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Allan Quatermain
by Sir Henry Rider Haggard |
This novel is the sequel to Haggard's first and most celebrated novel, King Solomon's Mines. The hero is - as the title suggests - Mr #Allan Quatermain, a hunter. The story started not long after the funeral of his son, Harry. Quatermain's two lifelong friends, Sir Henry Curtis and Captain John Good, visited him and, tired of "civilisation" and having no more close family, they agreed to leave England for Africa once again. Through Quatermain's eyes, readers will then be brought into their adventure to find an unknown white race in the heart of Africa, about which Quatermain had heard rumors.
I haven't read King Solomon's Mines yet, but I had watched a movie of it. From the movie, I got the impression that Quatermain's adventure was somewhat similar to Indiana Jones'. I expected similar kind of adventure when I decided to bring this book home with me. If you share the same expectation, you might be disappointed to find that this book offers a different kind of adventure. Although the story is about getting into unknown, unexplored land, Allan Quatermain paid more attention to social conflict and battles - colossal battles with large casualties.
The storyline is simple. Readers are brought to see things through Quatermain's eyes and judge the circumstances based on his thought. The language style might be a bit of pain at first. There is a tendency of using the same style over and over. The plot usually promises many possible branches for the story only to crush them all, either all at once or one by one, by introducing "unexpected" incidents. The story then goes to a new (and sometimes foolish) direction. However, nothing really surprising occurs in the story, bearing in mind that this was written before 1900, and European was still fond of conquests and battles.
On the whole, the story is quite outdated. Most of its twists and turns had been used (copied?) in newer stories, thus enabling readers to foresee what will happen next more easily. Regard the book as Haggard's attempt to continue the success of King Solomon's Mines.
Strength:
The moral of the story. Haggard tried to suggest that although European
(which he called "civilization") was superior in technology and society
systems, it did not necessarily mean that they could ignore the values
found in "savage" world.
Weakness:
The conflict between Allan's group and the high priest Agon. It was based
on the group's attempt to show off by killing some hippopotami prior to
entering Zu-Vendi, the new land.
It seems to me that Haggard forced this too much.
Why would Allan's group want to show off if they are "experienced hunters?"
It does not make perfect sense.
Additional comment:
Haggard's passion to learn about African tribes is reflected in this book.
He seemed to find a wisdom in the simple lifestyle of "the savage" and
admire - perhaps even envy - great personalities created by this lifestyle.
Umslopogaas is the symbol he used to represent those personalities: mature
on survival, yet childish and innocent on morals - "modern civilisation"
morals.
Umslopogaas, as a savage, slew other warriors in fair combats not for
hatred nor envy (which Haggard seemed to regard as the source of moral
degradation in modern society), but for "natural selection." Those who aren't
competitive enough as a warrior will be eliminated.