Just went through a phase of reading his stuff; both well known (King Solomon’s Mines, She) and obscure (Nada the Lilly, the Finished trillogy).
Very interesting and entertaining stuff; enough material on the sexual and racial interests, ideas and obsessions of his time to keep a bevy of grad students happy for decades.
What struck me most was his ambivalence on common racial and sexual themes. On the one hand, he clearly thought, live I suppose nearly everyone of his class, that there was virtue in being White, and when he wished to praise a Black character he’d often claim they looked White (Nada is a case in point); on the other hand - he insisted, I do not know how unusually for his day & age, that Blacks could be just as much “gentlemen” as Whites, and many of his heros were in fact Black (notably, Umslupogaas) and many of his romantic interests were also Black (Foulata, Nada the Lilly) … though they all generally come to bad ends.
Yet again, a lot of what he admired about his (mostly Zulu) characters was stuff most people in this day and age don’t often find all that admirable - such as their warlike bravery and indifference to death (whereas he, with an English education, clearly thought this was much like the Greek or Biblical heros he’d been brought up admiring).
Not to get started on the character of “She who must be obeyed”.
I’ve read King Solomon’s Mines more than once, along with She and some of its sequels, and the generally overlooked People of the Mist. That one’s interesting, because one of its heros is a black midget, who isbn’t played for laughs – he does some physically and morally demanding stuff. Haggard definitely portrays his blacks as sympathetic and capable people, and not as stock characters. He even has one of his white characters in KSM fall in love with an African woman, which is pretty liberal for a 19th century Britisher.
Indeed; though his female lead characters seem to have come in two varieties, whether Black or White - either beautiful and totally innocent (Foulata in KSM, Nada the Lilly, Marie) or beautiful and inhumanly selfish - but - fascinating (She, the Child of Storm). Gagool the witch-doctoress doesn’t really count as female.
I agree that his treatment of characters isn’t that of any sort of traditional racist. That’s what makes him so interesting. But nor is he exactly a traditional liberal in his attitudes, either - though it must have been startling for its time and place. Indeed, in Child of Storm he has Allan Quatermain fall somewhat for his vampy Black heroine (only he doesn’t go for it) - only to be essentially called out for it in Finished, the statement being that the only think holding Allan back was the fear he’d incur social trouble for being a White guy in love with a Black woman (a theme also in KSM, where he tries to dissuade Good from falling for Foulata).
I read several of his novels as a child/adolescent–we had a collection & I read anything I could get my hands on. Expecting Victorian boredom, I was surprised to find them Ripping Yarns.
It’s been ages…I know I have several of them in my library, probably among the boxes that are still in my storage locker. I remember liking them, and they undoubtedly will be kept for later re-reading when I unpack them.
Of course, re-reading this classic makes me all the more angry at the plagarizing not-to-be-named has-never-had-an-original-idea-yet author who “wrote” League of Extraordinary Rip-offs. :mad: JesusfuckingKEERIST, making Quartermain into a dope addict!?! :rolleyes:
What a coincidence. I just started “King Solomon’s Mines” my first Haggard. I am just 20 pages or so in, and I am frickin HOOKED. Hope it keeps going like that …
I remember that I read She as part of a “Dracula, contexts and criticisms” English seminar-course at college, but I remember nothing about it. I was, um… T aking a H eavy C ourseload, I guess.
KSM is still probably my favorite one … though they are all, generally speaking, very good. He wrote something like 30 books!
I have a soft spot for Nada the Lilly as well, though the “romance” is squirm-inducing … she’s her lover’s first cousin, and they grew up as brother and sister. :eek:
I haven’t read any of those yet, but I read Eric Brighteyes. Kickass story; would make a great movie (except possibly for that unfortunate title; just not the most inspiring name for a Viking.)
Just recently, I tried to read Cleopatra. I got a third of the way in before I lost interest and gave up. Funny, because I liked King Solomon’s Mines, etc., when I was a kid. Maybe those are just more readable?
