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1、長春理工大學(xué)讀書報告 Book Report on Lost Horizon 學(xué) 生 姓 名 王繼新 專 業(yè) 英語 班 級 學(xué) 號 121011107 學(xué) 院 外國語學(xué)院 The Introduction of the Book The name of the book: Lost Horizon ---- by (U.K.) James Hilton The press: The Chinese versi

2、on: Yilin Press, 2012. The original edition: The Pocket Books, 1939. A brief introduction of the author James Hilton(1900-1954)was born in Leigh, Lancashire, England. He was an English novelist who wrote several best-sellers, including Lost Horizon(1933) and Goodbye, Mr.Chips(1934), Random Harv

3、est(1941). The novel Lost Horizon won him the Hawthornden Prize in 1934. Hilton was perhaps influenced by the Tibetan travel articles of early travelers in Tibet whose writings were found in the British Library. He was married twice, but both marriages ended in divorce. He died in Long Beach, Califo

4、rnia, USA, from liver cancer. An introduction of the story 1) The skills in writing the story: there were eleven chapters in the novel together with a prologue and an epilogue. Where the main story of the eleven chapters came from was explained in the prologue and epilogue, in which the author u

5、sed the first person point of view, by the narrator as a neurologist. While the main plot was written in the third person point of view. 2) The prologue: The neurologist and a novelist friend, Rutherford, were given dinner at Tempelhof, Berlin, by their old school-friend Wyland, a secretary at the

6、British Embassy. During that time, they talked about the topic of Hugh Conway, a British consul in Afghanistan, who had disappeared under strange circumstances. Later in the evening, Rutherford revealed to the narrator that, after the disappearance, he discovered Conway in a French mission hospital

7、in Chongqing, China, who had lost his memory. Later, Conway recovered his memory and told Rutherford his story in Shangri-La, a Utopian style place in Tibet. Rutherford wrote down Conways story; he gave the manuscript to the neurologist, and that manuscript became the main plot of the novel that for

8、med the next eleven chapters. After telling his story to the Rutherford, Conway left again. Three months later, a letter from Bangkok told Rutherford that Conway was about to set on a long journey ---- to the southwest. Maybe he was going to Shangri-La again. 3) The main plot: In May 1931, India, 8

9、0 white residents of Baskul were being evacuated to Peshawar, owing to a revolution. In the airplane, there were four passengers: Conway, the British consul, aged 37; Mallinson, Conway’s young vice-consul,aged 24; an American, Barnard; and a British missionary; Miss Brinklow, a fundamentalist of L.M

10、.S.. The plane is hijacked to Tibet. After a crash landing, the pilot died, after telling them to seek shelter at the nearby lamasery of Shangri-La. The four are taken there by a party directed by Chang, a lama at the lamasery who speaks English. In the front of the lamasery is, Karakal, meaning "Bl

11、ue Moon", a mountain more than 28,000 feet high. Mallinson is keen to leave, but Chang politely putted him off. The other three eventually decided to stay in Shangri-La with their own purpose : Miss Brinklow, to teach the people the religious belief; Barnard, because his real name was Chalmers Bryan

12、t (a crime wanted by the police), and because he wanted to develop the gold-mines in the valley; and Conway, because he thought the life there suits him. A Manchu woman, Lo-Tsen, who looked very young, was at the lamasery. She did not speak English, but played the piano very well. Mallinson fell in

13、 love with her, as did Conway. The High Lama told Conway that the lamasery was constructed by a Catholic monk named Perrault from Luxembourg, in the early eighteenth century. The lamasery had since then been joined by others who found their way into the valley. If they stay in the Blue Moon Valley

14、more than five years, their aging would be slower and live a very long life; if they then leave the valley, they would quickly change to be the appearance of their real age and even to die. Conway guessed correctly that the High Lama is Perrault, now nearly 260 years old. At the last time when they

15、 met, the High Lama revealed that he was finally dying, and that he wanted Conway to lead the lamasery. Meanwhile, Mallinson had arranged to leave the valley with Lo-Tsen. Convey thinks all the life during this time was a dream, and what the High Lama told him was a cheating, because Lo-Tsen should

16、want to go out of the Blue Moon Valley, without fearing to die, then Lo-Tsen must be a young girl in fact but not a ninety-years old lady with a young appearance as High Lama told him. At last, he went out along with Mallinson and Lo-Tsen. This ended Rutherfords manuscript. 4） The epilogue：The last

