In many ways, the Indiana Jones films were influenced by H. Rider Haggard’s tales of exotic quests and adventure in far-flung parts of the world, often Africa, featuring his intrepid hunter-explorer, Allan Quatermain. Indiana Jones’s signature move – narrowly escaping a room filled with danger, only to reach his hand back to retrieve his hat – even appears in King Solomon’s Mines. [1]
Sir Henry Rider Haggard, generally known as H. Rider Haggard, is best known for his romantic adventure tale, King Solomon’s Mines (1885), which tells the story of Allan Quatermain, who led a team of adventurers through an unexplored region of the continent in order to search for a team member’s brother.
Haggard was born on 22 June 1856 at Bradenham, Norfolk, the eighth of ten children to William Meybohm Rider Haggard, a barrister, and his wife Ella, an author and poet. He did not receive the gentlemen’s education given to his brothers because his parents thought him too dull, so he was tutored at home where he had access to books and attended Ipswich Grammar School.
At the age of 19, Haggard embarked on a life-changing journey when he sailed to South Africa in 1875. There, he worked as a civil servant and held the unpaid position of assistant to the secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of Natal. In 1880 he married Mariana Louisa Margitson, an heiress. For a time, they lived on a Transvaal ostrich farm but returned to England at the beginning of the first Boer War in 1882. The couple eventually had three sons and maintained a strong partnership throughout their lives.
After publishing a study of contemporary African history, his first novels, Dawn (1884) and The Witch’s Tale (1884), were undistinguished. Then, according to a story, when Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous Treasure Island was published in book form in 1883, Haggard made a bet with his brother that he could write a better one. The resulting novel, created in just six weeks, was King Solomon’s Mines, a story of a group of treasure hunters searching for a legendary diamond mine in a lost land. The adventure tale is one of the first English adventure novels set in Africa. It became a sensation and has been in print ever since. Haggard repeated his success with three more novels set in Africa – She, Jess, and Allan Quatermain, all published in 1887.
Haggard was profilic, writing over 50 novels, as well as a variety of short stories and non-fiction works. His works are characterized by their thrilling adventures, richly detailed landscapes, and often, elements of the supernatural or the mysterious. He gained fame for pioneering the “Lost World” literary genre, where characters embark on daring expeditions to discover hidden civilizations, encounter ancient mysteries, and face extraordinary challenges.