El mejor relato del mundo y otros no menos buenos. (Maugham’s Choice of Kipling’s Best)

Reviewed by Catherine Rendón, Savannah, GA -- Críticas, 7/15/2008

Kipling, Rudyard.
W. Somerset Maugham, ed.
tr. by Miguel Martínez-Lage. Spain: Sexto Piso, dist. by B&T. 2007. 556p. ISBN 978-84-96867-10-9. pap. $14.95. STORIES

Born in India to British parents, Kipling (1865–1936) was educated in Great Britain but returned to India at age 17 to work as a journalist. Although he was a poet, novelist, essayist, and autobiographer, it is as a writer of short stories that Kipling is best remembered. Kipling’s vast output (he published about 250 short stories) can be broadly divided into three types: exotic tales of India, narratives about the military, and children’s stories. The latter are perhaps his best known thanks to Disney’s The Jungle Book. Kipling created some of the first internationally known children’s book characters with vast popular appeal that endures worldwide today. Several of these stories are included in this anthology, notably “The Brushwood Boy” and “Mowgli and His Brothers.” Maugham, another great British short story writer, handpicked this collection and offered a long introduction telling readers what he likes so much about Kipling’s style. (Maugham’s collection was first published in 1953; the title is translated into Spanish as “The Best Story in the World and Others No Less Good.”) Today many of Kipling’s stories may seem dated and politically incorrect because of descriptions which may seem gratuitously brutal, racist, and insensitive. At first glance, a new translation of Kipling into Spanish seems like an odd choice—old-fashioned and not obviously relevant. However, echoes of an imperialist attitude will certainly be familiar to Latin American readers, and, ultimately, one must recognize Kipling’s sheer skill as an effective story teller. Maugham’s selection includes many stories that touch a universal nerve and fall into the canon of “classic.” Martínez-Lage’s translation captures Kipling’s essence and stays true to the spirit in which these stories were written. Recommended for all libraries and for readers who are especially fond of short stories and reading out loud.

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