17、 time Rutherford saw Conway, it appeared he was preparing to make his way back to Shangri-La. Rutherford told the neurologist that he attempted to track Conway and verify some of his claims of Shangri-La but in vain. Nobody knew anything about Shangri-La. He found the Chongqing doctor who had treate

18、d Conway. The doctor said Conway had been brought in by a Chinese woman who was ill and died soon after. She was very old, as the doctor had told Rutherford, "Most old of anyone I have ever seen", implying that she was Lo-Tsen, aged very soon by her leaving from Shangri-La. The motivation to

19、 read this book On the one hand, it was because of fame. As the most famous and successful work by James Hilton, Lost Horizon was filmed into movies several times. This book had a great influence to the generation between the two world war, who suffered a dark period of time due to the WWI and the

20、Great Depression. Just like “the colony of chance-sought”in traditional Chinese literary, Hilton described Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, a western utopia where all the people who are despair with the capitalist society dreams of. Enclosed in the western end of theKuen-Lun Mountains, S

21、hangri-La has become a earthly paradise ---- a permanently happy land, isolated from the outside world. The success of Lost Horizon also reflected in commerce. “Shangri-La” has become a very famous commercial branch. And a county in Yunnan province, China, has changed its name into “Shangri-La” beca

22、use of this book. On the other hand, it was because of its theme. James Hilton indicated a lot in this book. He explicitly noted that, there would be a worldwide crisis that would ruins the world. And having made war on the ground, human beings would have a war in space (“when they had filled the

23、land and sea with ruin, they would take to the air”, P121), and all precious things were in danger of being lost, like the lost histories of Rome ("Lost books of Livy", P121). It hoped that, overlooked by the violent, Shangri-La would preserve them and reveal them later to a receptive world exhauste

24、d by war (“At the great distance, a new world string in the ruins, stirring clumsily but in hopefulness,seeking its lost and legendary treasures. And they will be here, hidden behind the mountains in the valley of Blue Moon, preserved as by miracle for a new Renaissance...”, P154). That was the real

25、 destiny of the lamasery; study, inner peace, and long life were merely side benefits to living there. A Review of the Book Some special features in expression There were so many applications of similar and beautiful description of scenery about Tibetan plateau in this book. What’s more, th

26、ere were also many sentences profound in meaning which can be used as mottoes. Taking examples as the follows: In description: 1). Far away, at the very limit of distance, lay range upon range of snow-peaks, festooned with glaciers, and floating, in appearance, upon vast level of cloud. 2

27、). Then the whole range, much nearer now, paled into fresh splendor; a full moon rose, touching each peak in succession like some celestial lamp-lighter, until the long horizon glittered against a blue-black sky. 3) . The moon looked to have disappeared behind clouds, and starlight illumined a trem

28、endous emptiness heaving with wind. In meaning: 1). There are times in life when the most comfortable thing is to do nothing at all. Things happen to you and you just let them happen. The war was rather like that. One is fortunate if, as on this occasion, a touch of novelty seasons the unp

29、leasantness. 2). The idlest things could now be free from the curse of time-wasting, and the frailest dreams receive the welcome of the mind. 3). To be gentle and patient, to care for the riches of the mind, to preside in wisdom and secrecy.---- said the High Lama. 4).“We inculcate the vi

30、rtue of avoiding excess of all kinds--even including, if you will pardon the paradox, excess of virtue itself.”---- said Mr.Chang 5). Many religious are moderately true. 6). To govern perfectly it is necessary to avoid governing too much. 7). If you had all the experiences Ive had, youd know

31、that there are times in life when the most comfortable thing is to do noting at all. Things happen to you and you just let them happen. Analyses on this book Hilton molded his characters with the First World War, the Great Depression of the United States as the background. The appearance of

32、the Chinese image in this novel do not rely on the reality of China, but the European imaginary world. Therefore, as far as I am concerned, there is a little prejudice in this novel. 1. The European images 1.1. Conway Conway was tall, deeply bronzed, with brown short hair and blue eyes.

