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HEU-HEU or THE MONSTER

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HEU-HEU or THE MONSTER

$10.50
Heu-Heu; or, The Monster , first published by Doubleday, Page & Company in 1924, is a novel by English writer, Sir Henry Rider Haggard. Allan Quatermain tells the story of an ape-like monster in Rhodesia. Heu-Heu is the twelfth of the fourteen novels in the Quatermain series and the sixteenth of the eighteen overall stories. The novel features a legend about a giant gorilla monster, to which young women are sacrificed. Some writers have speculated that Heu-Heu influenced the plot of the film King Kong. Allan and his sidekick, the faithful and always amusing Hottentot Hans go on a mission for the Zulu wizard Zikali (who had previously appeared several times in the series) and endeavor to bring back some leaves from the rare Tree of Illusions. They also attempt to delve into the mystery of Heu-Heu, a monstrous, 12-foot-tall, clawed and red-bearded semi-gorilla god who may or may not exist. As is usual in Haggard's novels, Heu-Heu starts off with an action set piece, a storm in which the heroes are forced to seek shelter in a Bushmen's cave, and from there moves swiftly and excitingly. E. F. Bleiler's review of Heu-Heu states "while the lost-race aspects of the Walloo are somewhat stale, the descriptions of Black native life are, as always, fascinating.” Writer G.W. Thomas has speculated that Heu-Heu influenced the ape-monsters of Robert E. Howard in the 1930s, in stories such as "Rogues in the House" and "Queen of the Black Coast." It has also been suggested that the Heu-Heu, the hairy wood folk, inspired Edgar Rice Burroughs’ ‘Mangani’ race.

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