# Any H. Rider Haggard Readers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 12, 2007, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-h-rider-haggard-readers/422491 "2007-10-12T18:10:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-h-rider-haggard-readers/422491/1 "2007-10-12T18:10:04Z")
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”. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-h-rider-haggard-readers/422491/2 "2007-10-12T19:03:34Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-h-rider-haggard-readers/422491/3 "2007-10-12T19:15:17Z")
Very good books. 🙂🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-h-rider-haggard-readers/422491/4 "2007-10-12T19:24:37Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] 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. [/QUOTE] 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). ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-h-rider-haggard-readers/422491/5 "2007-10-12T21:15:03Z")
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. And, yes, his “ideas” were hardly simplistic. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-h-rider-haggard-readers/422491/6 "2007-10-12T21:31:47Z")
I like HRH. I’ve read She, The Return of She, People of the Mist, Morning Star, King Solomon’s Mines, and Benita. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2007, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-h-rider-haggard-readers/422491/7 "2007-10-12T22:45:40Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-h-rider-haggard-readers/422491/8 "2007-10-13T00:19:16Z")
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: ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2007, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-h-rider-haggard-readers/422491/9 "2007-10-13T01:36:45Z")
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 … ---
**Author:** ![Khampelf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Khampelf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khampelf)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2007, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-h-rider-haggard-readers/422491/10 "2007-10-14T02:21:01Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2007, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-h-rider-haggard-readers/422491/11 "2007-10-14T02:48:17Z")
I read him many years ago, the Quartermain stories and Nada the Lily. Good stuff, I must pull them out again. ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2007, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-h-rider-haggard-readers/422491/12 "2007-10-15T13:20:46Z")
[QUOTE=Evil Captor] 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 … [/QUOTE] 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: ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2007, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-h-rider-haggard-readers/422491/13 "2007-10-15T15:37:57Z")
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.) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2007, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-h-rider-haggard-readers/422491/14 "2007-10-15T15:46:06Z")
[QUOTE=Baldwin] I read _Eric Brighteyes_. [/QUOTE] Thanks for reminding me, Baldwin, and thanks for the thread, Malthus. I have a lot to dig up and read again. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2007, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-h-rider-haggard-readers/422491/15 "2007-10-15T16:46:44Z")
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?