Today marks the 100th anniversary of the death of the great storyteller H. Rider Haggard (hat tip to Deuce Richardson for throwing up a smoke signal).
Haggard’s influence is profound — though often obscured. He influenced J.R.R. Tolkien and Robert E. Howard, which means he influenced the entire development of fantasy fiction in the 20th Century. He influenced Edgar Rice Burroughs.
His Anglo-African hunter-hero Allan Quatermain (King Solomon’s Mine, etc.) is a progenitor of Indiana Jones.
Quatermain is one of the quintessential Frontier Partisan heroes — and Haggard came by the characterization under the direct influence of the great hunter Frederick Courteney Selous. Selous published A Hunter’s Wanderings in Africa in 1881, four years before King Solomon’s Mines hit the streets to join Robert Louis Stevenson’s work in setting the template for adventure fiction.
Selous is clearly the model for Quatermain, though both men played coy about this.
Haggard knew Africa — he worked in civil service in Southern Africa, and returned there several times. He knew white hunters, and he hunted with Zulu warriors who had washed their spears in English blood.
He became friends with the American scout Frederick Russell Burnham, who had been inspired by Haggard’s works and embodied the life and character of Haggard’s fictional hero. Fred and Blanche Burnham named their Africa-born daughter Nada after Haggard’s Nada the Lily, and after her tragic death during the Second Matabele War in Rhodesia in 1896, Haggard dedicated several of his books to her memory.
I wrote on the Burnham/Haggard connection extensively, and it’s one of my favorite posts:
It is well to recognize Haggard’s influence on other writers. Even better to read him. The work holds up. For years, my bedside table reading was A Hunter’s Wanderings in Africa and King Solomon’s Mines, one or the other and sometimes bits of both. That’s what I wanted in my head as I drifted of, perchance to dream of Africa. I think I might just reinstate that practice…
As Deuce says:
Sir Henry’s prose reads surprisingly modern–though with a much better command of the English language than one usually sees nowadays. About the worst thing I can say about the average Haggard novel is it generally requires two or three chapters of setup before things start rockin’. After that, HANG ON.
Matthew says
Haggard was one of the best storytellers of an age of great storytellers. The Victorian age gave us immensely entertaining writers such as Haggard, Kipling, Conan Doyle and Stevenson. These writers often get short shifted by critics. They tend to put emphasis on style over story especially after the rise of the modernists. I’ve seen even admires of Haggard complain about his style which is unfair. Haggard had a way of drawing you in to the story. His use of language may not be on the same level as Hemingway or Fitzgerald, but the stories in the sense of the events told are better. (Well, Hemingway was a good storyteller along with being a great stylist. Fitzgerald could write stunning passages some of the time but he makes storytelling choices that are headbanging stupid.)
Alan Quatermain may progenitor of the adventure hero in pulp literature. However, he is interestingly a lot more cautious than we typically think of in those stories. He calls himself a coward and while he’s not, he does not rush into danger. He’s a very well rounded character.
Abhi says
This is what I felt as well, I seem to remember either in King Solomon’s Mines or Allan Quatermain he is referred as a wily fox or old fox
H.P. says
I have a four-volume collection of Haggard novels. I read She several years ago and enjoyed it plenty. I ought to open up another one in Haggard’s honor.
JimC says
Good to hear from you. Hope all is well?
deuce says
Great tribute, Jim!
I appreciate the hat-tip. The tribute I planned on posting at DMR got derailed by the cyber-gods. It may still come to pass, but this is a very busy week and there is no telling what my connectivity may be. This window just opened up a few hours ago after about 48hrs of radio silence.
Abhi says
A phenomenal writer one of his lesser known but equally excellent books is Moon of Israel, biblical romance and HRH captures the historical flavour so well.