An ancient family heirloom – and a mother’s call for vengeance – sends young Leo Vincey and his adoptive father on a quest to find a mysterious sorceress, Ayesha, or She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed. In this video, I review H. Rider Haggard’s She, a novel which influenced the fantasy of J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis.

Timestamps:
0:00 Rambling about JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis
3:32 Brief bio of Rider Haggard
4:43 Percy Fawcett & TE Lawrence tangent
6:40 FINALLY talking about She
10:05 Eugenics & amorality
16:29 Comparing with Stevenson and Doyle
17:12 Is She a classic?
18:30 Race, gender, class
22:09 Back to Tolkien & Lewis
23:51 Final thoughts

SOURCES / FURTHER READING:
How to Pronounce Ayesha? (Sci-Fi StackExchange discussion) - https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/114218/how-to-pronounce-ayesha
Biography of H. Rider Haggard - https://www.britannica.com/biography/H-Rider-Haggard
“The Annexation of the Transvaal” (The Spectator archives) – Haggard directly participated in this political event. - http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/12th-may-1877/8/the-annexation-of-the-transvaal
“Fawcett’s Deadly Idol” - https://archive.archaeology.org/online/features/hoaxes/fawcett_idol.html
Article on Percy Fawcett’s disappearance (The History Channel) - http://www.history.com/news/explorer-percy-fawcett-disappears-in-the-amazon
The Lost City of Z, by David Grann – https://www.amazon.com/Lost-City-Deadly-Obsession-Amazon/dp/1400078458/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1517181385&sr=8-1&keywords=the+lost+city+of+z

Recorded: July 2018.

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