Henry Rider Haggard
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| Henry Rider Haggard | |
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| Pseudonym: | H. Rider Haggard |
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| Born: | June 22, 1856 Norfolk, England |
| Died: | May 14, 1925 |
| Occupation: | Novelist, scholar |
| Nationality: | England |
| Writing period: | 19th & 20th century |
| Genres: | Adventure ; Fantasy ; Fables ; Romance ; Science Fiction ; History |
| Subjects: | Africa |
| Debut works: | Dawn (1884) Allan Quatermain Series Ayesha Series |
| Influences: | Robert Louis Stevenson ; Rudyard Kipling |
| Influenced: | Edgar Rice Burroughs, C.S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Carl Jung, Joseph Conrad |
| Website: | http://www.riderhaggardsociety.org.uk (Rider Haggard Society) |
Sir Henry Rider Haggard (June 22, 1856 – May 14, 1925), born in Norfolk, England, was a Victorian writer of adventure novels set in locations considered exotic by readers in his native England.
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[edit] Biography
Henry Rider Haggard was born at Bradenham, Norfolk, to William Meybohm Rider Haggard, a barrister, and Ella Doveton. He was the seventh of ten children and attended Ipswich School.
Haggard had some firsthand experience with the locations used in his works, thanks to his extensive travels. He first travelled to Natal Colony in 1875, as secretary to the Lieutenant-Governor of Natal, Sir Henry Bulwer. It was in this role that Haggard was present in Pretoria for the official announcement of the British annexation of the Boer Republic of the Transvaal. In fact, Haggard was forced to read out much of the proclamation following the loss of voice of the official originally entrusted with the duty.
As a young man, Haggard fell deeply in love with Lilith Jackson, whom he intended to marry, but his father discouraged him from rushing into marriage until he had made a career for himself. In 1878 he became Registrar of the High Court in the Transvaal, in the region that was to become part of South Africa, and in 1879 he heard that Lilith had married someone else. He was eventually to return to England to find a wife, bringing Mariana Louisa Margitson back to Africa with him as a bride. Later they had a son named Jock (who died of measles at the age of 10) and three daughters.
Returning again to England in 1882, the couple settled in Ditchingham, Norfolk. Later he lived in Kessingland and had connections with the church in Bungay, Suffolk. He turned to the study of law and was called to the bar in 1884. His practice of law was somewhat desultory, and much of his time was taken up by the writing of novels. Heavily influenced by the larger-than-life adventurers he met in Colonial Africa, most notably Frederick Selous and Frederick Russell Burnham, the great mineral wealth discovered in Africa, and the ruins of ancient lost civilizations in Africa such as Great Zimbabwe, Haggard created his Allan Quatermain adventures.[1][2] Three of his books, The Wizard (1896), Elissa; the doom of Zimbabwe (1899), and Black Heart and White Heart; a Zulu idyll (1900) are dedicated to Burnham's daughter, Nada, the first white child born in Bulawayo, herself named after Haggard's 1892 book: Nada the Lily.[3]
Years later, when Haggard was a successful novelist, the more so for screen versions of some of his novels having been exposed to earlier cinema audiences, he was contacted by his former love, Lilith Jackson. She had been deserted by her husband, who had left her penniless and infected her with syphilis, from which she eventually died. It was Haggard who paid her medical bills. These details were not generally known until the publication of Haggard's 1983 biography by D. S. Higgins.
Haggard was heavily involved in agricultural reform and was a member of many Commissions on land use and related affairs, work that involved several trips to the Colonies and Dominions. He was twice knighted in relation to this work - he was made a Knight Bachelor in 1912, and a Knight of the Order of the British Empire in 1919. He stood unsuccessfully for parliament as a candidate for the Conservative Party.
