Book Classics: H. Ryder Haggard and Crichton

H

Heliograph

New member
The filing system around here is all wrong. There's a category "film classics," but no category "book classics." Is no one aware that books preceded films and Indiana Jones owes as much to books as films?

Take for instance "Congo." In "Congo," Michael Crichton draws on his anthropology background and fascination with new technology to create "Congo," a best-selling novel about a search for industrial diamonds and a new race of gorillas. The novel, patterned after the adventure writings of H. Ryder Haggard. And Haggard got his impetus from "Lost World" by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Haggard is all about "Fortune and Glory," lost civilizations and history. Somehow the history part got dropped by whomever wrote the screenplay. You can't write a Indiana Jones-esque story without a lost civilization and some knowledge of history. You really can't have a good lost civilization without referencing history. It has to be anchored to something plausible somehow.

So, there should be a category "Book Classics" or at least "History."
 
IndyBuff

IndyBuff

Well-known member
Crichton has always been one of my favorite authors. He's able to take science and medicine and create fasinating stories that, while fictional, seem as if they might be possible. Jurassic Park, Congo, The Terminal Man, Prey, and Timeline are some of my personal favorites (although A Case of Need, Five Patients, The Lost World, and Airframe are great as well). I haven't had a chance to read his latest yet but I'm planning to get it from the library soon.


Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond, is another author that I enjoy reading. His original Bond novels are great thrillers and are just plain fun to read. Some of them are quite different from the films but they're great nonetheless and still hold up well after 50 years. Every book is great and I'm currently half-way through the collection and as soon as I finish re-reading the Indy novels I'll continue with his. :)

Speaking of classic authors, are there any other John Steinbeck fans here?
 
H

Heliograph

New member
Indy said:
Speaking of classic authors, are there any other John Steinbeck fans here?
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Oh, yeah. Tortilla Flat and Cannery Row are favorites. I wouldn't call him an adventure writer, though. No fortune and glory.

You forgot Crichton's "Eaters of the Dead" which became the movie, "the 13th Warrior."
 
Jay R. Zay

Jay R. Zay

New member
actually, crightons original that was made into the movie "sphere" (samuel l jackson, sharon stone, dustin hoffman), is a great and believable creation, too (unlike the movie). i don't even remember the german name so i can't give the english one but perhaps somebody else knows what i'm talking about. the book about the UFO on the sea bottom.

while i think that "Jurassic Park" (the movie) was better than "Dino Park" (the book), "The Lost World" by crighton is much better than the movie. but perhaps that's just a matter of taste. prey was nice indeed.
 
IndyBuff

IndyBuff

Well-known member
Heliograph said:
Oh, yeah. Tortilla Flat and Cannery Row are favorites. I wouldn't call him an adventure writer, though. No fortune and glory.

You forgot Crichton's "Eaters of the Dead" which became the movie, "the 13th Warrior."
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I can't believe I forgot about Eaters of the Dead and Sphere! What was I thinking? :confused: Thanks for the heads up!

Sphere is another one of my favorites. I would have listed The Andromeda Strain but it has been so long since I read it that I've forgotten most of the book. Eaters of the Dead was a cool book too and I liked his spin-off of Beowulf throughout the novel. I have Disclosure but I haven't had a chance to read that one yet.
 
H

Heliograph

New member
Indy said:
I can't believe I forgot about Eaters of the Dead and Sphere! What was I thinking? ...I liked his spin-off of Beowulf throughout the novel....
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Anyway Congo and Eaters of the Dead are Crichton's Fortune and Glory books.

I suppose that's how I should have captioned this thread: "Fortune and Glory Novels."
 
Stoo

Stoo

Well-known member
Heliograph said:
Haggard got his impetus from "Lost World" by Arthur Conan Doyle.
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Actually, it's quite the opposite..."The Lost World" (1912) was written
25-30 years after "King Solomon's Mines", "Allan Quatermain" and "She".

So, there should be a category "Book Classics" or at least "History."
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A "Book Classics" section is a splendid idea and...if it were my choice,
there'd be a space devoted entirely to H. Rider Haggard's adventures.
Indy's origins are there for all fans to enjoy...
 
H

Heliograph

New member
Adventure Book Classics

Stoo said:
Actually, it's quite the opposite..."The Lost World" (1912) was written
25-30 years after "King Solomon's Mines", "Allan Quatermain" and "She".

A "Book Classics" section is a splendid idea and...if it were my choice,
there'd be a space devoted entirely to H. Rider Haggard's adventures.
Indy's origins are there for all fans to enjoy...
Click to expand...

I'm sorry, you are correct. Haggard's books were penned in response to Robert Louis Stevenson's success. Haggard told his friends words to the effect that he could write an adventure as good as Stevenson's.

I'd make the category, "Adventure Book Classics."
 
Magda

Magda

New member
When I think of a classic pertaining to books, I think of Pride and Prejudice, Dracula, and The Scarlet Letter. A classic is something that makes a big impact on society and is the first of its kind. The books you guys are thinking of (i.e. Congo) are considered more like reader favorites.
 
