t to put my hand to them at the moment. It’s well-known that Henry Kuttner deeply admired Haggard, so a liking for Kipling is quite plausible, but I have no solid proof at this time.
It isn’t hard to find Kipling fans among those who came after the First Dynasty. Probably the easiest way to demonstrate this is to look at the two Baen Books anthologies published in tribute to Kipling:
In A Separate Star, we see names on the table of contents that any well-read S&S fans should know. Names like Poul Anderson, Gene Wolfe, David Drake, Gordon R. Dickson and L. Sprague de Camp. In Heads to the Storm—along with some alumni from the first volume—we find C.J. Cherryh, John Brunner, Jerry Pournelle, George R.R. Martin and Roger Zelazny.
One suprising thing to note, is that despite Baen being known for mostly publishing Campbellian-style science fiction, the clear majority of authors in both volumes had also written substantially in the realms of heroic fantasy and/or S&S. It’s almost like Kipling was a major influence on authors in both of those genres.
De Camp being a big fan of Kipling gives Rudyard the Forefather Trifecta, having influenced all three of the founders of the three branches of Sword and Sorcery.
While the two Baen volumes do a great job of “outing” prominent Kipling fans. It misses at least a few very notable S&S authors. One whom I’m surprised Drake didn’t find some way of including was Manly Wade Wellman. Manly placed Kipling in his top rank of favorite authors, alongside Jack London and M.R. James. Another big Kipling aficionado is Michael Moorcock, who lists Rudyard among the authors who have most influenced him. Moorcock even recently wrote a short story entitled, “The Third Jungle Book.” Finally, Keith Taylor has said that Kipling’s Thomas the Rhymer was an influence on his own Felimid mac Fal.
Well, I hope Kipling’s bonafides are sufficient. Raise a mead-horn to his shade. He’s earned it.
Previous installments in the "Forefathers" series: