King Solomon's Mines
1876
- children's fiction
- mines and mineral resources, fiction
- adventure and adventurers, fiction
- quatermain, allan (fictitious character), fiction
- fiction, action & adventure
- africa -- fiction
- missing persons -- fiction
- adventure stories
- treasure troves -- fiction
- hunting guides -- fiction
The story
<p><i>King Solomon’s Mines</i> was published in September 1885, becoming an immediate best seller by tapping into people’s excitement for the unknown: in this case, the unexplored regions of Africa.</p> <p><a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/h-rider-haggard">Haggard</a> wrote the novel in a very short period, between six and sixteen months, on a bet with his brother to try to match <a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/robert-louis-stevenson">Robert Louis Stevenson’s</a> <a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/robert-louis-stevenson/treasure-island"><i>Treasure Island</i></a>. In the process he created a new literary genre known as the “Lost World” genre, which would later influence other writers like <a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/arthur-conan-doyle">Arthur Conan Doyle</a> and <a href="https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/h-p-lovecraft"><abbr>H. P.</abbr> Lovecraft</a>.</p> <p>The book tells the tale of Allan Quatermain, an adventurer and hunter, who is approached by Sir Henry Curtis and Captain Good to help them find Curtis’ lost brother, who went missing while trying to find the fabled King Solomon’s Mines.</p> <p>This book has spawned multiple adaptations in the form of movies, comics, and TV shows.</p>
What it’s like
Plainspoken first-person Victorian narration with a dry, self-deprecating hunter's voice, brisk and full of sun-scorched sensory detail: dust and thirst on the open veldt, the heat shimmering off bare rock, the grey-green gloom of mountain passes, and the cold dark of a cave lit by lamplight. Its pace is fast and episodic, with long stretches of travel and camp life that give way to sudden bursts of action, so it reads well in long sittings or in short bursts before bed. The mood runs from adventurous and wry to tense and dread-tinged. Violence is frequent and plainly rendered: hunting kills, spear and club fights, and a bloody, drawn-out battle, with some gore but little lingering cruelty. There is no sexual content, and the romance is restrained. Its colonial-era attitudes toward African peoples, and its language about them, are dated and can jar, so readers should expect that. It suits fans of classic lost-world and treasure-hunt adventure who enjoy old-fashioned, straightforward storytelling, and readers curious about where the genre began.
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