<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>Given his most famous account, “I can safely say that there is not a petticoat in the whole history” of his most well-known romance, <italic>King Solomon’s Mines</italic> (1885), H. Rider Haggard’s works have been mostly celebrated as significant examples of the representation of imperial masculinities in the late Victorian romance fiction. In this typical imperialist narrative, Africa provides a setting for British boys to become men (Brantlinger, 1988). This paper, however, suggests that this notion of male mobility is replaced by the portrayal of a female traveller in Haggard’s <italic>Benita: An African Romance</italic> (1906). Benita’s sea journey from Southampton to Durban also brings gender roles into question in Haggard’s long lost travel text. This article, thus, will explore Haggard’s work in the broad Victorian context of political, philosophical and racial beliefs, and investigate the role of female travellers in the construction of national identity.</p>
</abstract>

Given his most famous account, “I can safely say that there is not a petticoat in the whole history” of his most well-known romance, King Solomon’s Mines (1885), H. Rider Haggard’s works have been mostly celebrated as significant examples of the representation of imperial masculinities in the late Victorian romance fiction. In this typical imperialist narrative, Africa provides a setting for British boys to become men (Brantlinger, 1988). This paper, however, suggests that this notion of male mobility is replaced by the portrayal of a female traveller in Haggard’s Benita: An African Romance (1906). Benita’s sea journey from Southampton to Durban also brings gender roles into question in Haggard’s long lost travel text. This article, thus, will explore Haggard’s work in the broad Victorian context of political, philosophical and racial beliefs, and investigate the role of female travellers in the construction of national identity.

Travelling Across the Colonial Frontier: Female Mobility and the Making of English National Identity in H. Rider Haggard’s <italic>Benita: An African Romance</italic>

Gender Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Travelling Across the Colonial Frontier: Female Mobility and the Making of English National Identity in H. Rider Haggard’s 

Given his most famous account, “I can safely say that there is not a petticoat in the whole history” of his most well-known romance, King Solomon’s Mines...

Travelling Across the Colonial Frontier: Female Mobility and the Making of English National Identity in H. Rider Haggard’s Benita: An African Romance

Published Online: Dec 21, 2022

Page range: 86 - 97

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/genst-2023-0006

Keywords
Henry Rider Haggard, Benita, mobility, African romances, empire, colonial frontier, national identity, female traveller, gender roles, sea journeys

© 2022 Elvan Mutlu, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Travelling Across the Colonial Frontier: Female Mobility and the Making of English National Identity in H. Rider Haggard’s Benita: An African Romance

Published Online: Dec 21, 2022

Page range: 86 - 97

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/genst-2023-0006

KeywordsHenry Rider Haggard, Benita, mobility, African romances, empire, colonial frontier, national identity, female traveller, gender roles, sea journeys

© 2022 Elvan Mutlu, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Keywords
Henry Rider Haggard, Benita, mobility, African romances, empire, colonial frontier, national identity, female traveller, gender roles, sea journeys