H

Heliograph

New member
Ameera said:
When I think of a classic pertaining to books, I think of Pride and Prejudice, Dracula, and The Scarlet Letter. A classic is something that makes a big impact on society and is the first of its kind. The books you guys are thinking of (i.e. Congo) are considered more like reader favorites.
Click to expand...

Hey, have you looked at the "film classics" thread. Over there, "Mrs. Doubtfire" is a classic.

"Treasure Island," "King's Solomon's Mines, " "Kidnapped," and "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" are classics. I know because they used to be listed in "Classic Comics." (Probably before your time.)
 
R

Rae-deemer

New member
I am a fan of horror. When I think of classics I picture Bram Stoker Dracula, anything by H.P Lovecraft, Poppy Z Brite, and Brian Lumley. I can't stand Dean Koontz or Mr. King. They are too cookie cutter for me.
 
Stoo

Stoo

Well-known member
Heliograph said:
"Treasure Island," "King's Solomon's Mines, " "Kidnapped," and "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" are classics. I know because they used to be listed in "Classic Comics." (Probably before your time.)
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The true, adventure classics...Here's my personal list of Goodies:

Robert Louis Stevenson - "Treasure Island" & "Kidnapped"
Jules Verne - "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" & "20,000 Leagues..."
H. Rider Haggard - "King Solomon's Mines" & "She"
Rudyard Kipling - "Kim" & "The Man Who Would Be King"
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - "The Lost World" & "Sherlock Holmes"'
Edgar Rice Burroughs - "The Land That Time Forgot" & "Tarzan"

P.S. The origin of "King Solomon's Mines" derived from a bet that
Haggard had with his brother. Besides that, you're absolutely right,
Heliograph - Haggard was not impressed with "Treasure Island"!
 
H

Heliograph

New member
Stoo said:
The true, adventure classics...Here's my personal list of Goodies:

Robert Louis Stevenson - "Treasure Island" & "Kidnapped"
Jules Verne - "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" & "20,000 Leagues..."
H. Rider Haggard - "King Solomon's Mines" & "She"
Rudyard Kipling - "Kim" & "The Man Who Would Be King"
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - "The Lost World" & "Sherlock Holmes"'
Edgar Rice Burroughs - "The Land That Time Forgot" & "Tarzan"

P.S. The origin of "King Solomon's Mines" derived from a bet that
Haggard had with his brother. Besides that, you're absolutely right,
Heliograph - Haggard was not impressed with "Treasure Island"!
Click to expand...

Great list! Indiana Jones didn't spring from the minds of Spielberg and Lucas out of nowhere. Jones derives from the traditions of these stories and...

a comic book series also influenced by these books.
 
R

René

New member
Book Classics that preceded Indy & Star Wars

An author who had been compared to Rudyard Kipling, though he found that comparison odious:

Talbot Mundy, and his absolute best book, though he wrote for Adventure Magazine in the 1920's and had many popular adventure books:

OM, The Secret of Ahbor Valley, Talbot Mundy, 1924. :whip:

An adventure story I never tire of rereading, with a lost valley (lost civilization?), a fabulous jade treasure and a stolen fragment of it with mysterious magical properties, a mysterious journey on the secret trails of India, and the most outrageous opening scene I've ever read.


also:
Sax Rohmer and his Fu Manchu series.
 
H

Heliograph

New member
I'm surprised you didn't list Talbot Mundy's most famous work, King of the Khyber Rifles.

A short story of a far grimmer tone is H. G. Well's "The Country of the Blind." which starts:

Three hundred miles and more from Chimborazo, one hundred from the snows of Cotopaxi, in the wildest wastes of Ecuador's Andes, there lies that mysterious mountain valley, cut off from all the world of men, the Country of the Blind.
 
indifan101

indifan101

New member
I love the books Crichton has written. My favorite was probably Jurassic Park and The Andromeda Strain. Though I thought Sphere and Airframe were great too!
 
R

roundshort

Active member
This is almost an impossible comparison to make. Do you realize the real world effocts Haggards book had on the exploration of Africa? Haggard actually inspired young English boys to quit thier education and go become great white hunters in the unexplored areas of Africa, and helped (for the good or bad) the devlopement of Africa. I like some Crichton books, but wish he would stop recyling ideas (Read West World vs. Jurrasic Park)
Haggard is one of my all time favorties, and a prized possesion of mine (I have very few objects I care about) Is a first edition of Haggard's King Solomon Mines published in South Afirca, that I bought in South Africa while on Safari
 
Stoo

Stoo

Well-known member
Hey, roundshort, that's really cool to hear that you have an early edition.
Was it published by Cassell & Company in 1885? The reason I'm asking is
because the text was revised in 1905 for an illustrated version and most
modern reprints have the new text and not the original. Sounds like you
have a treasure on your hands.

Off topic: When and where did you go in S. Africa?
 
Stoo

Stoo

Well-known member
Roundshort, since you like to talk so much, why don't you cut the crap and
tell us about your experiences in S.Africa?
 
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