Allan Quatermain Zulu Trilogy

[Plynkes]

Occasionally we get folks asking for fiction recommendations of a colonial sort, so I thought it was time to open a Colonial annexe of Björn's Book Corner to share with you some of the stuff that I have enjoyed. Today I'm talking about a set of Henry Rider Haggard stories that have been overshadowed somewhat by the more famous King Solomon's Mines, some comic or other that folks are always nattering about here, and a horrid pile of dreck with Sean Connery in it.

They are three stories which detail the adventures of famous big game hunter Allan Quatermain in Zululand over the span of about forty-five years. They are sometimes referred to as the Zulu Trilogy, or the Zikali Trilogy (after the character whose actions really drive events). The broad story arc concerns the long-planned, slow-burning vengeance of the Zulu Dwarf Wizard Zikali (AKA The Opener of Roads and The thing-that-should-never-have-been-born) against the Zulu Royal House of Senzangakhona. Quatermain finds himself time and again dragged into Zikali's schemes as an unwilling pawn. Also, he shoots lots of wild animals, and more than a few Africans, too.

Surprisingly enough the trilogy consists of three books: Marie (1912), Child of Storm (1913) and Finished (1917).

They are something of a departure from most of the Quatermain stories, which usually have some kind of fantastical, you might even say VSF element. He normally ventures off discovering lost cities, lost white tribes, immortal beauties and even weirder metaphysical shit, but these three tales are firmly grounded in history rather than fantasy. In the same way that George MacDonald Fraser inserts Flashman into historical events in his novels, this saga is woven into Zulu history and the fictional characters are present and participate in situations that actually happened. I rather like this approach, and it makes a nice change from the usual nonsense Quatermain gets up to (though I do love that too). The stories do contain African witchcraft, spirit magic, ghosts and the like, but it is portrayed in such a way that a sceptical person could dismiss it as trickery and hallucination (which is precisely what Quatermain does), but we are never really sure about this.




Marie.
Historical background and events: 1830s. Sixth Cape Frontier War. Abolition of Slavery. The Great Trek. Dingane and Piet Retief.
Plot: The teenage Allan Quatermain's first love. He falls for the beautiful daughter of a Boer farmer with tragic results. Oh, and he shoots lots of animals.

May seem like I've dropped a spoiler in your lap there, but I don't think so. The tragic ending isn't so much foreshadowed, we are pretty much told about it outright on Page One. It is a story so painful to Allan that he has refused to discuss or set it down on paper for many years, and it is only discovered after his death (the Quatermain stories are portrayed as if they were his memoirs, occasionally with inserts from other people's recollections).


"Well, they've got a very good bass section, mind, but no top tenors, that's for sure."

The action takes us from Cape Colony to Mozambique, Zululand and finally Natal. Early on Allan gets his own personal miniature Rorke's Drift (which is lots of fun), and for the rest of the book battles for his love of Marie to be accepted by her bigoted father; who rabidly hates the English and won't have his daughter marry one of them. Allan's evil rival for her love constantly plots his downfall, and Allan finds himself dragged into terrifying events at the court of Zulu despot Dingane. The Zulu Dwarf Wizard Zikali (Zulu Dwarf Wizard? Isn't that a World of Warcraft character class?) first appears in this story, though we don't actually even see him, and his scheming doesn't really get going until the second book.

I enjoyed this book, as I like a good tragic Shakespearean romance, and there is enough action and drama to keep you interested. The atmosphere of sheer terror living under the whim of a tyrant whose very word is death, and who distributes it arbitrarily, is well conveyed. The ending is (to my modern sensibilities anyway) the only slight let-down, but more of that in a minute in the spoiler section below.


Racism. Well, I think if you met H.R. Haggard today you would probably call his attitudes towards Africans a bit racist, but I think that for his time he was pretty progressive. Quatermain angrily condemns use of the n-word in one of the books, though it must be said that all the characters; black, white and in between, throw the nowadays-extremely offensive term Kaffir around like confetti. But you will find that the virtuous and the vile, the heroic and cowardly, and the honest and treacherous are spread fairly evenly across all the races and nationalities in the Quatermain books. It is certainly a refreshing change from some of the Victorian and early 20th Century's writers, with their idiotic ideas about Africans and barely concealed white supremacism. I'm looking at you, John Buchan.

