Being a Man [If-].

Rare print of Rudyard Kipling's poem Being a Man, more commonly referred to as "If-". One page, typed. Boldly signed by author Cormac McCarthy at the bottom right corner. Cormac McCarthy (1933â"2023) was an American novelist whose stark prose and often violent themes earned him recognition as one of the most influential literary voices of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. His best-known works include Blood Meridian (1985), regarded as a masterpiece of the American West and frontier violence, and the Border Trilogyâ"All the Pretty Horses (1992), The Crossing (1994), and Cities of the Plain (1998)â"which brought him both critical acclaim and commercial success, with All the Pretty Horses winning the National Book Award. Later, No Country for Old Men (2005) and The Road (2006) achieved bestseller status, with the latter earning him the Pulitzer Prize and cementing his reputation as a chronicler of human survival and moral ambiguity. In near fine condition. The piece measures 6 inches by 7.5 inches. Housed in a hand-made cloth folder by the Harcourt Bindery. "Ifâ"" first appeared in the "Brother Square Toes" chapter of the book Rewards and Fairies, a collection of Kipling's poetry and short-story fiction, published in 1910. In his posthumously published autobiography, Something of Myself (1937), Kipling said that, in writing the poem, he was inspired by the character of Leander Starr Jameson, leader of the failed Jameson Raid against the Transvaal Republic to overthrow the Boer Government of Paul Kruger. The failure of that mercenary coup d'Ã tat aggravated the political tensions between Great Britain and the Boers, which led to the Second Boer War (1899â"1902).As an evocation of Victorian-era stoicismâ"the "stiff upper lip" self-discipline, which popular culture rendered into a British national virtue and character trait, "Ifâ"" remains a cultural touchstone.…