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She: Explorations into a Romance

An introduction, nine essays, a brief biography and a select but useful bibliography render this a useful volume of Haggard criticism and contextual material for senior undergraduates and MA candidates. The claim is made in the introduction that the novel possesses “great interpretative fertility” and this is certainly substantiated in the essays, which have a diversity which will make them collectively a good foundation for study of the nineteenth century historical romance as well as of the novel She. Ayesha’s origins in Haggard’s interest in archaeology, particularly the archaeology of ancient Egypt, his commitment to the British imperial project – and his doubts and anxieties in that area – are explored in essays by Gerald Monsman and Patrick Brantlinger and referred to by others. Andrew Stauffer discusses the enormous change in the reading public which became possible with the advent of cheap paper and therefore cheap editions of books, and which, of course, created a much larger potential readership for the adventure romance. Norman Etherington brilliantly and revealingly considers the concept of the planned and perfect city in the nineteenth century in the context of the abandoned city of Kôr. It’s interesting that Haggard portrays this model metropolis as an abandoned city – the inhabitants took every precaution, but infection was too much for them. I must cavil at one claim made by Etherington, that the Amahagger’s refusal to live in these magnificent buildings – “these barbarians declare Kôr is haunted” – is unconvincing. The large and beautiful Roman villa complexes of southern England were avoided by the invading Saxons on the same grounds – they called them ‘the cold harbours’ and preferred their grubby villages. Stephen Coan gives an excellent account of the writing of the work: Haggard tended to present himself as writing it in a single inspired frenzy, but it wasn’t quite like that. Tim Wheelhouse discusses the narrative and the effects of the different viewpoints presented. The reader is likely to group together the essays by Lindy Stiebel and Patricia Murphy, since both deal with the reception of the work. Stiebel writes of the enormous sales and the bitter resentment of several of Haggard’s fellow authors, in a manner which would be familiar today to J K Rowling. A book which greatly enriches its author by lodging itself in a secure market niche is always likely to be resented. And authors, who should know that books are not homogeneous and do not necessarily compete with each other, are often quick to resent the man or woman who makes money out of a success in a particular area far from their own. Stiebel quotes Henry James, of all people, complaining of “the beastly bloodiness of it.” Patricia Murphy’s essay, “She-Who-Must-Be-Rewritten: Fictional Responses to a New Woman”, though somewhat overwritten, is revelatory in its subject matter and above all, in what its author has unearthed in the way of contemporaneous responses. The fury at the figure of Ayesha, the undying woman ruler, an intruder in that most masculine of enterprises, imperialism, and beautiful beyond words, evoked anger, hatred and fear in many readers and writers. No