Other editions of book The Light That Failed 1892

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The Light That Failed is a haunting and powerful novel of human suffering, love and loss. In Dick Heldar, artist and journalist, we see a man struggling to rise above his cruel beginnings and neglected childhood to grasp at a chance for happiness in later life. However as his hopes slowly turn to dust, his determination and mental powers begin to drain away, and the onset of premature physical decline determines his final demise. In a shocking and tragic conclusion, Kipling completes his frighteningly realistic survey of physical and psychological breakdown.

The Light that Failed follows the life of Dick Heldar. Dick Heldar is a war correspondent and an artist, well-known for the drawings he sends home to the London papers from wars in exotic places like Sudan. When he returns to London, he attempts to make a career for himself as a serious artist -- and re-encounters his childhood sweetheart, Maisie. The pair fall in love. And then he learns that a minor problem with his eyes is actually the onset of blindness, incurable -- the result of a head wound he took during the war. And as his vision fails, the light of everything around him -- his life, his hopes, his dreams -- fail with it. There are trerrible choies to be made -- between the love of the woman he treasures . . . and the love of the men who stood by him at the front.

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.

Dick Heldar is a war correspondent and an artist, well known for the drawings he sends home to the London papers from wars in exotic places like Sudan. When he returns to London, he attempts to make a career for himself as a serious artist and re-encounters his childhood sweetheart, Maisie. He then learns that a minor problem with his eyes is actually the onset of an incurable blindness, the result of a head injury during the war. As his vision fails, the light of everything around him, his life, hopes, and dreams, fails with it. Terrible choices must be made between the love of a woman and the love of the men who stood by him at the front. Kipling won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1907 in consideration of his power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas, and remarkable talent for narration.