Riassunto
Riassunto di La luce che si spense
A chi è rivolto
For readers who love Victorian fiction, stories about artists and their work, and tales of male friendship and war, with ambition, unreturned love and courage at their heart.
Che cos’è questo libro
The Light That Failed is a novel by Rudyard Kipling, first printed in a magazine in 1891 and soon issued as a book. It follows Dick Heldar, an orphan who becomes a painter of war scenes. He is good at his work, and he has one other aim, which is to win the love of Maisie, the girl he grew up beside. Kipling drew on his own unhappy childhood in Southsea, on his youth as a young man in a world of newspapers, and on his knowledge of the soldiers and correspondents of the day.
The book is short for a Victorian novel, and it moves quickly. It runs from a seaside boarding house in England to the burning sands of the Sudan, then to the crowded studios of London and the art schools of Paris. It gives you a young man's ambition, a loyal friendship between men, and a love that does not return what it is given. It also asks a hard question. What do you owe to the work you are good at, and what do you owe to the person you love?
You will meet a hero who is brave and stubborn, and a heroine who is just as stubborn in a different way. Neither is a villain. Let us begin where Dick begins, as a lonely child on the south coast of England.
In questo riassunto
- 1Two children raised in a cold houseFree
- 2A young man learns war and draws it
- 3London rooms and a friendship that holds
- 4Success comes, but Dick works for one woman
- 5Maisie returns with her own hard ambition
- 6Bessie Broke and the picture Dick cares about most
- 7What the title means for Dick
- 8Ambition against love, and the courage to face the dark
- 9How Kipling tells it and why it still bites
Punto chiave 1 di 9
Two children raised in a cold house
The story opens in Southsea, a seaside town near Portsmouth. Dick Heldar is a small boy with no parents, left in the care of a hard woman named Mrs Jennett. In the same house lives another child, a girl called Maisie, who is also without a family of her own. The two are thrown together, and they become close because there is nobody else for either of them.
The house is not a kind one. Mrs Jennett believes in rules, in religion used as a stick, and in punishing a child for the slightest fault. Dick learns to lie to avoid a beating, and he learns to take punishment without crying. Kipling knew this sort of home from his own boyhood, and the pages have the sharp detail of memory.
Maisie is the stronger and steadier of the two. She is a thin, serious girl with a will of iron, and she already has a clear idea of what she wants. She wants to be a painter. Dick, who is quicker and more careless, is happy to follow her anywhere.
The children spend long hours by the sea and on the grassy ground near the old forts. They play at being soldiers, and Dick shows a gift for drawing. Maisie sees it and says so. He will remember that praise all his life.
The chapter ends with the children parting. Dick is sent away, and Maisie goes her own way. He holds tight to the idea of her, though they are children and cannot say what they feel. That idea will drive him for years, and it will lead him a long way from Southsea.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
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Questions about La luce che si spense
What is The Light That Failed about?
It tells of Dick Heldar, an orphan who becomes a successful war artist while pining for Maisie, a childhood friend who wants to be a painter. It deals with ambition, unreturned love, loyalty and courage.
Is The Light That Failed based on a true story?
It is fiction, but Kipling drew on his own life. The unhappy boyhood in Southsea and the world of young journalists in London both come from his own experience.
Who is Torpenhow in The Light That Failed?
Torpenhow is a war correspondent who meets Dick in the Sudan and later shares rooms with him in London. He is the book's example of calm, loyal friendship.
What does the title The Light That Failed mean?
Light stands for sight, art, hope and purpose, all of which Dick depends on. The title warns that a life built on one thing can fail when that thing is threatened.
When was The Light That Failed written and why are there two versions?
Kipling wrote it around 1890. It appeared in a magazine in 1891 with a softer ending, and the book version later that year restored the ending he had planned.