Shangri-La

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Shangri-La is a fictional place in Tibet where people live in peace and harmony . The legendary place in 1933 in the novel Lost Horizon (dt. Lost Horizon ) by British writer James Hilton described and now stands as a synonym for paradise or ideal retreat from the world affairs.

etymology

Shangri-La is a suitcase word made up of shang (Tibetan gtsang , a historical name for central Tibet ) and ri (Tibetan for mountains) and la (Tibetan for passport ). Since Hilton's fiction has been translated into different languages, the spelling varies ( Schangri-La, Shangri-la, Shangrilá, Xangri-lá, Changrila ; with and without hyphen). The spelling Shangri-La is predominantly used, which corresponds to the diction in Hilton's novel.

In general, it is scientifically proven that the name Shangri-La , as a mystical place in Tibet, did not exist before 1933 and that the myth is linked to a fantasy of the western world . However, Hilton's Shangri-La is based on the ancient Eastern legend of Chang Shambhala , which is mentioned as a source of wisdom in early Buddhist scriptures . The forecast to Shambhala is a deeply hidden paradise and the spiritual center of the earth. This should only be accessible again when humanity is ready for it - and only when a few have the spiritual maturity to understand and preserve the teaching.

Lost Horizon was first published on September 26, 1933 by Macmillan Publishers (London) and William Morrow & Company (New York). For the successful novel, Hilton received the Hawthornden Prize on June 10, 1934 . By this time, seven editions had been published by Macmillan and nine reprints by William Morrow. The book was then translated into 34 languages ​​and reprinted under license by various publishers. 1937 followed Frank Capra's literary adaptation Lost Horizon (Eng. In the fetters of Shangri-La ). The Oscar-winning film contributed to media hype in the late 1930s and contributed significantly to the Shangri-La myth .

In 1939 the novel was published as Pocket Book No. 1 by Simon & Schuster and is often incorrectly referred to as the first paperback . However, it was the first paperback that could not only be put in your pocket to read on the go, but that people with modest means could also afford. The book cost 25 cents (equivalent to around $ 4.40 in 2018) and this publisher alone sold 2,514,747 times within a short period of time. Lost Horizon triggered a revolution in the book trade.

Localization

Hiltons utopia was so successful that many believe in the real existence of Shangri-La. Above all, adventurers, hikers, western seekers of meaning, pilgrims as well as those interested in nature and culture went into the vast tranquility of Tibet and in search of Shangri-La. The research into the mystical place continues unchanged.

In 1999, two Americans claimed that a monastery they tracked down in the remote Muli region in southern China's Sichuan Province was the model of Shangri-La. The geographer Joseph Francis Rock published several articles about the Muli monastery in National Geographic Magazine in the early 1930s , which supposedly served as a model for James Hilton's description. This claim was refuted in 2002 by historian Michael McRae.

Chinese marketing experts also went on a search and found Zhongdian in Yunnan Province , which was officially named Shangri-La in 2001 . In contrast, the British television presenter and historian Michael Wood came to the conclusion during a research trip through Tibet in 2005 that Shangri-La was identical to Tsaperang, the lost capital of the ancient Buddhist kingdom of Gugay, in what is now the Chinese administrative district of Ngari .

James Hilton describes Shangri-La in his novel as an idyllic valley at the western end of the Kunlun Mountains . He was inspired by the Hunza Valley, which is completely covered with green vegetation, in the north of Pakistan (then British India ), near the Chinese border, which he had visited in 1931. The remote Hunza Valley is located at the western end of the Himalayas and is enclosed by mountains. In addition, 1936 Hilton said in an interview with the New York Times that he in his research on travel accounts from the British Museum have resorted in London. The reports on Buddhism in Tibet by the two French missionaries Évariste Régis Huc and Joseph Gabet, who traveled to Tibet from Beijing between 1844 and 1846, are said to have been an important starting point for him .

Quite a few literary critics came to the conclusion that Hilton only relocated the fictional setting of his story to the highlands of Tibet because the Himalayas were probably the least accessible region on earth at the time. So the author would now perhaps let the action take place on the "back of the moon" or on Mars. Ultimately, Shangri-La is nothing more, but also nothing less than a metaphor for a secluded place of silence, peace, inner order, sustainability and reflection . Shangri-La should not and does not want to symbolize “paradise on earth”, Hilton's Shangri-La residents are not miracle workers and have neither conquered death nor physical decline.