Haggard likes to portray the Zulus, among other things, as a nation hopelessly addicted to gossip and scandal-mongering, rather than just a one-note "savage-yet-noble" warrior people.  I actually find that quite endearing, as they seem not so different to our society today in that regard. It is clear however, that either Quatermain, Haggard or both don't think all that much of the Boers. Even so there are plenty of sympathetic Boer characters. But the devilishly handsome main villain, just to emphasize what a moustache-twirler he is, is half-Boer/half-Portuguese. You do get the impression that his fiery yet mysterious "latin-ness" is what makes him a bad 'un. Naughty Haggard. I soon got over this stumbling block by imagining him as a winking, cheating Cristiano Ronaldo to Quatermain's dopey but dependable Wayne Rooney. 

Next: Things get hot and steamy in Child of Storm.

After the next picture is a short spoiler section. Skip it if you don't want to be spoiled.


Allan shoots some local wildlife dead. Get used to it: this is what Quatermain does.



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Spoiler ahead
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The Ending. This was the only part where I wasn't totally convinced.  Our pal Ronaldo has spent the entire book cheating, lying, and even repeatedly trying to murder Quatermain in order to get the girl. At the end he manages to frame Allan for a treacherous crime which he actually committed himself. But his scheme comes undone and he himself is mortally hurt. The Boers are still going to lynch Quatermain, and only the testimony of Ronaldo can save him. If he keeps his gob shut he takes Allan with him, twrling his moustache and cackling as he goes. Instead he goes and confesses everything. Either it is supposed to show him to be redeemable, or he suddenly fears eternal damnation, but it seemed so out of character compared with how he acted for the rest of the book that I found myself in a "What the fuck...?!!" moment. I suppose the deathbed confession is a staple of older fiction, but I didn't really buy it. Do people really do this? To casually cast aside the villainy that has defined everything about him like that. What was the fucking point all this time? You could have saved everyone a whole lot of bother, and a lot less people would be dead! You could have at least carried it through to the end, you fucking idiot! Oh well, at least it makes him a more interesting character to ponder, and gives you something to think about. 




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[Heldrak]

Thanks, Plynkes. I confess to having been a bit confused as to how all the various Quatermain books fit together and this helps.

[Plynkes]

The edition I have suggests this as a chronological order for the stories (quite different to the order they were written in, though):

Marie
Child of Storm
Allan's Wife
A Tale of Three Lions
Maiwa's Revenge
Hunter Quatermain's Story
Long Odds
Allan and the Holy Flower
Heu Heu or The Monster
She and Allan
Treasure of the Lake
The Ivory Child
Finished
Magepa the Buck
King Solomon's Mines
The Ancient Allan
Allan and the Ice Gods
Allan Quatermain

But I chose to read the Zulu Trilogy together as they form a broad story arc, which the other books don't really do.

[Gluteus Maximus]

I'm surprised there are that many Quatermain stories 

Definitely worth hunting them down, starting with this trilogy!

[Gluteus Maximus]

This is an absolute no-brainer for those who can cope with reading e-books.

"The H. Rider Haggard Omnibus: 68 Novels and Short Stories (Halcyon Classics) [Kindle Edition]"

£2.23 including VAT!

From: http://www.amazon.co.uk/H-Rider-Haggard-Omnibus-Classics/dp/B002WPZV7S/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1284219434&sr=1-9

Wish I could handle reading lots of e-text 

[Plynkes]

"I dare say that the storm will follow, Inkoosi, for she was born in a storm and storm goes with her; but what of that, if she and I stand it out together? I love her, and I had rather die with her than live with any other woman."

Child of Storm
Historical background and events: 1850s. The court of Mpande. "The War between the Princes" (Cetshwayo's Usuthu faction vs. Mbulazi's iziGqoza). Battle of 'Ndondakasuka. John Dunn.
Plot: The tale of Mameena, the eponymous 'Child of Storm.' A sort of Zulu Helen of Troy/Lady MacBeth, whose vaulting ambition brings many, many brave men down to their deaths. In the background Zikali the Zulu Dwarf Wizard laughs and plots as we learn of his hatred for the children of Senzangakhona. Once more Quatermain is sucked into Zulu affairs. Oh, and he kills lots of animals.


