Henry Rider Haggard


Haggard, Henry Rider

 

Born June 22, 1856, at West Bradenham Hall, Norfolk; died May 14, 1925, in London. English writer and publicist.

Educated at law, Haggard served as a colonial bureaucrat in South Africa and traveled extensively. His work is inclined toward the exotic and an idealization of the past. His novels King Solomon’s Mines (1885), Montezuma’s Daughter (1893), and Fair Margaret (1907) are filled with sympathy for the oppressed peoples of the colonies; they are distinguished by engaging, dynamic plots and informative narration. His later works, such as Queen Sheba’s Ring (1910), Child of Storm (1913), and Allan and the Holy Flower (1915), contain strong elements of mysticism and preach the cult of white supremacy. Haggard adhered to extremely conservative social and economic views; his book Rural England (1902) evoked severe criticism from V. I. Lenin.

WORKS

The Works. New York, 1928.
In Russian translation:
[Sobr. romanov], vols. [1–20]. Petrograd [1915].
Missiia v Transvaal’. Moscow, 1973.

REFERENCES

Leninskiisbornik, vol. XXXII. Moscow, 1938.
Cohen, M. Rider Haggard, 2nded. London, 1968.

R. IU. OLIUNIN