In her book, Kipling and Trix, Mary Hamer unravels the stark contrasts that these two siblings went through, from early years soaking up the India sun and all it’s exotic ways to the stark abandonment to a life with strangers in Southsea, from this troubled upbringing to Rudyard’s arrival as one of the most read writers of his day. And although the book is a fictionalised account of their often complex, repressed and intertwined lives, the research that it is built upon makes Mary Hamer the go to girl and a fountain of knowledge when it comes to peeling back the layers and bringing them to life.
The talk centred on the life of Rudyard Kipling rather than the legacy of his writing but it is obvious that Hamer carries deep affection for the man and his works and if her tone sometimes took on the mantle of an academic lecture rather than a less formal stance, it perfectly matched the Victorian and Edwardian subject matter that she deals in.
Using readings from her book to illustrate everything from the nature of their Indian salad days to the colder fostered out upbringing in England and his marriage and life in Vermont, it dwelt with the man more than his words. And whilst I would have liked to have learnt more about the intricacies of and how his writing was received, more about how his Indian influences steered his pen and the personal losses which must have subliminally, or otherwise, informed his work, Mary Hamer’s talk and subsequent discussion was more than enough to make me aware that it is a subject which I need to go and explore myself. And that is possibly the best definition of a successful talk.