The title character Mameena, who was born amid a terrible storm and whose name echoes the sound the wind made that dread night, is the central character of this one. She is also the girl that just about every character in this book wants to fuck. Even old steadfast Quatermain is not immune to her charms and gets a little bout of jungle fever, though of course he manfully resists it like a proper Englishman should. Her desirability is taken to the extreme when we learn that even her father expresses the wish that she were not his daughter so that he could, well, you know... (Ewwww, thanks for that one, HRH!). You could quite fairly subtitle this one "There's Something about Mameena." She uses her almost magical power over men ruthlessly, in a bid to to become Queen of the Zulu. As you can probably guess, this does not go well for many of the characters, and it sparks a bloody civil war among the Zulu, which Allan finds himself caught smack bang in the middle of.


We finally come face to face with Zikali, the Knight Elf Mohawk (think that was it).

I think even the author fell for his creation here, for he actually calls her the "heroine" of the piece. Well, she's certainly the protagonist, but heroine is really, really stretching it. One thing she does is so vile that it squarely puts her in the realm of irredeemable villainy, and yet, I too found myself rooting for her. Well, I guess there really is something about Mameena.


Now while this is a Quatermain story, he isn't really the hero or even the protagonist. He does get a few badass moments but he is really not much more than a glorified narrator who also happens to be one of the characters in the tale. It is really a Zulu story with Zulu heroes and villains, and old Quatermain is just swept up in it. I quite like this in that it avoids the all too familiar situation of Kevin Costner or Tom Cruise storming in, learning the natives ways and then sorting everything out for them type of scenario. Whitey here is not the main man.


"Oi! You're the geezer what shagged my bird. Outside in the car park, now!"

Now you might notice something about the woman in the pictures on this post. Yep, that's Mameena, a Zulu noblewoman. She's supposed to be so beautiful that almost no man can resist her. I guess the illustrator really struggled coming to grips with the concept of a beautiful black woman, and thus we get Natalie Wood in West Side Story on the cover. I guess it shows that the old Hollywood trope of "...but not too black" that keeps Halle Berry in work is older than cinema.

This one is my favourite of the trilogy. It is a very interesting period of Zulu history, and Mameena is just too fucking cool. I too love this girl who can get half of Zululand to kill the other half just by waggling her arse. I'm quite sure I'd slit all you lot's throats in the night if she but winked at me and asked me to do it. 



Bloody typical. For the first half of the book Mameena's wardrobe consists of nothing more than a string of beads, and yet they choose to illustrate THIS scene!


Next: Things come to a head and Zikali plots his final vengeance in Finished.

[Bugsda]

I always thought a Zulu's idea of a full on sex goddess started at about 18 stone 

I'll be after these, do you know if they're available as Audiobooks Plynkes?

[Plynkes]

Amazon have Marie and Child of Storm on CD (at prices that seemed a little steep to me, or maybe I'm just being a cheapskate), but I couldn't see Finished.

[JollyBob]

Cheers for this Plynkes, I'm really enjoying your reviews and its inspiring me to seek the books out. 

[Plynkes]

"It is men we fear, not spirits, now when all Zululand is boiling like a pot."


"There, then, on that plain perished the Zulu kingdom which was built up by Chaka."

Finished
Historical background and events: 1870s. British annexation of the Transvaal. Sekhukhune and the Pedi War. Zulu War. Isandlwana. The fall of the Zulu kingdom.
Plot: Once more Allan finds himself the unwilling pawn of Zikali the dwarf, whose infernal plotting against the Zulu royal house finally comes to a climax. Quatermain is haunted by a shadow from the past. For once Allan doesn't kill all that many animals, but makes up for it by killing lots and lots of Africans.


Amid much witchcraft and hocus pocus, Allan has a hand in causing the Zulu war, though he is manipulated into it by Zikali, and doesn't really have much of a choice in the matter. He also confirms his badass credentials by not only surviving Isandlwana (after expending all his ammunition), a nasty case of sunstroke, but also getting struck by fucking lightning!

