SS 06
Otto-Friedrich-Universität Bamberg
PS II: A League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Reading Late-Nineteenth Century Novels
Fr. Dr. Anja Müller
Handout King Solomon´s Mines
Kathrin Markstein
kath@metal-district.de
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Sir Henry Rider Haggard – King Solomon´s Mines (1885)
About the author
 born in Norfolk, 1856
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went to Natal/Africa at the age of 19 as a secretary to the Governor of Natal colony
was appointed Master and Registrar of the High Court of the Transvaal at the age of
21
got acquainted with Zulu culture  admired the Zulu warriors
armed clashed between black natives and white colonialists in Africa  Haggard
returned to England in 1879 and married Louisa Margitson
returned to Transvaal in 1880 to farm ostriches
but Transvaal was into rebellion, and armed Boers attacked farmhouses
Haggard and his family returned to England where he started writing  wrote over 40
books (fiction and non-fiction), several articles etc.
bet with his brother whether Haggard could write anything as good as Treasure Island
 wrote an adventure for boys on his own  King Solomon´s Mines
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was knighted in 1912
became Knight Commander of the British Empire in 1919
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died in London, 1925
 not only a writer but also a faithful servant of the British Empire
Important works
Non-fiction
 Cetywayo and His White Neighbours (1896)
Fiction
 King Solomon´s Mines (1885)
 She (1887)
 Allan Quatermain (1887)
 Cleopatra (1889)
 Nada The Lily (1892)
 Ayesha. The Return Of She (1905)
 Allan And The Ice Gods (1927)
I.
Characters
1. Allan Quatermain
 fictional narrator of the story, occurs in Haggard's later works  cf. Allan Quatermain
and Allan Quatermain´s Wife
 “amateur anthropologist relying on his inside knowledge of various African tribes to
make contrasts and value-judgements about tribal customs as a means to place and
rank social groups” (Stott, 103)
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Older than his companions: represents the old generation of settler-colonial
mercantilism whereas Good and Curtis stand for the generation of metropolitan
imperial capital
feminized: cowardly, obsequious, bashful
Haggard created him as unlike as himself as possible
2. Captain John Good
 transformed in the course of the story: becomes a very unlikely sex-symbol
 feminized: he is very much the “stereotypical English maiden” (Fraser, 34)
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Sir Henry Curtis
physically perfect
his impressive appearance has the effect of feminizing his two companions
equals Umpoba in physical stature but they are divided by race, rank and language
 in creating Curtis and Good, Haggard criticizes the dispersion of metropolitan power
II.
Imperialism
 Haggard is sometimes accused of racism: but “race” is not central in his novels, rather:
the question of legitimation (historical, political, aesthetic)
 attributes the ruins and stone carvings in King Solomon's Mines to an ancient white
culture, probably the Phoenicians  wants to validate the British presence in Africa:
an ancient, foreign civilization had once established itself there, i.e., Britain could do
likewise
 thinks that “the production of wealth is being controlled by the wrong classes of an
international bourgeoisie” (Chrisman b, 30)  Quatermain rediscovers gold as an
ancient industry and so removes it from the contemporary power structure: associates
it with the 'legitimate' class (represented by his trio)
 Britain depends on the labour of the African people, they are an instrument for the
British (cf. Foulata and Gagool)  Haggard calls attention to fundamental ideological
contradictions
III.
Feminization Of Africa
 lack of a central female figure in King Solomon´s Mines (as opposed to She) 
story free from women, but Africa = (white) female body
 treasure map forms an image of a headless female body (they have to travel
through Sheba's Breasts, down Solomon's Road to a triangle of mountains,
where they descend into a pit)
 Sheba's Breasts: trio almost dies of starvation beside “the primary source of
sustenance, the breast” (Stott, 93) reader becomes aware of the cruelty of
African landscape
 the unknown Africa is like a female body, promises to be taken and full of
dangers: “the male must dare to travel into foreign territory and must risk
being consumed by this new terrain” (Stott, 125)
 emphasises the dangers of the quest: persistent fear about what will be found
once the centre (the mines) is reached and the veil lifted (veil on the mysteries
of woman and mysteries of Africa, the unknown)
 Africa = Femme Fatale: trio almost dies in the mines  “manhood will be
confirmed of forever lost” (Stott, 118): they must escape the object of their
quest
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IV.
Genre
1. Imperial Romance
 Romance contains a quest: Quatermain, Curtis and Good trek to the unknown interior
in search of Curtis's lost brother where their moral and physical strength is tested
 non-realistic  to make his romance become more realistic, Haggard uses science like
geography, archaeology and even biblical images (the mines as the biblical Ophir)
 King Solomon's Mines as a contemporary response to imperial capitalism
 Haggard´s romances became very popular and attracted many settlers to South Africa
2. Male Novel
 “Written by men for men or boys and about the activities of man” (Stott, 90)
 The male novel as a countermovement to the Victorian novel with women
Bibliography
1. Chrisman, Laura. “Manufacturing Mystery from Mining: King Solomon´s Mines I).”
Rereading the Imperial Romance: British Imperialism and African Resistance in
Haggard, Schreiner, and Plaatje. Oxford: Clarendon, 2000. 23-46
2. Chrisman, Laura. “Trading On Africa: King Solomon´s Mines (2).” Rereading the
Imperial Romance: British Imperialism and African Resistance in Haggard,
Schreiner, and Plaatje. Oxford: Clarendon, 2000. 47-73
3. Fraser, Robert. “Rider Haggard´s African Romances.” Victorian Quest Romance. Ed.
Robert Fraser. Plymouth: Northcote House, 1998. 28-46
4. Katz, Wendy R. Rider Haggard and the Fiction of Empire: A Critical Study of British
Imperial Fiction. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1987.
5. Sandison, Alan. “Rider Haggard: ´Some Call it Evolution…´” The Wheel Of Empire:
A Study Of The Imperial Idea in some Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century
Fiction. London: Macmillan, 1967. 25-47
6. Stiebel, Lindy. “Creating A Landscape Of Africa: Baines, Haggard and Great
Zimbabwe”.” English in Africa 28 (2001): 123-133.
7. Stott, Rebecca. “Rider Haggard´s Black Widow.” The Fabrication of the LateVictorian Femme Fatale: The Kiss Of Death. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1992. 88-125
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