The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1888-07-20
"stNsAtlonAL hovEL. WRITING.
The Great Success of MIR. II. Rider Hag-
gard in This Line of Work.

MI. H. Rider Haggard i. one Of the
few men who haye rphie to the. front
within the. last decade, shaaing, with
the late T & lTargasJ:.'0 uah c1nway')
the distictSon, aid the success which
awaits fiction of striking incident and
vigorous passion - the sensational
novel" Mr.. Haggard is a Norfolk
shire man, little past 80, living during
the winter IN k~ensingtpr, hut FealiY ii
home at Ditchiu1ham Hou-e, Shngay.
in hs 6iitivs county. Before he was
20 he went to Natal with Sir Henry
Bulwer rs his secretary, and after the
annexation of the T%ransvaal, was APP
pointed Master of the High Court for
the new colony. In this South Africa
service in hSh some stirring personal
adventures, which probably gave di-
rccfion to his fiction sa,sst.. tic began
writing M3!""ever, with a book OF po-
iitlcal history on "Cetywayo and His
/ White Neighbors,n published III 1882.
His OWL prefarccce Is for wpt]t cf this
solid, matter ofzfact r'a'os3; Gut, Icsir-
ms. to Adnrt Che profession of l;tera-
TIE IN addition to that of barrister. he
learned promptly TINT this did not
meet the market or afford the physical
basis Of the literary life, so addressed
himself to fiction, his civil theeiv of
w3,K hcing, ns he eHtS ,int 1t in a let
tt'' i. Il ;Hiund that ''the. more closely
yon stief TO the !nil:iIih faqls and salient
passiionS Of l4'mnaa natul.i, 4.,.tth which
all thiH "Et.la is lainilias, tile better i,
VIII be for your work; and the more
you can contrivc to throw a veil Of
beauty and romance over the cruditics
and crncities of the tragedy of our
lives, by so much the more will! it be
pleasant, acceptable, and perhaps in
some degree instructive to others
MIR. Nnggar1 is II hard worker, though,
writing rs we'll IA talking with rapid
tluc,icy, and l,e both glcrhs and in
vents the intidnbis ~ iis stores. Prob
ably thb criticisms 81 plagiarism
brouglt against his ~edrlicl books have
caused him To be careful to credit the
authorities he usss, Since his recent
story, "Allan Q~uatermain," is prcfaced
by u statement of what may be called
his PREDATORY conrse of reading. The
use or adoption OF nctua! incident is
scarcely ~ tu accounted a literary sin,
''' wv ti'HNiN hii'Itib iIlIus lll,iN
run in invention is illustrated by MI.
Bcsant's statement that Rice and him
self used as n centralincidcnt in "W'hen
the Ship Comes home'' II situation
which they afterward found idcnlically
tho leading one Of SO wrllsknown a
book Us Charles Reaau's foul Plav,''
though lid charge of plagiarism was
brought against them. Mr.. Haggard
made his first score in his new line OF
work with Dawn" Yin 1882: but it was
liking Solomon's Mines published in
1856, whirh Wuh him his vogue, 81, 00C
copies h.irs sold in the home country
Within the first year, while thirteen
competing editions appeared (nct all
to the authors prot) in America
"She," following soon after, rivalcd
the sale of its immediate predecessor
and the success of these two recalled
attention td. lis carlief novels. MI.
Hagghfd still practices law; rs we'll Il.
writes fiction, and does not propose
to permit his head to be turned by his
sudden and worldwide stcccs. -Lu,
per'S.