Engine Summer

That's a good argument. And since we have no way of determining to what extent Kipling went back and imposed the arc of an imperialist Bildingsroman onto a disparate collection of revenge fantasies, or put in the revenge fantasies to make his educational programme more appealing to young readers, I will have to leave th discussion at that. But I'll certainly bear what you've said in mind next time I read Stalky and co, and perhaps it will change my opinion about what's "really" going on (and then I probably won't ever be able to read it again, because I don't actually like any of the three very much, and if I can't see them as using their brains to resist a tyrannical regime, they have no saving graces whatsoever).