IF

If you can keep your wits about you when everyone around you has lost it and is blaming you…

Impressive in its simplicity and brevity, the If by Rudyard Kipling is a stark reminder that many times in life triumph is only a short distance away from disaster, but that doesn't mean each of us can't face both with awareness and dignity, learning from everything. The poem was first published in 1910, as part of a collection of fictional stories Rewards and Fairies· decades later, in 1995, the If it was voted the most beloved poem in all of British literature.

THE Joseph Rudyard Kipling, its author Jungle book, of Kim, of Man who would become king and his If managed with his indisputable narrative talent to capture an entire era, that of the European empires that in a few years would be a thing of the past. His writing fame quickly spread throughout the world. In 1907 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature – was the first English-language author to win the prize and remains to this day its youngest recipient.

Western thought and Eastern philosophy, phlegmatic humorous writing and fundamental essays, timeless poetry and immortal little prose, texts that marked their time and are still read everywhere: this is the "Selected" series of Oxy editions.