Kipling Fest August 29th & 30th

Friday August 29th at 7:00 pm
Special Showing of The Man Who Would Be King




This 1975 classic starring Sean Connery and Michael Caine and directed by the great John Huston, is based on Rudyard Kipling's short story of the same title. "Sean Connery and Michael Caine are...a pair of lovably roguish British soldiers who set out to make their fortunes by conning the priests of remote Kafiristan into making them kings. It's a rollicking tale, an epic satire of imperialism, and the good-natured repartee shared by Caine and Connery is pure gold." --Amazon.com review Come see the movie on Friday, then hear all about Kipling on Saturday (see below). Free popcorn.


Saturday August 30th at 7:00 pm
Kipling In Vermont with Professor Jaysinh Birjepatil



Professor Birjepatil will speak about the implications of Kipling's four years in Vermont, 1892- 1896, to his creative work. It is recommended that we all re-read Kim (the library has it) and the short story The Man Who Would Be King. While the talk in general will be about Kipling in Vermont, Professor Birjepatil will also talk about Kipling's special attachment to India, the land of his birth.

Literature professor Jaysinh Birjepatil first came to the United States as a post-doctoral fellow at Yale. Subsequently he served for two years at Brown as Visiting Professor of Literature and Theatre Arts. Beyond that his past is "a patchwork quilt of multiculturalism," as he himself expresses it, "a constant search for roots across three continents." Born in India and educated in England, Jay Birjepatil has published poems and scholarly works in Indian, British and American journals. He has also published a novel Chinnery's Hotel, and is currently at work on another. His academic credits include training in theater, in which he won a Gold Medal Certificate from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Although technically retired, Birjepatil returns to Marlboro College to teach one course in literature each semester.