Name: Cleopatra
Price: 52.19 RON
Availability: InStock
Author: H. Rider Haggard
ISBN: 9781514195741

Cleopatra

H. Rider Haggard

Sir Henry William Rider Haggard KBE [Knight Commander ] (22 June 1856 - 14 May 1925) was an English writer of adventure novels set in exotic locations, predominantly Africa, and a founder of the Lost World literary genre. His stories, situated at the lighter end of Victorian literature, continue to be popular and influential. One of his best works, Cleopatra: is an Account of the Fall and Vengeance of Harmachis. The story is set in the Ptolemaic era of Ancient Egyptian history and revolves around the survival of a Dynasty bloodline protected by the Priesthood of Isis. The main character Harmachis (the living descendant of this Bloodline) is charged by the Priesthood to overthrow the supposed imposter Cleopatra, drive out the Romans and restore Egypt to its Golden era.As is the case with the majority of Haggard's works, the story draws heavily upon Adventure and exotic concepts. The story, told from the point of view of the Egyptian priest, Harmachis, is recounted in biblical language, being in the form of papyrus scrolls found in a tomb. Haggard's portrait of Cleopatra is quite stunning, revealing her wit, her treachery, and her overwhelming presence. All of the characters are mixtures of good and evil, and evoke both sympathy and loathing. While much of the material on ancient Egyptian ritual is overdone, the often brilliant dialogue and the fateful interactions between the principal characters make the book quite unforgettable in comparison to Haggard's better known but more conventional adventure novels. "Cleopatra" goes unrecognized in most discussions of Haggard-perhaps because of its stilted language. (Wikipedia)

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H. Rider Haggard was an English novelist, colonial administrator, agricultural reformer, and one of the central figures in the development of modern adventure fiction. He was born Henry Rider Haggard in Norfolk, England, in 1856, and spent part of his young adulthood in southern Africa, where he worked in the colonial service. That experience gave him material, settings, and political assumptions that shaped much of his fiction, especially his stories of exploration, empire, ancient kingdoms, hidden peoples, and dangerous quests.Haggard became famous with King Solomon's Mines, first published in 1885, a novel that introduced Allan Quatermain and helped establish the lost-world adventure as a powerful popular form. Its success was followed by Allan Quatermain, She, Ayesha, Nada the Lily, Montezuma's Daughter, The People of the Mist, and many other novels. His books combined fast-moving action, exotic landscapes, mysterious civilizations, supernatural suggestion, romance, and imperial-era adventure in a style that influenced later pulp fiction, lost-race stories, jungle adventure, fantasy, and cinematic adventure heroes.Allan Quatermain remains Haggard's most enduring male hero: a hunter, guide, observer, and reluctant adventurer whose toughness is often tempered by humility, fatalism, and melancholy. Haggard's work is also historically complicated. His fiction reflects the racial, imperial, and colonial attitudes of its age, yet it often shows more interest in African cultures, oral tradition, leadership, and moral courage than many adventure novels of the same period. That tension is part of why his books remain important artifacts of Victorian popular literature.Beyond fiction, Haggard wrote on agriculture, rural life, and land policy, subjects he took seriously throughout his later career. He was knighted in 1912 and died in 1925. His influence continued long after his death, especially through adventure fiction, fantasy, lost-world stories, and the broad tradition of expeditionary romance. Writers and filmmakers who built stories around ancient secrets, hidden kingdoms, perilous journeys, and larger-than-life explorers worked in territory Haggard helped define.