Kipling and the Kip brothers

[Christian Sánchez]

Rudyard Kipling’s 1891 short story “At the End of the Passage,” features an optogram: the photograph of a dead man’s retina that reveals the terrifying circumstances of his death.

Jules Verne’s science-fiction sea adventure “Les Frères Kip” (1902) also has an optogram: the photo of the dead captain Gibson’s eye helps to identify the faces of his two killers and exculpate the Kip brothers.

I don't think I'd be taking much of a leap if I suggested that the name "Kip" is a tribute to Kipling.

Christian Sánchez

[RFOG]

Another possible interpretation (or in combination with yours):

Brothers Kip are Dutch, and in Dutch, kip is "chicken", then they are the Chicken Brothers, as they have so little blood to defend themselves etc...

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Jules Verne Forum" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to jules-verne-fo...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/jules-verne-forum/CANyD%3DedCFcRfTAQAGR92ckgunkaJTZ%3DKvfk38b%3DVHT8YTDXEzA%40mail.gmail.com.

[John Lamb]

Dear Christian,

 I think your theory has great credence re the Kip brothers and the optogram, which like my comparison of Verne and Hawthorne and the park in The Floating Island  (see previous) I feel are more a tribute rather than plagiarism of ideas by Verne.

Kipling has also been on my ‘radar’ as an influence on Verne (and possibly vice versa) for some time.

Firstly, Rudyard Kipling was a good friend of Theodore Roosevelt (whose uncle James Dunwoody Bulloch commissioned the CSS Alabama in Birkenhead)  and the Rudyard Kipling website says the poem ‘If’ may have been written with Roosevelt in mind.  If— – The Kipling Society . The idea of strong Anglo French American relations is strong here as Kipling was a strong proponent as was H.G. Wells, who also visited Roosevelt in the White House and compared the power of America to …Birkenhead.

Theodore Roosevelt of course is my preferred model  (due to his links with the CSS Alabama)  for Harbert / Herbert in The Mysterious Island (see previous postings). Jules Verne’s most prized possession of course was a letter from Roosevelt’s son Kermit saying his father had read all his books and enjoyed them immensely, which seems a very unusual object to have as your ‘most prized possession’ unless of course Roosevelt meant something that extra special to Verne.

Secondly, Kipling’s poem ‘Soldier an’ Sailor Too’ Soldier an’ Sailor too – The Kipling Society is a tribute to the ‘Birkenhead Drill’ of ‘Women and children first’ alluded to by Verne in the town hall invasion scene in ‘A Floating Island’ the novel which I maintain is based on the town of Birkenhead (also see previous postings).

Coincidentally, Kipling’s biography was written by the second Lord Birkenhead Frederick Smith, 2nd Earl of Birkenhead - Wikipedia and banned by the family for it’s highlighting Kipling’s strong views on Empire.

There is also a possible bizarre link between Kipling, Verne, Roosevelt and Mysterious Island in the attachment, the explanation of which is certainly in the spirit of Verne but could be the over imaginative thoughts of a geography teacher from Birkenhead. Having said that, it is not my fault that I come across a rock carving which looks like a secret code! Or may be it is all 'coincidence'?

Best John

[volker.dehs]

The Optogram theme was used by many authors before Kipling. Many articles have been published on this question.

As I wrote in some articles published several years ago, JV found many names he utilized for characters in his later novels in lists of prize-winners published by the Alliance francaise (supported and propagated actively by JV) in their "cours de vacances pour les étrangers" at Amiens. In his working notes preserved at Amiens Municipal Library, you find two lists dating from 1897/98 and 189?, and they contain names of persons with their nationality you will find, too, in Les Frères Kip, Bourses de voyage and Le Beau Danube jaune: Kip (a Dutchman, indeed), Patterson, Hinsdale, Zieger, Kathleen & Seymour, Perkins, Harboe, John Davies, Wickborn, Krusche, Latzko, Zerlang etc.

Best, Volker

[John Lamb]

Earnest and studious Volker, but I prefer my explanation as it more befits Verne, his love of adventure, secret codes in reverse... aka Saknussemm, and supports Christian. It also supports the idea of some authors secretly networking together and referencing each others works, which in the whole history of 19th century literature, known or not known, is more likely than unlikely. Anyway,  my oft repeated ten place challenge regarding  you or anyone else  naming any ten  places in Mysterious Island and my being able and happy to  match the equivalent ten places in Birkenhead and Wirral...and explain their Civil War and slavery links, promulgated by Verne, still remains... if you or anyone else  wishes to engage.         Best John

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/jules-verne-forum/0def430e-48f2-4ebf-92ac-3ffbc89c5602n%40googlegroups.com.

