SPIRITUALITY in the FICTION of HENRY RIDER HAGGARD a Thesis
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SPIRITUALITY IN THE FICTION OF HENRY RIDER HAGGARD A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY of RHODES UNIVERSITY By JOHN SENIOR December 2003 ABSTRACT Neither an unquestioning support for British imperialism nor a personal pre-Jungian philosophy were the driving forces behind Rider Haggard’s beliefs or his literature. These two concerns were secondary to the author’s fascination with the supernatural, a theme prominent in his era, but less so in our own. A declining faith in European religion provided the dominant focal point in Haggard’s work. Although there are important overtones of imperial concern and indeed points of Jungian significance in the texts, these are generally subservient to an intensive wide-ranging spiritual discourse. The place of Haggard’s work in history and its literary merit are thus misunderstood when his spiritualism is not taken into account. No analysis of the author’s work can be complete without first coming to terms with his spiritual ideas and then with their impact on other topics of significance to both the author and audiences of his day. The spiritual or religious aspect of his writing has been largely ignored because of its subtle nature and its relative unfashionability throughout most of the twentieth century in the critical and intellectual climate of the Western world. However, in the Victorian era, under the materialist impact of Darwin, Marx and industrialization, Europe's Christian God was pushed from centre stage, creating widespread spiritual hunger and anguish. In the resulting religious vacuum Haggard's overtures were of particular significance to his audience. In fact, when considered in terms of his immense contemporary popularity, the pervasive presence of spirituality throughout Haggard's works and in his personal writing gives some indication of the subject's enormous importance not only to the author, but to late Victorian society as a whole. In light of this Victorian significance, the spiritual element rises, by its constant presence and persistent foregrounding, to subvert not only the imperial and the Jungian, but even Haggard's overt adventure text by dealing directly with the underlying metaphysical crisis in Western society. Table of contents CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER TWO THE ORIGINS OF SUPERNATURAL INTEREST 27 CHAPTER THREE THE INFLUENCE OF AFRICA 48 CHAPTER FOUR THE SPIRITUAL WORLD OF THE FIRST BOOKS 74 CHAPTER FIVE THE STORY OF SHE 104 CHAPTER SIX TOWARDS THE SPIRITUAL 132 CHAPTER SEVEN A DEATH IN THE FAMILY 161 CHAPTER EIGHT A PIVOTAL YEAR: 1904 188 CHAPTER NINE THE TRANSITIONAL YEARS:1905-1913 209 CHAPTER TEN A NOTE ON RELIGION 227 CHAPTER ELEVEN THE WAR YEARS: 1914-1921 245 CHAPTER TWELVE THE LAST YEARS: 1921-1925 266 CHAPTER THIRTEEN CONCLUSION 290 BIBLIOGRAPHY 305 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION Henry Rider Haggard is often considered little more than an imperialist whose interests lay with the maintenance of the British Empire in Africa. Haggard's biographers, for the most part, have been concerned with his attitude towards empire and, more recently, with Jungian interpretations of his work, overlooking what should be central to any study of the man, namely, his early and continuing concern with the supernatural. Rider Haggard, as he is popularly known, lived and wrote in a world suffused with mystery and its elusive meanings. Inexplicable spiritual forces cast about in his works as commonly and powerfully as do ordinary earthly energies and phenomena. Religion is evident in almost every aspect of his writings: in the mouths of witchdoctors, predictions of the future, haunted places, and in justice meted out by the heavens. The tension and excitement of the netherworld thus created infuses the reader with a feeling of mortal, and indeed perhaps immortal danger tapping into humanity's mystical sense. Before beginning any further discussion of Haggard’s religious views it is necessary to define several terms which will be used extensively throughout this work and to point out some limitations to the scope of this study. The most important of these terms are “spirituality” and “spiritualism”. “Spirituality” will refer to the spirit regarded in either a religious or intellectual aspect as it concerns the existence of an incorporeal supernatural essence. Spiritualism, on the other hand, refers to the tendency towards or advocacy of a belief that the spirits of the dead can hold communication with the living, or make their presence known to them. Haggard’s belief in reincarnation and the occult aspects of his writing fall into this category. From a definition of these terms it becomes apparent that much of the focus of this study is on the spiritualist aspects contained within Haggard’s works. Consequently it is not within the scope of this study to discuss specifics of colonial society or Christian doctrinal history directly, nor is it an attempt to mitigate imperialist aspects of the author’s work. Rather, the purpose is to relate Haggard’s works to the complex