[edit] Writing career
While his novels contain many of the strong preconceptions common to the culture of British colonialism, they are unusual for the degree of sympathy with which he often treats the native populations. Africans often serve heroic roles in his novels, though the protagonists are typically, though not invariably, European. A notable example is Ignosi, the rightful king of Kukuanaland in King Solomon's Mines. Having developed an intense mutual friendship with the three Englishmen who help him reclaim his throne, he wisely accepts their advice to abolish witch hunts and arbitrary capital punishment.
Haggard is most famous as the author of the best-selling novel King Solomon's Mines, as well as many others such as She, Ayesha (sequel to She), Allan Quatermain (sequel to King Solomon's Mines), and the epic Viking romance, Eric Brighteyes.
Though Haggard is no longer as popular as he was when his books appeared, some of his characters have had a notable impact on early-twentieth-century thought. Ayesha, the female protagonist of She, was even cited by both Sigmund Freud in The Interpretation of Dreams and by Carl Jung as a female prototype. Allan Quatermain, the hero of King Solomon's Mines and its sequel still appears in Western popular culture today. As a populariser of the Lost World genre Haggard has had a wide influence on the spheres of science fiction and fantasy through the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Allan Quatermain has been identified as one of the fictitious and real people on whom Indiana Jones, in the films Raiders of the Lost Ark, the Temple of Doom and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, is said to be based.
Haggard also wrote on social issues and agricultural reform, in part inspired by his experiences in Africa but also based on what he saw in Europe.
[edit] Chronology of works
- Cetywayo and his White Neighbours; Remarks on Recent Events in Zululand, Natal, and the Transvaal (1882), available at Project Gutenberg.
- Dawn (1884), available at Project Gutenberg.
- The Witch's Head (1884)
- King Solomon's Mines (1885), available at Project Gutenberg. ; there is also a dedicated King Solomon's Mines wikipedia entry.
- She (1887), available at Project Gutenberg.; there is also a dedicated She (novel) wikipedia entry.
- Jess (1887), available at Project Gutenberg.
- Allan Quatermain (1887), available at Project Gutenberg.; there is also a dedicated Allan Quatermain wikipedia entry.
- A Tale of Three Lions (1887), available at Project Gutenberg.
- Mr. Meeson's Will (1888), available at Project Gutenberg.
- Maiwa's Revenge (1888), available at Project Gutenberg.
- My Fellow Laborer and the Wreck of the Copeland (1888)
- Colonel Quaritch, V.C. (1888), available at Project Gutenberg.
- Cleopatra (1889), available at Project Gutenberg.; there is also a dedicated Cleopatra wikipedia entry.
- Allan's Wife (1889), available at Project Gutenberg.
- Beatrice (1890), available at Project Gutenberg.
- The World's Desire (1890), available at Project Gutenberg., (co-written with Andrew Lang) ; there is also a dedicated The World's Desire wikipedia entry.
- Eric Brighteyes (1891), available at Project Gutenberg.
- Nada the Lilly (1892), available at Project Gutenberg.
- Montezuma's Daughter (1893), available at Project Gutenberg.
- The People of the Mist (1894), available at Project Gutenberg.
- Joan Haste (1895)
- Heart of the World (1895)
- Church and State (1895)
- The Wizard (1896), available at Project Gutenberg.
- Doctor Therne (1898), available at Project Gutenberg.
- Swallow (1898), available at Project Gutenberg.
- A Farmer's Year (1899)
- The Last Boer War (1899)
- The Spring of Lion (1899)
- Montezuma's Daughter (1899)
- Elissa; the doom of Zimbabwe (1899), available at Project Gutenberg.
- Black Heart and White Heart; a Zulu idyll (1900), available at Project Gutenberg.
- The New South Africa (1900)
- A Winter Pilgrimage (1901)
- Lysbeth (1901), available at Project Gutenberg.
- Rural England (1902)
- Pearl Maiden (1903), available at Project Gutenberg.
- Stella Fregelius (1904), available at Project Gutenberg.
- Brethren (1904), available at Project Gutenberg.
- The Poor and the Land (1905)
- Ayesha, the Return of She (1905), available at Project Gutenberg.
