Debits and Credits (book)
Debits and Credits is a 1926 collection of fourteen stories, nineteen poems, and two scenes from a play[1] by Rudyard Kipling, a British writer who wrote extensively about British colonialism in India and Burma. Four of the poems that accompany the stories are whimsically presented as translations from the "Bk. V of Odes" by Horace but are actually poems by Kipling imitating the style of the Roman poet.
The copyright in the United States expires in 2022.[2]
Contents[]
Stories[]
- "The Enemies to Each Other"
- The story of Adam and Eve retold in the style of a Muslim fable
- "Sea Constables: a Tale of ’15"
- Weekend sailors turned naval officers discuss their patrolling of the coast over dinner
- " 'In the Interests of the Brethren' "
- An account of the generous hospitality of a Masonic Lodge in wartime
- "The United Idolaters"
- A tale of school life, in which Stalky & Co discover Uncle Remus and outrage a new master
- "The Wish House"
- An old Sussex woman talks about the love of her life and the price she paid for loving him
- "The Janeites"
- A still-bewildered old soldier recalls how he came to join a 'secret society' of Jane Austen admirers and gives his own unique take on her oeuvre
- "The Prophet and the Country"
- A stranded motorist meets an exiled American who explains his passionate objection to Prohibition
- "The Bull that Thought"
- A story about an uncannily intelligent bull with a flair for the bullfight
- "A Madonna of the Trenches"
- After the war, a soldier reveals the true cause of his "shell-shock"
- "The Propagation of Knowledge"
- A tale of school life, in which Stalky & Co bait their English master with the Curiosities of Literature and the Baconian theory
- "A Friend of the Family"
- An Australian soldier avenges his friend by waging war on the home front
- "On the Gate: a Tale of ’16"
- A fantasy in which St Peter and the administrators of Heaven struggle to cope with the surge of souls from the war
- "The Eye of Allah"
- In a mediaeval abbey, an artist shows some doctors an early microscope, which provokes debate
- "The Gardener"
- A story about respectability and mother-love
Poems[]
- The Changelings
- The Vineyard
- ‘Banquet Night’
- To the Companions (Horace, ode 17, Bk. v.)
- The Centaurs
- ‘Late Came the God’
- Rahere
- The Survival (Horace, Ode 22 Bk. v.)
- Jane’s Marriage
- The Portent (Horace, Ode 20, Bk, v.)
- Alnaschar and the Oxen
- Gipsy Vans
- The Birthright
- A Legend of Truth
- We and They
- The Supports
- Untimely
- The Last Ode: Nov. 27, B.C. 8 (Horace, Ode 31, Bk. v.)
- The Burden
Play Fragments[]
- Gow’s Watch : Act IV. Sc. 4
- Gow’s Watch: Act V. Sc. 3
Online texts[]
- "Banquet Night"[permanent dead link]
- Debits and Credits
- Debits and Credits at Project Gutenberg Australia
References[]
External links[]
Categories:
- 1926 poetry books
- 1926 short story collections
- English poetry collections
- Poetry by Rudyard Kipling
- Short story collections by Rudyard Kipling