Adaptation and reception

Hilton's fictional description of Shangri-La has had a lasting impact on the western view of Tibet and Lamaism . In many countries, the term Shangri-La , which is surrounded by mystifying ideas , has developed a life of its own - separated from its meaning in the novel - that lasts. As examples:

Topographical

Shangri-La had an extraordinary and far-reaching effect on Franklin D. Roosevelt . Historians describe the influence of this fiction on the then US president as a downright obsession . In order to increase the willingness of the US population to go to war, Roosevelt quoted a complete passage from Lost Horizon in his famous quarantine speech in October 1937 . In 1939 he renamed the Roosevelt family seat in Indio (California) and in 1942 even the country seat of the US presidents in Shangri-La (from 1954 Camp David ). At a press conference on April 21, 1942, Roosevelt replied to the question of where the planes had started in the Doolittle Raid , a surprise attack on Tokyo: "They came from our new base at Shangri-La." Two years later, an aircraft carrier was received by Essex -Class named USS Shangri-La .

Furthermore, according to various representations, Heinrich Himmler is said to have fallen under the spell of myth and sent several Tibet expeditions in search of Shangri-La. Influenced by this, an adventure game named Lost Horizon , which was awarded the German Developer Prize , was released in 2010 , in which SS soldiers can be hunted in a Shangri-La SS soldier that is virtually reproduced from the film . In 2015 the game Lost Horizon 2 followed . Likewise, Shangri-La is the target of the search in the action adventure games Uncharted 2: Among Thieves (2009) and Far Cry 4 (2014).

Shangri-La was sung about by Led Zeppelin in Kashmir ; from Oasis in Idler's Dream ; from AC / DC in Sin City ; Mötley Crüe in Dr. Feelgood and by Ray Davies . This is Shangri-La is a song by Mother Love Bone and Shangri-La is a track on Billy Idol's cyberpunk album. The last track on the album A New World Record of ELO named Shangri-La . Stevie Nicks released her solo album in 2001, entitled Trouble in Shangri-La . An album by Mark Knopfler is called Shangri-La and an album by the rap duo Insane Clown Posse also bears this name. In their song Searching for Atlantis , the band Saxon sings about the search of Shangri-La and Xanadu in a chorus.

Shangri-La has also been treated or adapted in many books. For example, in 1970 Harry Thürk published the anti-American novel The Tiger of Shangri-La , which appeared in several former Eastern Bloc countries and is about a secret US military base in Laos during the Vietnam War . The sailing adventure book Shangri-La, which was translated into several languages ​​in 1985, was written by Burghard Pieske . With the wind around the world . And the Japanese writer Eiichi Ikegami published the light novel series Shangri-La in 2005 , which appeared as a manga and anime television series in 2009 .