33、He seemed to be severe until he laughed, and then he looked boyish. He was certainly clever, and a rational thinker. Apart from being good at the languages, he’s got a sort of way with him in dealing with people. What most readers usually ignored in him was something quite negatively simple ---- a

34、love of quietness, contemplation, and being alone. He represented the wisdom and ration and he was loved by most of the surrounding people. He was knowledgeable and and moderate naturally, which made him easily adapted to the life in Shangri-La. Meanwhile, laziness was also in his nature, though it

35、was not quite obvious. He had lived in China for nearly a decade. Just because of his such character and experience, the High Lama regarded him as the best person to be the next high lama(“I place in your hands my son, the heritage and destiny of Shangri-La,”said High Lama, p151). 1.2. Miss.Brink

36、low Miss.Brinklow was neither young nor pretty, but she was a helpful one in such difficulties. She was not humorous and a little bit stubborn ---- she was a Fundamentalist of L.M.S.(London Missionary Society), and she sincerely believed in the doctrine of Christ. Interesting in Shangri-La’s cultur

37、e and intending to introduce her belief there, she finally stayed in the Shangri-La to spread religious doctrine and didn’t go out with Conway. Undoubtedly, the author shaped Miss.Brinklow as a positive figure. 1.3. The Chinese in the book There was a strange phenomenon in this novel:

38、nearly all of the Chinese in Blue Moon Valley were the low class in the place of Chinese territory. On the contrary, the westerners composed the governing group, using their beliefs to make the common people fool, such as the doctrine of Shangri-La ---- “the exhaustion of the passions is the beginni

39、ng of wisdom”(p136). Actually, there were truly classes in the Shangri-La. Otherwise, the lama Mr.Chang would not regard High Lama’s reception as the greatest honor. What’s more, there were little description of common Chinese people’s life. But many illustration of the western people’s great contri

40、bution to Shangri-La, for example, “In 1820, a Greek trader...”, “In 1822 three Spaniard...”, “Again, in 1830, there was a larger influx, two Germans, a Russian, an Englishman...”. By the main characters ---- Conway, and his fellows ---- the author showed great passion in Chinese culture. Particula

41、rly, Conway had lived in China nearly a decade. The author used the Chinese-style principle ---- moderation ---- over and over. Those reflected that Hilton tends to show the respect of Chinese culture, which was very precious in his time, when westerners lost their confidence of their own culture. T

42、hey tried to seek a new culture to rescue them, just like Hilton’s attempt in this novel. However, it’s just because of that period of time, when China was invaded by foreign countries, which made westerners thought themselves as the supreme ethics. That is why there are much more descriptions of We

43、sterners than Chinese. 2. Chinese Images I found that the Chinese image has two meaning in most western literature: the first, it was an image that westerners regards “the East” as weak and degenerate. The second, the westerners regarded “the East” as a Utopian world they dreamed of, espe

44、cially when their culture comes to its waste land. Hundreds of years ago, when Chinese beautiful silk and porcelain traded to the West, they were taken by surprise. They naively assumed that China was a beautiful and rich paradise, the West still preserved their dreams on these colonies. However,

45、 in the recent century, the West invaded and conquered the eastern countries that were backward and wild in their eyes. An anecdote about this book The book, published in 1933, caught the notice of the public only after Hiltons Goodbye, Mr. Chips was published in 1934. Lost Horizon became a

46、 huge popular success and in 1939 was published in paperback form. Because of its number-one position in the best-seller list of pocket editions, Lost Horizon was often mistakenly called the first American paperback book. Actually, what made it Pocket Books No. 1 was that it had the distinction of b

47、eing the first "mass-market" paperback. "Mass-market" paperbacks allowed people of low income not just to own books, otherwise they might not have been able to afford, it also made it possible for them to slip the paperback into their pocket for casual reading in every where, then called "Pocket Bo

48、ok." By the 1960s, it was Pocket Books alone that had sold several million copies of "Lost Horizon", helping to make it one of the best-loved and most enduring novels of the 20th Century. Conclusion I could feel the Shangri-La in the novel was the place as the mixture of western ideology and easte

49、rn culture. On the one hand, the Tibetan plateau had rich culture and natural resources. The people in the Moon Valley lived in an honest, peaceful and simple lives. Those were the real reflection of the eastern culture. On the other hand, western people in the lamasery were living an advanced life.

50、 They could enjoy the system of supply heating and bath. However, they had to endure the negative of this sort of advanced society, it did great damage to many kinds of original things, including human’s inner peace. I think the Shangri-La is the place longed to live. If people lived in such an imaginary earthly paradise, they would not only enjoy the advanced living standard, but also free from their soul. 成績： 評語： 7