- A Gardener's Year (1905)
- Report of Salvation Army Colonies (1905)
- The Way of the Spirit (1906)
- Benita (1906), available at Project Gutenberg.
- Fair Margaret (1907), available at Project Gutenberg.
- The Ghost Kings (1908), available at Project Gutenberg.
- The Yellow God (1908), available at Project Gutenberg.
- The Lady of Blossholme (1909), available at Project Gutenberg.
- Queen Sheba's Ring (1910), available at Project Gutenberg.
- Regeneration: An account of the social work of the Salvation Army (1910), available at Project Gutenberg.
- Morning Star(1910), available at Project Gutenberg.
- Red Eve (1911), available at Project Gutenberg.
- The Mahatma and the Hare (1911), available at Project Gutenberg.
- Rural Denmark (1911)
- Marie (1912), available at Project Gutenberg.
- Child of Storm (1913), available at Project Gutenberg.
- The Wanderer's Necklace (1914), available at Project Gutenberg.
- A call to Arms (1914)
- Allan and The Holy Flower (1915), available at Project Gutenberg.
- After the War Settlement and Employment of Ex-Service Men (1916)
- The Ivory Child (1916), available at Project Gutenberg.
- Finished (1917), available at Project Gutenberg.
- Love Eternal (1918), available at Project Gutenberg.
- Moon of Israel (1918), available at Project Gutenberg.
- When the World Shook (1919), available at Project Gutenberg.
- The Ancient Allan (1920), available at Project Gutenberg.
- Smith and the Pharaohs (1920), available at Project Gutenberg.
- She and Allan (1921), available at Project Gutenberg.
- The Virgin of the Sun (1922), available at Project Gutenberg.
- Wisdom's Daughter (1923)
- Heu-Heu (1924)
- Queen of the Dawn (1925)
- The Days of my Life: An autobiography of Sir H. Rider Haggard (1926)
- Treasure of the Lake (1926)
- Allan and the Ice Gods (1927)
- Mary of Marion Isle (1929)
- Belshazzar (1930)
Publication dates unknown
- Hunter Quatermain's Story, available at Project Gutenberg.
- Long Odds, available at Project Gutenberg.
- Stories by English Authors, available at Project Gutenberg. (as contributor)
[edit] Allan Quatermain series
- King Solomon's Mines, available at Project Gutenberg. ; there is also a dedicated King Solomon's Mines wikipedia entry.
- Allan Quatermain, available at Project Gutenberg.; there is also a dedicated Allan Quatermain wikipedia entry.
- Allan's Wife, available at Project Gutenberg.
- Maiwa's Revenge: or, The War of the Little Hand, available at Project Gutenberg.
- Marie, available at Project Gutenberg.
- Child of Storm, available at Project Gutenberg.
- Allan and The Holy Flower, available at Project Gutenberg.
- Finished
- The Ivory Child, available at Project Gutenberg.
- The Ancient Allan
- She and Allan, available at Project Gutenberg.
- Heu-heu: or The Monster
- The Treasure of the Lake
- Allan and the Ice-gods
[edit] Ayesha Series
- She, available at Project Gutenberg.; there is also a dedicated She (novel) wikipedia entry.
- Ayesha: The Return of She
- She and Allan
- Wisdom's Daughter: The Life and Love Story of She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed
[edit] External links
- Rider Haggard Society
- Works by H. Rider Haggard at Project Gutenberg
- Works at Project Gutenberg Australia
- H. Rider Haggard quotes at LitQuotes
- Rider Haggard
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Mandiringana, E.; T. J. Stapleton (1998). "The Literary Legacy of Frederick Courteney Selous". History in Africa 25: 199-218. doi:10.2307/3172188.
- ^ Pearson, Edmund Lester. Theodore Roosevelt, Chapter XI: The Lion Hunter (English) (HTML). Humanities Web. Retrieved on 2006-12-18.
- ^ Haggard, H. Rider [1926]. The Days of My Life Volume II (txt) (in English). Retrieved on 2006-12-17.
