The Light That Failed

The Light That Failed is a novel by the Nobel Prize-winning English author Rudyard Kipling that was first published in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine dated January 1891. Most of the novel is set in London, but many important events throughout the story occur in Sudan and Port Said. It follows the life of Dick Heldar, an artist and painter who goes blind, and his unrequited love for his childhood playmate, Maisie.

It is Kipling's first novel, written when he was 26 years old, and is semi-autobiographical; being based upon his own unrequited love for Florence Garrard. Though it was poorly received by critics, the novel has managed to remain in print for over a century. It was also adapted into a play, two silent films as well as a drama film.


The Light That Failed was poorly received by critics in the main. Jad Adams calls the novel richly revealing even though it was badly reviewed, especially its man-loving and misogynistic undercurrents. He calls it "... a metaphor for the failing gallantry of 19th-century man confronting the new woman." Andrew Lycett, in his biography of Kipling, called it a "grown-up novel by an emotionally immature man." It has been variously derided as "sentimental, unstructured, melodramatic, chauvinistic, and implausible." Kipling himself admitted in his autobiography that the novel was a conte (short tale of adventure) and not a built book. Lord Birkenhead calls the novel a "rotten apple" among Kipling's other published works. George Orwell, in an unsigned review of "Rudyard Kipling" by Edward Shanks, says, "Curiously enough, he (Shanks) has a very low opinion of that excellent novel The Light That Failed." (wikipedia.org)