Search

In the so-called Age of Empires of the Nineteenth century, H. Rider Haggard's novels and romances became best sellers in the publishing market, and with plots set in southern Africa, they informed the imagination of many of their readers about the occupation of other territories, and inter-ethnic and intercultural encounters in the geopolitical frontiers of colonial interests. This article concentrates on the visuality of colonial Africa in two romances by Rider Haggard, Swallow (1899) and The Ghost Kings (1908). The analysis rests on the images and illustrations that accompanied these books, understanding them as elements associated with the political dimension of fictionality, especially the visual codes that intersect the imaginary and stereotypes associated with the South African territories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]