See also

literature

  • James Hilton: The Lost Horizon . Piper, 2018.
  • Michael McRae: The Siege of Shangri-La. The Quest for Tibet's Sacred Hidden Paradise. Broadway Books, 2002.
  • Martin Brauen : Dream World Tibet. Western illusions. Paul Haupt Berne, 2000.
  • Charles Allen: The Search for Shangri-La. A Journey into Tibetan History. Little, Brown and Company, 1999.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Collins English Dictionary In: collinsdictionary.com, accessed November 1, 2018
  2. ↑ Chinese Buddhist Encyclopedia In: chinabuddhismencyclopedia.com, accessed November 1, 2018
  3. ↑ Lost Horizon as freely accessible text in the original English version on Project Gutenberg In: gutenberg.net, accessed on November 1, 2018
  4. ^ Peter Bishop: The myth of Shangri-La. Tibet, travel writing, and the western creation of sacred landscape. University of California Press, 1989, pp. 6 f.
  5. ↑ Donald Lopez: Prisoners of Shangri-La. University of Chicago Press, 1998, pp. 2 f.
  6. ^ Claudia Frickel: Mystery. The hidden paradise of Shangri-La . Web.de-Magazin, June 7, 2017. In: web.de Magazine, accessed on October 31, 2018
  7. ↑ Featured Manuscript - Lost Horizon; Lakin Literary Arts . In: lakinandmarley.com, accessed December 10, 2018
  8. ^ Literary London: Hawthornden Prize. The Sydney Morning Herald , June 14, 1934.
  9. ^ Brian M. Stableford: Yesterday's Bestsellers. A Journey Through Literary History. Wildside Press, 1998, p. 47.
  10. ↑ Barcroft Books: Lost Horizon by James Hilton, William Morrow & Co. 1934 . In: etsy.com, accessed December 10, 2018
  11. ↑ Michael Buckley: Shangri-La. A Practical Guide to the Himalayan Dream. Bradt Travel Guides, 2008, p. 23.
  12. ^ Claudia Frickel: Mystery. The hidden paradise of Shangri-La . Web.de Magazine, June 7, 2017. In: web.de Magazine, accessed December 10, 2018
  13. ↑ Inflation calculator dollar 1939 to dollar 2018 In: dollartimes.com, accessed on November 5, 2018
  14. ↑ Thomas W. Ennis: The Pocket Books Founder Robert F. de Graff dies at 86. The New York Times, November 3, 1981. In: nytimes.com, accessed November 1, 2018
  15. ^ David C. Major, John S. Major: 100 One-Night Reads. A Book Lover's Guide. Random House Publishing Group, 2008, p. 116.
  16. ↑ Aboutbooks: The Lost Horizon by James Hilton. In: lovelybooks.de, accessed on October 29, 2018
  17. ^ Claudia Frickel: Mystery. The hidden paradise of Shangri-La . Web.de-Magazin, June 7, 2017. In: web.de Magazine, accessed on October 31, 2018
  18. ↑ Michael McRae: The Siege of Shangri-La. The Quest for Tibet's Sacred Hidden Paradise. Broadway Books, 2002.
  19. ↑ Timothy Carroll: Could this be the way to Shangri-La? The Telegraph, July 29, 2002. In: telegraph.co.uk, accessed October 31, 2018
  20. ↑ Michael Wood: Myths & Heroes - Shangri-La. BBC DVD , 2006.
  21. ^ BR Crisler : Film gossip of the week. The New York Times, July 26, 1936, p. 3.
  22. ↑ Michael McRae: The Siege of Shangri-La. The Quest for Tibet's Sacred Hidden Paradise. Broadway Books, 2002.
  23. ^ Helmut Puschmann: James Hilton. The lost horizon. 2018. In: Puschmann Literary Reception, accessed on October 29, 2018
  24. ↑ Martin Brauen: Traumwelt Tibet. Western illusions. Haupt, Bern 2000, pp. 96-100.
  25. ↑ Michael McRae: The Siege of Shangri-La. The Quest for Tibet's Sacred Hidden Paradise. Broadway Books, 2002.
  26. ↑ The search for the "micro-Shangri-La" as a retreat in the age of globalization In: internetloge.de, accessed on October 26, 2018
  27. ^ Claudia Frickel: Mystery. The hidden paradise of Shangri-La . Web.de Magazine, June 7, 2017. In: web.de Magazine, accessed October 26, 2018
  28. ^ Roger K. Miller: Looking for Shangri-La. The Denver Post, February 14, 2008. In: denverpost.com, accessed October 30, 2018
  29. ↑ Lezlee Brown Halper, Stefan Halper: Tibet. An unfinished story. Oxford University Press, 2014, p. 21 ff.
  30. ↑ Peggee Standlee Frederick: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "Shangri-La". Retrieved October 29, 2018 .
  31. ↑ Joseph E. Persico: Roosevelt's Centurions. Random House Publishing Group, 2013, p. 160.
  32. ^ Lewis E. Lehrman: Churchill, Roosevelt & Company. Studies in Character and Statecraft. Rowman & Littlefield, 2017, p. 28 ff.
  33. ^ Claudia Frickel: Mystery. The hidden paradise of Shangri-La . Web.de Magazine, June 7, 2017. In: web.de Magazine, accessed October 30, 2018
  34. ↑ Peter Dittmar: Where the greatest happiness resides . Die Welt , August 15, 2006, In: welt.de, accessed on October 29, 2018
  35. ^ Till Boller: The cinematic computer game check. Lost Horizon. Moviepilot.de, October 27, 2010. In: moviepilot.de, accessed on October 30, 2018
  36. ↑ German Developer Award 2010: Jury selects Lost Horizon as Best Adventure. In: adventurespiele.de, accessed on October 30, 2018
  37. ↑ see under the given link
  38. ↑ Harry Thürk: The Tiger from Shangri-La . Blurb of the 1st edition, Verlag Das Neue Berlin, 1970. In: harrythuerk.de, accessed on November 5, 2018
  39. ^ Delius Klasing Publisher: Shangri-La. With the wind around the world. 7th edition. In: delius-klasing.de, accessed on November 5, 2018
  40. ↑ see link Shangri-La (Light Novel)