She: A History of Adventure

She: A History of Adventure is a novel by H. Rider Haggard. First printed in a series of installments for the magazine The Graphic in the winter of 1886-87, it was one of the first pieces of serial literature to reach a large popular audience. Told in the first person by the protagonist, Horace Holly, the story concerns his expedition with his friend’s son, Leo Vincey to a forgotten mythologized kingdom in the heart of Africa. Upon reaching the dense jungle in the interior of the continent, they befall a civilization of native people ruled by a queen, Ayesha, who appears to be white. Ayesha is hailed simply as “She,” stemming from the natives’ mantra, “She-who-must-be-obeyed.” The novel is best known for inaugurating the archetype of the “lost world,” which has since been recapitulated countless times by authors, such as H.G. Wells, and franchises, such as Jurassic Park.

The novel begins at the University of Cambridge. Horace Holly, a recently hired professor, receives an ominous visit from an old friend, Vincey. Vincey morosely claims that for mystical reasons related to his family lineage, he will inevitably die soon. He asks Holly to take care of his distant son, Leo. He also leaves in his possession a padlocked box, insisting that it not be opened until Leo reaches twenty-five years of age. Though hesitant, Holly agrees to his pleas. The next day, he is astonished to find that Vincey has been discovered dead.

Holly goes on to raise Leo as if he is his own family. On Leo’s twenty-fifth birthday, they open the locked box together and discover a fragment of pottery called the Sherd of Amenartas. Glyphs inscribed on the Sherd seem to match Vincey’s account of his strange familial past. In search of the truth, Holly and Leo resolve to travel to its self-referenced place of origin. Bringing along Job, their servant, they take a boat to Africa’s eastern coast, intending to venture thousands of miles inland.



On their voyage to Africa, the boat capsizes in a storm. The surviving crew, shipwrecked, is fortunate to have already reached the African coast. The survivors are Holly, Leo, and Job, as well as the ship’s captain, Mahomed. They press on into Africa. They are captured by savages known as the Amahagger, who claim to have anticipated their arrival from a vision proclaimed by their queen, “She.” Billali, an Amahagger chief watches the men and familiarizes them with his civilization’s norms. Leo falls in love with an Amahagger named Ustane, and they are married in a traditional ceremony.

Meanwhile, Billali charges Holly with reporting his crew’s arrival to She. Once Holly departs, the Amahagger attempt to cannibalize Mahomed by cooking him in a large pot. Holly discovers their plan and intervenes, firing his gun at the culprits. A stray bullet kills Mahomed anyway, after passing through one of the tribesmen. Leo nearly dies, but Ustane protects him from a fatal blow using her body. Despite her and the men’s pleas, the Amahagger decide to kill them all. Before they can proceed, Billali comes back from seeing She, asserting that they are all to be protected. Leo’s wounds are severe, however, and he approaches death.

The men are taken to the ruins of the city Kor, a proto-Egyptian city that is now the home of She. They venture through to an entrance in the side of a volcano and discover that they have entered the Kor people’s catacombs, which have been converted into a palace. The queen sits in her throne room behind a barrier so that only select people can view her. The tribesmen single out Holly and bring him to She, who also goes by the sorceress name Ayesha. He ignores her warning to avoid looking at her and falls under a powerful love spell. Ayesha tells him that she has obtained arcane knowledge, essentially making her a goddess. Her omnipotence is limited only by the fact that she cannot see the future. She says she has spent more than two thousand years in Kor waiting for the reincarnated form of Kallikrates, her lover, whom she killed. Without imparting further understanding, she dismisses Holly.



The following night, Ayesha goes to Leo with the intention of healing him. However, upon meeting him, she announces that he is Kallikrates. Covetous of Leo, she orders Ustane to leave him forever. Ustane, still in love with Leo, refuses, and is killed. Leo and Holly are revolted by Ayesha’s malice, but are unable to detract from her, still under the influence of her love spell. In a declaration of confidence of Leo’s real identity, Ayesha destroys the preserved body of Kallikrates.

Ayesha brings Leo and Holly into the heart of the volcano before a magical flame called the Source of Life and orders Leo to immerse himself in it. She believes that he will obtain immortality and affirm his identity as Kallikrates. When Leo hesitates, Ayesha asserts that together, they will become the king and queen of Earth. Leo panics, refusing to enter the fire. To prove that it is innocuous, Ayesha enters the flame before him, but it reverses the effects of her former immersion, draining her power. She withers away to nothing; Job dies in terror. Before she turns to dust, Ayesha screams that she must not be forgotten and will return in the distant future to reclaim her throne.

She: A History of Adventure is significant not only for its “lost kingdom” trope, but also for being one of the first works of British literature to pivot around a sympathetic and powerful female figure. Haggard also refuses to paint the same triumphant colonial picture of Africa as many contemporary writers, casting Africa as a place that is rich with life and purpose despite being unknown to the modern world.