New perspectives on H.R. Haggard: from South Africa to the Imperial Dream

H. R. Haggard dedicated Nada the Lily (1892), the first romance of his Zulu trilogy1 to Theophilus Shepstone. He considered Shepstone as his mentor, having met him in South Africa at the age of nineteen while he was working with Sir Henry Bulwer-Lytton as an aide-de-camp. With them and accompanied b...

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Main Author: Patricia CROUAN-VÉRON
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Laboratoire d’Etudes et de Recherches sur le Monde Anglophone (LERMA) 2020-12-01
Series:E-REA
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Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/erea/11258
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author Patricia CROUAN-VÉRON
author_facet Patricia CROUAN-VÉRON
author_sort Patricia CROUAN-VÉRON
collection DOAJ
description H. R. Haggard dedicated Nada the Lily (1892), the first romance of his Zulu trilogy1 to Theophilus Shepstone. He considered Shepstone as his mentor, having met him in South Africa at the age of nineteen while he was working with Sir Henry Bulwer-Lytton as an aide-de-camp. With them and accompanied by Mazooku and other local people they travelled through Natal crossing wonderful landscapes but experiencing very harsh conditions. As Haggard declared “It [was] no place for Cook’s tourist!” (Haggard Diary 209). Haggard’s first stay in Natal lasted seven years and this experience played a determining role in Haggard’s life and in his writing of imperial romances. Studying Haggard’s fiction from the South African angle leads us to question his vision of imperialism. To what extent did his personal experience of South Africa model his vision of the Empire and how did he come to write imperial romances? How did he reconcile the apparent contradiction of being a “man of action” and a “man of letters”? Why is the land issue so determining in this vision? These are some questions we will try to answer to show that Haggard’s complexity is part of his modernity and is also probably the key to his legacy.
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spelling doaj-art-16067739ebd0490bbff91594a3e835562025-01-09T12:54:57ZengLaboratoire d’Etudes et de Recherches sur le Monde Anglophone (LERMA)E-REA1638-17182020-12-0118110.4000/erea.11258New perspectives on H.R. Haggard: from South Africa to the Imperial DreamPatricia CROUAN-VÉRONH. R. Haggard dedicated Nada the Lily (1892), the first romance of his Zulu trilogy1 to Theophilus Shepstone. He considered Shepstone as his mentor, having met him in South Africa at the age of nineteen while he was working with Sir Henry Bulwer-Lytton as an aide-de-camp. With them and accompanied by Mazooku and other local people they travelled through Natal crossing wonderful landscapes but experiencing very harsh conditions. As Haggard declared “It [was] no place for Cook’s tourist!” (Haggard Diary 209). Haggard’s first stay in Natal lasted seven years and this experience played a determining role in Haggard’s life and in his writing of imperial romances. Studying Haggard’s fiction from the South African angle leads us to question his vision of imperialism. To what extent did his personal experience of South Africa model his vision of the Empire and how did he come to write imperial romances? How did he reconcile the apparent contradiction of being a “man of action” and a “man of letters”? Why is the land issue so determining in this vision? These are some questions we will try to answer to show that Haggard’s complexity is part of his modernity and is also probably the key to his legacy.https://journals.openedition.org/erea/11258South AfricaanthropologymodernityHenry Rider HaggardZuluLand
spellingShingle Patricia CROUAN-VÉRON
New perspectives on H.R. Haggard: from South Africa to the Imperial Dream
E-REA
South Africa
anthropology
modernity
Henry Rider Haggard
Zulu
Land
title New perspectives on H.R. Haggard: from South Africa to the Imperial Dream
title_full New perspectives on H.R. Haggard: from South Africa to the Imperial Dream
title_fullStr New perspectives on H.R. Haggard: from South Africa to the Imperial Dream
title_full_unstemmed New perspectives on H.R. Haggard: from South Africa to the Imperial Dream
title_short New perspectives on H.R. Haggard: from South Africa to the Imperial Dream
title_sort new perspectives on h r haggard from south africa to the imperial dream
topic South Africa
anthropology
modernity
Henry Rider Haggard
Zulu
Land
url https://journals.openedition.org/erea/11258
work_keys_str_mv AT patriciacrouanveron newperspectivesonhrhaggardfromsouthafricatotheimperialdream