Excavating the Modern Self: Haggard’s Egyptological Romances
Henry Rider Haggard’s Egyptomania took many shapes, from regular journeys to Egypt to extensive collections of ancient Egyptian artefacts. This article looks more particularly at Haggard’s representation of ancient Egypt in his literary works and at the implications of his narrative choices in the s...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Laboratoire d’Etudes et de Recherches sur le Monde Anglophone (LERMA)
2020-12-01
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| Series: | E-REA |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/erea/10182 |
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| author | Nolwenn CORRIOU |
| author_facet | Nolwenn CORRIOU |
| author_sort | Nolwenn CORRIOU |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Henry Rider Haggard’s Egyptomania took many shapes, from regular journeys to Egypt to extensive collections of ancient Egyptian artefacts. This article looks more particularly at Haggard’s representation of ancient Egypt in his literary works and at the implications of his narrative choices in the scientific and imperial context in which he wrote his Egyptological romances. By establishing genealogical links between ancient Egypt and modern Britain through the literary form of archaeological fiction, Haggard constructs a palimpsestic vision of individual and collective history that can be read both in psychoanalytical and in imperial terms. This paper examines the place Egypt occupies in Haggard’s imagination by considering some of the narrative and narratological elements shared by his Egyptological romances, with a particular focus on The Ancient Allan and “Smith and the Pharaohs”. The depiction of Egypt as an oneiric place located within the Victorian mind and as the origin of a layered modern identity suggests an ambivalent interpretation of Haggard’s imperialist stance at the turn of the twentieth century. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b7e521d84bec46d1b65e9cc1e7adde08 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1638-1718 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2020-12-01 |
| publisher | Laboratoire d’Etudes et de Recherches sur le Monde Anglophone (LERMA) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | E-REA |
| spelling | doaj-art-b7e521d84bec46d1b65e9cc1e7adde082025-01-09T12:54:48ZengLaboratoire d’Etudes et de Recherches sur le Monde Anglophone (LERMA)E-REA1638-17182020-12-0118110.4000/erea.10182Excavating the Modern Self: Haggard’s Egyptological RomancesNolwenn CORRIOUHenry Rider Haggard’s Egyptomania took many shapes, from regular journeys to Egypt to extensive collections of ancient Egyptian artefacts. This article looks more particularly at Haggard’s representation of ancient Egypt in his literary works and at the implications of his narrative choices in the scientific and imperial context in which he wrote his Egyptological romances. By establishing genealogical links between ancient Egypt and modern Britain through the literary form of archaeological fiction, Haggard constructs a palimpsestic vision of individual and collective history that can be read both in psychoanalytical and in imperial terms. This paper examines the place Egypt occupies in Haggard’s imagination by considering some of the narrative and narratological elements shared by his Egyptological romances, with a particular focus on The Ancient Allan and “Smith and the Pharaohs”. The depiction of Egypt as an oneiric place located within the Victorian mind and as the origin of a layered modern identity suggests an ambivalent interpretation of Haggard’s imperialist stance at the turn of the twentieth century.https://journals.openedition.org/erea/10182Henry Rider HaggardEgyptologyimperial romanceEgyptomaniaarchaeological fictionpsychoanalytical studies |
| spellingShingle | Nolwenn CORRIOU Excavating the Modern Self: Haggard’s Egyptological Romances E-REA Henry Rider Haggard Egyptology imperial romance Egyptomania archaeological fiction psychoanalytical studies |
| title | Excavating the Modern Self: Haggard’s Egyptological Romances |
| title_full | Excavating the Modern Self: Haggard’s Egyptological Romances |
| title_fullStr | Excavating the Modern Self: Haggard’s Egyptological Romances |
| title_full_unstemmed | Excavating the Modern Self: Haggard’s Egyptological Romances |
| title_short | Excavating the Modern Self: Haggard’s Egyptological Romances |
| title_sort | excavating the modern self haggard s egyptological romances |
| topic | Henry Rider Haggard Egyptology imperial romance Egyptomania archaeological fiction psychoanalytical studies |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/erea/10182 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT nolwenncorriou excavatingthemodernselfhaggardsegyptologicalromances |