[volker.dehs]

Hi John, feel free to prefer what you want (and vice versa); I won't make any attempt to convert you to my view, but the discussion might be interesting for other Forum users.

The resemblance of the two names Kipling and Kip is indeed striking, so it would be interesting to know if JV could have read his works in French and which was Kipling's reputation in France when Verne wrote the Kip Brothers.

As far as I know, the first translation of the Jungle Book has been published in 1899 and Kim in 1902, but the book which existed for sure in Verne's library (Jules or Michel, we don't know!) was La Plus Belle Histoire du monde (1900), a collection of some short stories. I don't know if the title mentioned by Christian is among them. Have a look on Gallica for this work: https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6288344k/f8.vertical 

The Verne copy is preserved by the Nantes Municipal Library (MJV A3531).

Anyway, JV wrote the Kip Brothers already between July and December 1898, even before the first translations popularized Kipling's name in France. The first title (and the original name of the brothers) was Frères Norik - a refererence to the real Rorique Brothers, a clear source because Jules mentioned their case in a letter to his brother Paul in June 1894: "Une histoire qui m'a toujours touchée, c'est celle des frères Rorique, commués maintenant. Peut-être y aurait-il à y songer." He did so, some years afterwards.

Best, Volker

[John Lamb]

Hi Volker,

Thanks for your reply. From what I can see, Kipling achieved widespread fame in Britain from 1890 onwards. It would indeed be interesting to see if French translations were available, I do not disagree with anything you say, but I think an author does not have to be necessarily popular in France to be popular with Verne.  Kipling’s name and reputation in Britain together with book summaries and reviews in French may have been enough for Verne.

 Christian’s posting did strike a chord, it is Kipling’s association with Roosevelt and using Roosevelt as character inspiration that intrigues me, this would place him in common (in my opinion) with Verne basing the character of Harbert in Mysterious Island on Roosevelt and Stevenson basing the character of Jim Hawkins in Treasure Island on Roosevelt. Theodore Roosevelt was a child prodigy and his father known as ‘the finest man in New York in the 1860’s, his family were close friends with both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis and so symbolic of the divisions of the American Civil War.

Roosevelt himself reciprocated his friend Kipling’s ‘If’ with his own ‘Man in the Arena’ and continued to live his adventurous life in basically copying the life of the 15-year-old Harbert Brown. Mysterious Island is the only Verne novel in Roosevelt’s library, although we know that he read every single one of Verne’s novels and this fact gave Verne his ‘most prized possession’ in the form of a letter from Roosevelt’s son Kermit. Roosevelt’s most prized possession according to his autobiography was of course John Long’s silver boxing trophy which is as equally striking as John Long’s silver cup is to Long John Silver, Raphael Semmes is to Arne Saknussemm and maybe Kipling is to Kip. Not only do they sound the same but there is a possible logical framework at work here.

Verne used his experience at the Theatre Lyrique in recycling his Wirral peninsula stage sets, I am conscious that those stage sets actually drive the plot of the novel …Verne has to use them. As a writer that is as stimulating as like being a real life explorer, he does not know what is around the corner. I am reminded of this when Verne must have made a note of the Birkenhead to Holyhead telegraphic cable which runs just past Lady’s Cave on Hilbre Island, the existence of which creates the ridiculous plot line of an ailing and dying captain Nemo single handedly laying a telegraph cable from the coral to Dakkar’s grotto, just to tell them where he is.

The thing is Volker, it spurs on Verne’s imagination too. The main stickling point of course is Verne did not write down his inspiration so it becomes a matter of debate, or sometimes ridicule.

I see Verne as like a modern-day movie producer, he cannot go to the South Pacific, so he chooses a real life location closer to home, copies it and adds in a volcano (where the lighthouse is) some orangutans and so on. This is quite common in movies. Disney’s Treasure Island was filmed in Dorset, England with a few palm trees and parrots thrown in for good measure, and this is exactly what Verne does with Birkenhead. Indeed, people are still doing it with Birkenhead 160 years later as I write this post filming has just started on Batman 2… in Birkenhead.

 Mersey Tunnels become part of Gotham City as Batman filming returns

I will open up a new thread with a passage of work where 100% we know the inspiration. The reason we know the inspiration is because I wrote the passage in the style of Verne.

Imagine that I did not tell anyone the inspiration and then 160 years later a researcher correctly worked out that inspiration and then had to tell other literary scholars. That is the position I find myself in. See if you can work out the inspiration in the passage before it is revealed. What I can say is it made my plot development 100 times easier and provided much amusement.

 

Best John

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/jules-verne-forum/97f54ec1-f0f9-4e82-a9dd-3044fcda328fn%40googlegroups.com.