linkages between spirituality, society and fiction. Nevertheless, various aspects of both church history and the post-colonial debate will be touched upon as they relate to spiritual themes and representations within the author’s works over the course of his lifetime. The spiritual and spiritualist aspects of Haggard’s writing have been overlooked principally because of their subtle nature and relative unfashionability throughout most of the twentieth century in the critical and intellectual climate of the Western world. Elisabeth Jay, for example, emphasizes the secular indifference of the twentieth century, differentiating it from the fervour of doubt present in the nineteenth century works of authors like Eliot, Hardy and Browning.1 In the Victorian era, under the materialist impact of Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geology, published in 1830, which directly refuted the Biblical account of creation, followed by Darwin, Marx and industrialization, Europe's Christian God was pushed from centre stage, creating widespread spiritual hunger and anguish. In 1835 the publication of Das Leben Jesu, by Friedrich Strauss, translated into English by Mary Ann Evans (George Eliot) in 1846 provides a good example of the concurrent Biblical criticism which sowed the seeds of such religious doubt for many. In her translation George Eliot describes Biblical narrative as myth, “which may be 1 Elisabeth Jay, Faith and Doubt in Victorian Britain (London: MacMillan 1986) 101. 2 considered not as the expression of a fact, but as the product of an idea”.2 In addition, Darwin’s Origin of Species documented strong evidence in support of natural selection, contradicting the biblical account of a single God who created humanity in its own image. Doubt was created surrounding the sacrosanct Christian belief that we are a divinely favoured species. There were two major consequences to Darwin’s theory in particular for Haggard’s spiritual beliefs. First, if one believed the theory, one could not reasonably believe in an individual soul or spirit, at least not in the Christian sense. Second, a consequence of a world governed by natural selection with no higher power or spiritual sanction was absolute moral relativity – a world governed by the laws of nature. Haggard’s spiritualism could accept neither consequence of such a naturally governed world, in reality or in his fictional representations. Within a growing religious vacuum in the late Victorian period Haggard's spiritual explorations were of particular significance. They coincided with the widespread growth of spiritualist societies and publications throughout the world. In fact, when considered in terms of his immense contemporary popularity, the pervasive presence of spirituality throughout Haggard's works may have helped popularize the subject with late Victorian society as a whole. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to demonstrate the central position of spirituality and the influence of Haggard’s spiritualism within his writing. This will be done by chronologically demonstrating the development of spiritualist concepts and motifs in the author’s writing. At the same time the important influence of this spiritual element on other significant themes including the imperial, proto-Jungian, and overt adventure themes which hold prominent positions in many Haggard works will be investigated. The focalization of thematic elements through the lens of spiritual interrogation significantly differentiates this work from other writing about Haggard. Such a focalization reveals the importance of Haggard’s writing as a response to 2 D.F. Strauss, The Life of Jesus Critically Examined trans. G. Eliot (London: Sigler Press, 1846) Vol. I, 86. 3 the shift in theological paradigms towards accommodating scientific discovery in the late Victorian and early Edwardian eras. It exposes Haggard’s writing as much more than purely imperialist because the author’s responses to spiritual matters directly influence his representation of imperial policy and practice. It also distinguishes Haggard’s writing from the dominant realist and naturalist genera of the late Victorian era via a revelation of his pessimistic representation of their underlying rationalism. Indeed, there is little doubt that Haggard sought to escape the realism and naturalism which held sway in the literary landscape of England by the end of the nineteenth century. He was, in some sense, the product, but also antagonist of an age pervaded by a growing rational materialism, of which Darwinism is a prime example. It had evolved to embrace the metaphysical world as well as the physical, in which scant room remained for God or a belief in anything which could not be explained by science. Such beliefs limited the justifiable field of metaphysical fictional representation to purely earthly matters. From naturalist authors the public learned that their God was false and their hope of eternal life vain. Yet metaphysical questions were not answered by science and readers’ passions were not satisfied by the careful studies of humanity undertaken by the great literary figures of the late Victorian realist genera.