H. Rider Haggard burst upon the literary scene in the late nineteenth century with novels like King Solomon’s Mines and She. He essentially created the ‘exotic adventure’ macro-genre, influencing the creators of Tarzan, Conan, James Bond and Indiana Jones. Over a hundred years after his death, Haggard’s books are still in print, biographies are being published and documentaries are being made about his creations.
Read MoreBelieve it or not, Marilyn Monroe possessed some unguessed connections to Edgar Rice Burroughs, H. Rider Haggard and Fritz Leiber.
Read MoreCormac FitzGeoffrey is perhaps the most notable of all the protagonists that Robert E. Howard created in his ‘Crusader’ stories; tales written with a significant element of historical realism. Cormac is reminiscent of Conan: tall stature, tigerish strength, fierce blue eyes, jet-black hair…and a force of nature on the battlefield.
Read MoreA. Merritt helped create and define the 'adventurer archaeologist' trope. Without his influence, we might not have the likes of Indiana Jones, Dirk Pitt or Lara Croft.
Read MoreThe H. Rider Haggard Project was created and funded by a husband-and-wife team of SFF art collectors, Howard and Jane Frank. The Project contributed greatly to the Haggard legacy and its paintings are excellent in their own right.
Read MoreWhether browsing the shelves of a bookstore or the catalog of an online dealer, when you come across a really striking image, you’re going to want to pick it up and find out what the book is all about. Unfortunately, sometimes the contents of the book don’t match up to what’s promised on the cover.
Read MoreH. Rider Haggard’s essay, “On Fiction”, was written in response to literary attacks by “The Dean of American Letters”, William Dean Howells. In the essay, Haggard makes one of the first great arguments for the inherent worth of adventure/fantasy fiction. It remains an early landmark in the field of literary criticism, penned by a titan just coming into his full strength.
Read MoreOne hundred fifty years ago, William Dean Howells fabricated the elitist rules by which American ‘literature’ is guided. American fiction still suffers from his boring legacy. Learning how we got here can help get us out of the pit he dug.
Read MoreOld Norse literature undoubtedly served as a model for the eventual sword-and-sorcery tales of Kull and Conan. Saga and Norse myth inform sword-and-sorcery more than the more popular Greek and Roman myths, with their warm climates and heroes hailing from civilized lands.
Read MoreToday we salute the life and work of one of the founding masters of modern speculative fiction, H. Rider Haggard. Though his creations remain classics in world literature, his name isn’t widely recognized among the general public. So today, May 14th, on the ninety-sixth anniversary of Haggard’s death, let’s take the opportunity to celebrate him and his legacy.
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