The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 10 April 1998
by James Hilton
This is the original story (published in 1933) of Shangri-La, the mythic land beyond the Himalayas. Western ideas of Tibet have been affected, to a great extent, by this fantastic story of a magical Utopia in the mountains. Four travellers, three British and one American, find themselves spirited away to the stark landscape of the Tibetan plateau, only to be guided to a glittering monastery overlooking a verdant and warm green valley. This is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery as Swiss spa resort. There are all the modern and Western conveniences, along with a vast library of Western books and demure Chinese women playing Mozart on harpsichords. When all is explained, the Western influence becomes clear, but that Euro-centric viewpoint may leave the reader disappointed. There is no Tibetan character in the book who isn't a servant, and Buddhism and real Tibetan culture are dismissed in somewhat disparaging asides. In context, however, at a time when Ghandi was considered an enemy of the British Empire, the book comes into focus as a fantasy of adventure and mystery. The author touches on the extreme suffering of war and the technical advance of civilization, as opposed to this remote Shangri-La of peace and meditative preservation of culture. Rather than great literature, the book is more a document of an adventurous response to Western ideals of the 1930s.
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