Why would someone like Mallinson think that "civilization" was more or less confined to Europe and America? What are the dangers of such an attitude? What evidence of a refined and highly cultured civilization do they find at the Lamasery? Mallinson tells Chang that they want to "return to civilization as soon as possible," to which Chang replies: "Are you so very certain that you are away from it?" (p.Why does Hilton frame the main story of Lost Horizon with the conversations between Rutherford and the narrator? How do these conversations affect the way we interpret the story and understand Conway?. Why has Hilton chosen Lost Horizon as his title? What does the horizon of the title refer to? In what sense has it been lost?.The novel can also offer a way to discuss such issues as colonialism, storytelling, character, the brevity of life and the many ways humans have dreamt of-and struggled to find-immortality. Students will likely have strong opinions about whose view of Shangra-La-Mallinson's or Conway's-is more true, and the novel as a whole can serve as an excellent springboard for getting them to examine their own ideas about western and eastern cultures, the active vs. But Mallinson is able, at the very last moment, to convince Conway to help him escape from what he perceives as a nightmare of subterfuge and sham piety. Conway, because of his remarkable passionlessness, is felt to be ideally suited to the task. Indeed, it is the concern with extending human life-spans, and with finding a successor to the High Lama, someone who will preserve Shangra-La's treasures of wisdom and culture from "the coming storm," that lies behind the plot to bring the "recruits" to Shangra-La. This contrast between assertive action and passive acceptance, which Mallinson and Conway embody, highlights the differences between Britain, with its worldwide colonial ambitions, its confidence in its own cultural superiority, its outward focus, and the inward-turned world of Tibetan Buddhism, with its emphasis on meditation, moderation, and long life. Where Mallinson is anxious and aggressive, consumed with what action they should take, Conway is supremely calm and quite content to remain at Shangra-La indefinitely. He responds deeply to the life of quiet contemplation, the slow pace, and otherworldly beauty of the mountains of Tibet. Conway, on the other hand, is intrigued by the Lamasery and its urbane but mysterious host, Chang. Mallinson feels he has been yanked beyond the bounds of civilization and wants nothing more than to be returned to it as quickly as possible. Once Conway and his companions are taken, against their will, to the Lamasery at Shangra-La, the differences between western and eastern attitudes-and between the curious Conway and the headstrong Mallinson-become immediately and sharply apparent. It is this text, with its extraordinary account of Conway and his experiences at a mysterious Tibetan Lamasery, Shangra-La, which forms the center of Lost Horizon. Rutherford later reveals he has encountered Conway in China and received from him an unforgettable tale, which he has written down and passes on in manuscript form to the narrator. Conversation moves to the hijacking of a British military plane in India and the disappearance of a mutual acquaintance, "Glory" Conway. As the novel opens, an unnamed narrator is having drinks with a novelist, Rutherford, and an embassy secretary, Wyland. Often misunderstood, even by those who most admire him, Conway is seen variously as a hero, a coward, a slacker, a wise man, and a madman. The novel tells the story of Hugh Conway, a brilliant, talented, and immensely complex man. Though most often remembered for its depiction of the mythical paradise of Shangra-La, Lost Horizon can perhaps most fruitfully be read as a probing character study and a fascinating contrast of eastern and western cultures. He died in Long Beach, California, in 1954. Hilton moved to Hollywood in 1935 and enjoyed great success as a scriptwriter, winning a Best Screenplay Oscar for Mrs. After a stint at the Dublin newspaper, The Irish Independent, and the publication of several more novels, Hilton achieved immediate and lasting fame with Lost Horizon (1933) and Goodbye, Mr. Hilton went to on to study at Christ's College, Cambridge where, at the age of seventeen, he placed an article in the Manchester Guardian, and later published his first novel, Catherine Herself, in 1920. Chips is partly based) and moved the family to London where Hilton attended the prestigious Leys School. His father, John, was a schoolmaster (on whom the hero of Hilton's Goodbye Mr. Lost Horizon by James Hilton Note to Teachersīorn in Lancashire, England in 1900, James Hilton was both a best-selling novelist and a much sought-after Hollywood scriptwriter.
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