We also discover him to be a complete hypocrite. Early on he runs into trouble with a couple of English ne'er-do-wells who are mixed up in an illegal diamond racket and running guns to the Pedi. He roundly condemns the latter. Running guns to the natives is a terribly wicked thing for an Englishman to be doing. Except, in Child of Storm, Quatermain himself was making a quick buck running guns to the Zulus. He seems to have forgotten that. Or maybe that was okay, because in the 1850s the Zulus were only planning to use those guns to kill each other, and not white people.

One more interesting tidbit, we gain an insight into Quatermain's (and presumably Haggard's) views on lesbianism, which he seems to think is a form of hysteria, that native women (and witch-docteresses in particular) are particularly prone to. Okay...

...Actually, this bears looking into, strictly from a scientific viewpoint, of course. So any donations to set up a fund to get me a subscription to Hot Ebony Lezzers.com would be gratefully appreciated. Purely so we can gain a deeper insight into this phenomenon, of course.



They really stiffed us on illustrations this time. I couldn't find an edition with any more pictures than this one. Oh well, at least we got a hint of boobage.

In case you are wondering about the rather odd title, "Finished" or "Finished with Joy" is supposedly the translation of the name of the kraal Jazi, which is where Cetshwayo met his end, some say by poison...

All good fun, I enjoyed this one. Plenty of intrigue and a fair bit of action. Plus romance, mystery, supernatural shenanigans and a bit of comedy (notably the Zulus gossiping about Allan and a fat mixed-race maid who they think is his wife).


The winding up of the saga is something of a downer, with much reflection on the past, and an atmosphere of melancholy at the end. But that was to be expected given the subject matter. Despite being a patriotic Briton, you can't but feel Quatermain regrets the passing of the Zulu Kingdom, and maybe Haggard did, too.

[Hammers]

Cheers for this Plynkes, I'm really enjoying your reviejavascript:void(0);ws and its inspiring me to seek the books out. 

Oh yes, but I am now also very keen to get these wonderfully editions with 'Boy's Own' type of illustrations. Just look at that African stunner in her Versace haut couture shift...

[Hammers]

One more interesting tidbit, we gain an insight into Quatermain's (and presumably Haggard's) views on lesbianism, which he seems to think is a form of hysteria, that native women (and witch-docteresses in particular) are particularly prone to.

A common sentiment of the time, I gather. And of present day Utah.

...Actually, this bears looking into, strictly from a scientific viewpoint, of course. So any donations to set up a fund to get me a subscription to Hot Ebony Lezzers.com would be gratefully appreciated. Purely so we can gain a deeper insight into this phenomenon, of course.

Naughty!

Great reviews, Dylan. You mention the supernatural elements, are they, within the novels,  'actual' or 'perceived', if you understand what I mean?

[Plynkes]

That's odd. There was a post by Greywolf earlier, but it seems to have vanished. Another mysterious lost post, or just a deletion by the author? I only ask as folks have been reporting vanishing posts lately.

You mention the supernatural elements, are they, within the novels,  'actual' or 'perceived', if you understand what I mean?

Some are exposed as fakery and witchdoctor showmanship (in fact the main plot thrust of the third book revolves around such a deception, and it is this that leads to the war). But there is much that happens that isn't explained, and in one particular (and significant) case Quatermain never finds out the truth of the matter (not for want of trying), and that really bothers him. As the whole saga is presented as being written by Quatermain himself we only have his perceptions to go on, so what he doesn't know, we don't know.

[Hammers]

That's odd. There was a post by Greywolf earlier, but it seems to have vanished. Another mysterious lost post, or just a deletion by the author? I only ask as folks have been reporting vanishing posts lately.


Some are exposed as fakery and witchdoctor showmanship (in fact the main plot thrust of the third book revolves around such a deception, and it is this that leads to the war). But there is much that happens that isn't explained, and in one particular (and significant) case Quatermain never finds out the truth of the matter (not for want of trying), and that really bothers him. As the whole saga is presented as being written by Quatermain himself we only have his perceptions to go on, so what he doesn't know, we don't know.

Sounds like effective narrative. (I have only just started with King Solomons mines)

[Mors]

I would love to get those illustrated versions, but I think this one will have to do
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Allan-Quatermain-Trilogy-Marie-Finished/dp/1604590807/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1284419950&sr=8-1

I'm currently painting up Zulus and Xhosa so after reading this thread it's a must buy situation for me. 

Cheers Mors