Allan Quatermain (novel)

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Allan Quatermain
Author Sir H. Rider Haggard
CountryUnited Kingdom
Series Allan Quatermain
Genre Adventure novel
Publication date
1887
Preceded by Allan and the Ice-gods  
Followed by Ayesha: The Return of She  
Text Allan Quatermain at Wikisource

Allan Quatermain is an 1887 novel by H. Rider Haggard. [1] It is the sequel to Haggard's 1885 novel King Solomon's Mines . Allan Quatermain is the second novel and fourth overall story in the eighteen-part series of the same name, though chronologically it is the final entry.

Contents

Background

Haggard wrote the book over his summer holiday in 1885 immediately after King Solomon's Mines . It was first serialised in Longman's Magazine before being published. [2]

Plot summary

At the beginning of the book, Allan Quatermain's only son has died and he longs to get back into the wilderness. He persuades Sir Henry Curtis, Captain John Good, and the Zulu chief Umslopogaas to accompany him, and they set out from the coast of east Africa into the territory of the Maasai. While staying with a Scottish missionary, Mr. Mackenzie, they run into a group of Maasai who kidnap Mr. Mackenzie's daughter. The Maasai demand the life of one of the party as ransom, but instead they lead an attack on the Maasai, catching them by surprise and slaughtering them. The group then travel by canoe along an underground river to a lake (which turns out to be the sacred lake of Zu-Vendis) in the kingdom of Zu-Vendis beyond a range of mountains. The Zu-Vendi are a warlike race of white-skinned people isolated from other African races; their capital is called Milosis. At the time of the British party's arrival, they are ruled jointly by two sisters, Nyleptha and Sorais. The priests of the Zu-Vendi religion are hostile to the explorers as they had killed hippopotamuses – animals sacred to the Zu-Vendis – on their arrival, but the queens protect them.

Both sisters fall passionately in love with Curtis, but Curtis loves only Nyleptha. Together with Nyleptha's rejection of the nobleman Nasta, the lord of a highland domain, a civil war breaks out. Sorais' and Nasta's forces fight against those of Nyleptha, Curtis and Quatermain. After a battle in which Queen Nyleptha's forces emerge victorious despite being outnumbered, it turns out that Queen Nyleptha is threatened by the treachery of the priests, who plan to murder her in her palace before her army's return. Umslopogaas and one loyal warrior manage to save her by defending the main doorway of the palace, while killing the attackers including Nasta and the chief priest Agon, although both are mortally wounded. Defeated and jealous, Sorais takes her own life. Nyleptha and Curtis become queen and king, while Quatermain dies from a wound suffered in the battle. [3]

Reception

The book Science-Fiction: The Early Years said about Allan Quatermain that the book was "one of Haggard's most successful works" and "the lost-race novel par excellence, setting up many of the motifs and fictional patterns that became an integral part of the subgenre". [4]

Adaptations

King Solomon's Mines and Allan Quatermain were adapted into the film King Solomon's Treasure . Allan Quatermain was also adapted into the film Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold .

Related Research Articles

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<i>The Ancient Allan</i> 1920 novel by H. Rider Haggard

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<i>Heu-Heu</i> 1924 novel by H. Rider Haggard

Heu-Heu; or, The Monster is a novel by H. Rider Haggard. Allan Quatermain tells the story of a monster in Rhodesia. Heu-Heu is the twelfth of the fourteen novels in the Quatermain series and the sixteenth of the eighteen overall stories.

<i>The Treasure of the Lake</i> 1926 novel by H. Rider Haggard

The Treasure of the Lake is one of the two posthumously published novels by H. Rider Haggard featuring Allan Quatermain. In publication order it is the seventeenth of the eighteen Allan Quatermain stories.

References

  1. R.D. Mullen, The Books of H. Rider Haggard: A Chronological Survey Science Fiction Studies, # 16 = Volume 5, Part 3 = November 1978. Retrieved 13 December 2013
  2. H Rider Haggard, The Days of My Life Chapter 10 . Retrieved 21 December 2013
  3. The illustrations are by C. H. M. Kerr (engraved by J. Cooper); six of these feature Umslopogaas and his battle-axe appears on the spine of the 1st ed.
  4. E. F. Bleiler and Richard Bleiler. Science-Fiction: The Early Years. Kent State University Press, 1990. (p.318-19). ISBN   9780873384162.