Diary of an African Journey: The Return of Rider Haggard

H. Rider Haggard

ISBN 10: 0869809814 / ISBN 13: 9780869809815

Published by University of Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, 2000

About this Item

First Edition with decorated paper covered boards. Edited and with an Introduction and Notes by Stephen Coan. Signed and dated in black ink by Coan on the title page. First publication of Haggard's diaries of his return trip to South Africa in 1914. Pietermaritzburg, South Africa: University of Natal Press (2000), 344 pages. A Fine unmarked copy that appears unread. No jacket as issued.

Seller Inventory # 183829

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Diary of an African Journey: The Return of Rider Haggard
• Publisher: University of Natal Press, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0869809814
• ISBN 13: 9780869809815
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Fine
• Signed: Other
• Seller catalogs:
  • H. Rider Haggard

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 A remarkable literary find, written by a man who helped shape Western perceptions of Africa, this hitherto unpublished manuscript presents a portrait both surprising and in some ways familiar of Africa and of a central figure in the literature of African colonialism.

About the Author

Stephen Coan is an assistant editor of The Natal Witness.