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Heaven & Hell: Kipling in Vermont

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Join us for a stimulating summer evening at the historic Scott Farm Orchard (707 Kipling Rd. Dummerston, 10 min from Downtown Brattleboro) for refreshments and discussion about "Jungle Book' author Rudyard Kipling's highly productive but emotionally difficult 'American years' spent at "Naulakha,' the unique home he built next door. Share thoughts on the relevance of Kipling's outsider experience today. Learn how to make podcasts so you too can be part of creating the 'Brattleboro Words Trail' -- an interactive, open-source mapping of sites connected to the rich culture of words in and around Brattleboro for walking, biking and driving tours. Charles Fish, a professor and writer who has studied Kipling’s time in Vermont, will lead the discussion with Kelly Carlin, Operations Manager of Naulakha and Scott Farm Orchard for the Landmark Trust USA and Thomas Ragle, former President of Marlboro College from 1958 to 1981 who was instrumental in establishing Marlboro’s distinguished Kipling Collection. “Rudyard Kipling’s American years were the happiest, most inspired and productive time of his life,” Professor Fish said, before a dispute with his brother-in-law turned ugly. In this period he composed the two Jungle Books (1894, 1895), the first three Just So Stories (1897), and began thinking about his masterpiece Kim (1901). He also wrote the poems collected in The Seven Seas (1896), the short stories collected in The Day’s Work (1898), and much of his classic sea story Captains Courageous (1897). During a trip to England in 1894, Kipling wrote longingly of ‘a bottle of lager in the basement of Brooks House ... There’s one Britisher at least homesick for a section of your depraved old land’.  “Kipling remains one of the world's most famous authors. Fans come from all over the world to stay at Naulakha, to sit at Kipling's desk," Carlin said, adding that the house is being used increasingly for writers retreats. "The visitor’s log book itself is a work of art, people leave poems and drawings inspired by the spirit of the house." The Roundtable Discussion Series is presented the second Thursday of every month at sites identified as important to the history of words by The Brattleboro Words Project, a multi-year collaboration between the Brattleboro Historical Society, the Brattleboro Literary Festival, Write Action, Brooks Memorial Library and Marlboro College and backed by a National Endowment for the Humanities matching grant. The Project seeks public participation in research, writing and creating a ‘Brattleboro Words Trail’, audio linked to sites of interest, for walking, biking and driving tours of our area, a book on Brattleboro’s printing and publishing history, and other events linked to the October Brattleboro Literary Festival and throughout the year. For more information visit: www.brattleborowordsproject.org Scott Farm Orchard is a 571 acre gem with majestic views bordering the Kipling house. The orchard has evolved to an ecologically managed heirloom apple oasis. The farm was settled in 1791 by Rufus Scott. Ownership then passed to the Holbrook family who planted the orchard in 1915. In 1995, Fred Holbrook gifted the Scott Farm to the Landmark Trust USA, a non-profit whose mission is historic preservation.

Production Date: 
Thursday, July 12, 2018 - 18:00

Shows In This Series

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