Search results for ""author h rider haggard""

This is the strange history of a journey into the heart of Kukuanaland; a trek into the interior of the dark continent to find a lost friend and discover the diamond mines of King Solomon.In the course of a long life of close shaves.

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When the adventurer Allan Quatermain is asked by Sir Henry Curtis and Captain Good to help them find Sir Henry’s missing brother, who was last seen trekking into the remote African interior in search of the fabled King Solomon’s Mines, he reluctantly agrees, yet fears that there is little hope of coming back alive. Following a map drawn in blood, the men cross vast deserts and scale snow-covered mountain peaks, facing fearful dangers and hardships, until they reach Kukuanaland, where they meet their greatest peril yet… This new edition contains extra material for young readers, including section on ‘Other Adventure Stories’, a test yourself quiz and a glossary.

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Allan Quartermain had been a trader and hunter all his life and knew Africa as well as any white man. He was returning to Natal, South Africa, when Sir Henry Curtis tracked him down and made him a proposition. Curtis's brother had heard of the famous, fabled diamond mines of King Solomon. He has taken an expedition into the unchartered interior to find it. He has not returned. Quartermain possesses an old map purporting to show the way to the fabled mines so, in return for a share of the treasure or a handsome stipend for his son if he dies in the attempt, Quartermain agrees to mount a rescue expedition. They journey over snowy mountains, through deserts, and into battle, but it is when the adventurers reach their destination that they must face Gagaoola, evil, clever and the greatest danger of all.

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Drawing on his fascination with African lore and his love of adventure to create a seminal work of fantasy, H. Rider Haggard's She is edited with an introduction by Patrick Brantlinger in Penguin Classics.On his twenty-fifth birthday, Leo Vincey opens the silver casket that his father has left to him. It contains a letter recounting the legend of a white sorceress who rules an African tribe and of his father's quest to find this remote race. To find out for himself if the story is true, Leo and his companions set sail for Zanzibar. There, he is brought face to face with Ayesha, She-who-must-be-obeyed: dictator, femme fatale, tyrant and beauty. She has been waiting for centuries for the true descendant of Kallikrates, her murdered lover, to arrive, and arrive he does - in an unexpected form. Blending breathtaking adventure with a brooding sense of mystery and menace, She is a story of romance, exploration discovery and heroism that has lost none of its power to enthral.Patrick Brantlinger's introduction discusses H. Rider Haggard's experience of Empire, and how he took the Africa of fantasies and wove its magic into She. This edition also includes further reading and explanatory notes.Henry Rider Haggard (1856-1925) was born in Bradenham, Norfolk, the sixth son of a lawyer. In 1875 his father procured for him the post of junior secretary to the Governor of Natal; spending six years in South Africa, he remained fascinated by the country's landscape, wildlife and tribal societies for the rest of his life. Haggard's first novel King Solomon's Mines was published in 1885, shortly after had passed the bar, proving so successful that he was able to move back to Norfolk to concentrate on his writing.If you enjoyed She, you might like John Buchan's The Thirty-Nine Steps, also available in Penguin Classics.'It is full of hidden meaning ... the eternal feminine, the immortality of our emotions'Sigmund Freud

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The World’s Desire begins with Odysseus utterly alone. His kingdom of Ithaca is an empty, abandoned wasteland. His beloved wife Penelope is dead. His patron goddess Athena has forsaken him. But then Aphrodite visits Odysseus and sends him on a quest to find the world’s desire, the face that launched a thousand ships: the woman he once knew as Helen of Troy. Armed with his legendary bow, Odysseus’s final journey takes him to a court riven by murderous factions, ruled by a queen who is haunted by dreams of Odysseus’s face . . .

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If representatives of an advanced civilization were to visit our planet today, would they be impressed or dismayed by the way we live? When three adventurers, Bastin, Bickley and Arbuthnot, are marooned on a South Sea island, they discover an ancient crystal sepulchre. Inside are two Atlanteans who have been in a state of suspended animation for 250,000 years! One of the awakened sleepers, the haughty Lord Oro, is the last of the Sons of Wisdom, a superior race who'd relied on their advanced technology to subjugate the planet's lesser peoples. The other Atlantean is Oro's daughter, Yva, heiress to the title of Queen of the Earth...who falls in love with Arbuthnot. Using astral projection, Lord Oro visits London and the battlefields of the Western Front. Unimpressed with the state of the world in the early 20th century, he sets out to do what he's apparently done once before -- use a colossal gyroscope to drown the planet, and restart the course of human history. A darkly humorous look at the politics and conflicts of his own era by an author best known for swashbuckling adventure novels (including the hugely popular King Solomon's Mines) set in the context of the Scramble for Africa.

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This is a diary of Sir Henry Rider Haggard's tour of South Africa in 1914. It captures his feelings and perceptions on the change of Southern Africa, and of himself, since his departure in 1881. In 1914, Sir Henry Rider Haggard, returned to South Africa. He had left in 1881, in his mid-twenties, an unknown, he returned a houshold name, after the success of his novels, such as "King Solomon's Mines" and "She". Touring the country as a member of the Dominions Royal Commission, Haggard found it hard to recognise the South Africa of his youth; war and politics had left their mark. Haggard had also changed, he considered himself a "man of affairs" rather than as a novelist. This account of his journey through Southern Africa shows his feelings and views on the changes he encountered and shows his thoughts on the plight of the Zulus and his meeting with John Dube, the first president of the African National Congress.

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Three men trek to the remote African interior in search of a lost friend - and reach, at the end of a perilous journey, an unknown land cut off from the world, where terrible dangers threaten anyone who ventures near the spectacular diamond mines of King Solomon.

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'My empire is of the imagination.' These are the words of Ayesha, the mysterious white queen of a Central African tribe, whose dread title, 'She-who-must-be-obeyed', testifies to her undying beauty and magical powers; but they serve equally well to describe the hold of her author, Henry Rider Haggard, on generations of readers. Writing 'at white heat', and in the flush of success after the publication of King Solomon's Mines, Haggard drew again on his knowledge of Africa and of ancient legends, but also on something deeper and more disturbing. To the Englishmen who journey through shipwreck, fever, and cannibals to her hidden realm, 'She' is the goal of a quest bequeathed to them two thousand years before; to Haggard's readers, 'She' is the embodiment of one of the most potent and ambivalent figures of Western mythology, a female who is both monstrous and desirable - and, without question, deadlier than the male. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

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'Don't you see that we are buried alive?' When Allan Quatermain is approached by Sir Henry Curtis and his friend Captain Good to search for Sir Henry's missing brother, deep in the African interior, he agrees to lead their expedition. Quatermain has a map to the fabled King Solomon's Mines, whose treasure the missing man sought to attain. Their journey takes them to Kukuanaland, where they find a warrior tribe in thrall to King Twala. Soon the white men are embroiled in a desperate tribal battle, and Quatermain's expedition can only reach its goal with the aid of Gagool, the ancient 'mother' no one trusts. Haggard's exciting adventure story captivated readers when it was first published in 1885. It helped inaugurate a wave of 'lost world' romances inspired by the exploits of British explorers in colonial Africa. This new edition looks at Haggard's own African experiences and unlikely literary success, and his ambivalent attitude to the native tribes and the ravages of the British Empire. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

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Three men trek to the remote African interior in search of a lost friend - and reach, at the end of a perilous journey, an unknown land cut off from the world, where terrible dangers threaten anyone who ventures near the spectacular diamond mines of King Solomon...

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