Review Colonialism Africa has been subjected to colonial

Review: Colonialism • Africa has been subjected to colonial control on a massive scale by European powers. • What was the attraction of Africa to these countries since colonization was not an objective?

African Impact: Aesthetics • European painting and sculpture of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries used African figures as subject matter and sometimes as inspiration. • Note the differences between Delacroix, Carl Einstein, and Picasso (~1906 -1900, towards Cubism).

Carl Einstein

Non-fiction vs. Fiction • What distinguishes non-fiction from fiction generally? • What predictions can you make about the differences in respect to travel narratives? • Is a fictional account of travel still a travel narrative? • What techniques might come into play that were less obvious in earlier texts?

Audience and Travel Narratives • How does audience function in travel narratives? • In the same way as other genres? • Which genres are associated with different specific audiences?

Children’s or Juvenile Literature • What qualities do we expect of juvenile literature? • What would a class called Children’s Literature probably contain? • Why are such texts suitable to children? • Are any of our texts so far suitable for young readers? Why or why not?

Anthropology vs. Adventurer • What distinguishes an anthropologist from an adventurer? • What changes occurred in the nineteenth century towards field work? • What does field work require that problematizes the study of culture?

Popular Representations • How has anthropological adventure been portrayed to us, say in Hollywood film? • You might extend this to archaeology as well, though they are not the same type of study.

H. Rider Haggard (1856 -1925)

Works • King Solomon’s Mines (1885) • She (1886) • Allan Quatermain (1887)

Characters • • Alan Quatermain Sir Henry Curtis (and Neville Curtis) Captain John Good Umbopa Various expendables Infadoos Twala (45), Scragga, Gagool

Locations • South Africa (Durban) • Kukuanaland

Myth and Legend • What distinguishes myth from legend? • How does the field of history relate to these? • How are the narratives of natives viewed in this text? With sympathy? Or, is the interest really aimed at exploitation? • passage: 6

Framing • How is the narrative framed? • How does this framing influence the reader’s sense of genre, identification, suspension of disbelief, etc. ?

Legitimation • How does the book start off as a “legitimately” scientific or disciplinary-informed description of a subject? • What clues of discourse point in this direction? • How are we able to recognize them?

To Note (2) • • • dialects indigenous flora/fauna military organisation domestic/family customs smelting/welding metals

Quatermain’s Character • How would you characterize Quatermain? • Does he possess self-contradictory qualities? – How does he justify violence? – What is his attitude towards women? • Does he have a counterpart in the modern world? • Consider the other characters as functions.

Audience and Character • What sort of audience is the story designed for, with its populist distrust of authority in the form of “civilized” governmental intervention? • Why are three men—Curtis, Good, and Quatermain—linked together? Are they representative of types? Of classes? How does Umbopa figure in this group?

Plot • How are the characters thrown together? • What motivates them? Note the differences between the party. • What obstacles do they overcome? How do the men function as a unit to overcome them? • How is Kukuanaland described?

Modern Sensibilities • The vicious destruction of animal life and a generally exploitive relation to nature cannot be missed. • Whose attitudes do these passages represent? • Are they significantly different today despite modern rhetoric about conservation?

Tone (? ) • The offensive of Quatermain’s remarks about race is evident throughout, even more so, if possible, by the fact that whites are colonial intruders in Africa who are depriving the native Africans of their traditions, resources, and independence. We should remember, however, that Haggard was born in 1856, seven years before slavery became illegal in the United States, and that this novel was published in 1885. Moreover, we should remain aware that the representations are filtered through the eyes of Quatermain—is there any room for irony here?

Examples • Examples abound, but we can examine a few: 9, 14, 21, 34 • However, we must ask whether this is undercut by (a) Quatermain’s intellectual limits and (b) the irony of Umbopa’s position.

Sexuality • As a book for adolescents, we have to expect a certain kind of sexuality (or we may tend to look for it). • Note the generally homosocial atmosphere of the group. Where is this most evident? Does it ever threaten to become overtly homosexual, or does this remain sublimated? (39, 50) • Breasts? (27)

Irony (? ) • Once Ignosi reveals his identity, he asks the whites for help in defeating Twala. At first, he offers them a reward in terms of wealth. Appropriately, the “noble” representative, Sir Henry, responds: “‘Tell him…that he mistakes an Englishman. Wealth is good, and if it comes in our way we will take it; but a gentleman does not sell himself for wealth. But, speaking for myself, I say this. I have always like Umbopa, and so far as lies in me will stand by him in this business. It will be very pleasant to me to try to square matters with that cruel devil, Twala’” (51). • How is the content here mixed?

For Next Time • Read: Haggard, King Solomon’s Mines, Chapters XI-XX