Diary of an African Journey. The Return of Rider Haggard

Haggard, H. Rider (author), and Stephen Coan (introduction and notes)

ISBN 10: 0869809547 / ISBN 13: 9780869809549

Published by (Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press, 2000) 0869809547, 2000

About this Item

228 x 150 mm; laminated pictorial wrappers; pp. xiv + 345, incl. index; maps; illustrations in text. Fine condition. "In 1914 Sir Henry Rider Haggard, the author of King Solomon's Mines, Allan Quatermain and She, returned to South Africa, the country that had fired his imagination, for the first time since 1881. Touring as a member of the Dominions Royal Commission, Haggard found it hard to recognise the Africa of his youth - the discovery of gold, the destruction of the Zulu kingdom, the Anglo-Boer War, had all left their mark. From a clutch of separate states, South Africa had become a single political entity under the banner of Union. While the tour often rekindled Haggard's romantic notions of Africa - notably during his visit to the Great Zimbabwe ruins in Rhodesia and on a trip through Zululand - his resulting diary also reflects a changed Haggard: no longer the novelist but a man of affairs and a public servant. Neither was he the diehard imperialist of his youth, but instead someone prepared to take note of nascent black politics and look prophetically into South Africa's future. Witness his views on race and politics; his thoughts on the plight of the Zulu; and, perhaps most startlingly, his interview with John Dube, first president of the African National Congress. Published for the first time, Diary of an African Journey presents a fresh picture of Haggard, often at variance with both popular and academic perceptions of his life and work. It also marks an advance in biographical work on Haggard as the Introduction and Notes contain much hitherto unpublished material relating to his early life in South Africa.".

Seller Inventory # 14425

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Diary of an African Journey. The Return of Rider Haggard
• Publisher: (Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press, 2000) 0869809547
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0869809547
• ISBN 13: 9780869809549
• Binding: Soft cover

About this title

Synopsis

In 1914, H. Rider Haggardadventure novelist, diplomat, farmer, lawyer, and, above all, renowned author of such classic and influential bestsellers as King Solomon's Mines and Shereturned to South Africa, the country that had fired his literary imagination, for the first time in a quarter century. Haggard, whose work is today considered a prototype of colonial literature, barely recognized the Africa of his youth. The discovery of gold, the destruction of the Zulu kingdom, and the aftermath of the Anglo-Boer war had all radically transformed the political, cultural, and often physical landscape. No longer the diehard imperialist of his youth, when conquest and colonization were the order of the day, Haggard toured southern Africa extensively during this trip, acquiring an impression of black politics and even meeting the first president of the African National Congress, John Dube. This is the chronicle, in Haggard's own hand, of that journey. A remarkable literary find, written by a man who helped shape Western perceptions of Africa, this hitherto unpublished manuscript presents a portrait both surprising and in some ways familiar of Africa and of a central figure in the literature of African colonialism.