This study, which includes many unpublished private letters and papers, details Kipling's hitherto neglected role as literary critic.

English novelist, short-story author, poet, and journalist Joseph Rudyard Kipling (30 December 1865 - 18 January 1936) was also a journalist. He was born in British India, which greatly influenced his creative output. He is regarded as a pioneer in the field of short story writing. His children's books are classics, and one reviewer called them "gifts of narrative that are versatile and luminous." In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Kipling was one of the most well-liked authors in the UK. According to Henry James, "Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius, as distinct from fine intelligence, that I have ever known." He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907, becoming the first English-language author to do so and the prize's youngest recipient ever at age 41. After that, Kipling's fame evolved along with the political and social context of the time. He was the subject of conflicting opinions for the majority of the 20th century.

1. Portrait of the artist as a young man; 2. Aesthetics; 3. How to write: ingredients and methods; 4. History and contemporary culture; 5. The commerce of literature; 6. The writer and his critics; 7. Afterword; Notes; Index.