She: A History of Adventure
Henry Rider Haggard
(Forgotten Books, Oct. 16, 2008)
She: A History of Adventure is a novel by H. Rider Haggard, first serialized in The Graphic from October 1886 to January 1887. In reprints it was extraordinarily popular in its time, and has remained in print to the present day. She is generally considered to be one of the classics of imaginative literature.In this work, H. Rider Haggard developed the conventions of the Lost World sub-genre, which many other authors emulated.The title is short for "She Who Must Be Obeyed", a translation of the Arabic honorific used for Ayesha by the Amahagger, a tribe whom she has enslaved. (The phrase acquired additional significance in British popular culture as the name by which John Mortimer's character Horace Rumpole refers to his wife.) Also, in childhood, Haggard's nursemaid used to menace him with an ugly doll which went by the name "she who must be obeyed". (Quote from wikipedia.org)About the AuthorSir Henry Rider Haggard KBE (June 22, 1856 - May 14, 1925), was a prolific writer of adventure novels set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa. He was also involved in agricultural reform around the British Empire. His stories, situated at the lighter end of Victorian literature, continue to be popular and influential to this day.Henry Rider Haggard was born at Bradenham, Norfolk, to Sir William Meybohm Rider Haggard, a barrister, and Ella Doveton, an author and poet. He was the eighth of ten children. He was initially sent to Garsington Rectory in Oxfordshire to study under Reverend H. J. Graham, but unlike his older brothers who graduated from various public schools, he ended up attending Ipswich Grammar School. This was because his father, who perhaps regarded him as somebody who was not going to amount to much, could no longer afford to