48 pages • 1 hour read
James HiltonLost Horizon
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1933A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 7-9Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 7 Summary
Chang leaves Conway at the High Lama’s room, and Conway finds the High Lama, who is a small, old man in Chinese garb. The High Lama greats Conway and offers him tea, which Conway accepts, revealing that he lived in China for many years. After tea, the High Lama tells Conway the story of how Shangri-La came to be, beginning with a Jesuit Catholic missionary named Perrault, who arrived at Shangri-La in 1719. The lamasery was in disrepair at that time, and Perrault took it upon himself to repair and restore the buildings and the spirituality of the valley, proselytizing Christianity in place of the Buddhism that was previously dominant. Perrault’s personality was unique, as he had a knack for learning languages and a simplicity that allowed him to flourish in the valley, even becoming somewhat addicted to the tangatse berries, which have a mild narcotic effect. Over time, Perrault’s enforcement of Christianity faded, and many of his disciples died, as Perrault himself began practicing Hindu rituals like yoga. In 1789, news traveled that Perrault was dying, but, after a couple of weeks, he recovered, at the age of 108.
A mysticism developed around Perrault, including claims that he climbed Karakal or could heal people with his presence, but the High Lama assures Conway that such claims are false. In 1803, an Austrian youth named Henschell arrived in the valley, and he quickly struck up a friendship with Perrault. Though Henschell was first preoccupied with the gold, which is abundant in the valley, he found excuses to stay, leaving only once in 1809 to set up the method by which the valley receives goods from the outside world. Henschell, with Perrault, enriched the culture of Shangri-La, and the valley began welcoming outsiders, though with a specific proviso. In the early 19th century, many visitors came from European countries, usually explorers doing scientific research, until, in 1857, Henschell was killed by an Englishman who was upset by the proviso. The High Lama shows Conway a picture of Henschell, drawn shortly before his death, and Conway is shocked to see that Henschell still appears to be a young man. The High Lama asks if Conway wants to know what the proviso is, and Conway says that he can guess what it is, realizing also that the High Lama is Perrault, still alive in 1931.
Chapter 8 Summary
The High Lama explains to Conway that the proviso means no one can leave Shangri-La, implying that he, Mallinson, Barnard, and Brinklow must stay in Shangri-La until their deaths. However, the High Lama specifies that Nordic and Latin European people seem to live longest in Shangri-La, while Tibetan and Chinese people do not experience much extension of their lifespan. The High Lama asks if there is anything Conway is leaving behind in the outside world, and Conway says there is not, though they both agree that the other members of Conway’s party will be upset to find out that they cannot leave. The High Lama tells Conway of the experiences he can look forward to, such as sunsets, reading, and austere meditation, which often get overlooked in the outside world. Conway explains how his dispassion arose from World War I between 1914 and 1918, during which he exhausted his passion for life. Afterward, he took the job as a consul, but he never cared much about it, describing himself as lazy. The High Lama reveals that Perrault, who is the High Lama, predicted World War I, and he explains that the purpose he envisions for Shangri-La is to preserve culture and art so that it is not destroyed by war. Conway kneels before the High Lama, though he does not know why, and he leaves the High Lama’s room to meet Chang, who escorts him out in silence.
Chapter 9 Summary
The next morning, Conway avoids telling his companions about the proviso and the nature of Shangri-La, upsetting Mallinson, who again mentions Conway’s competence during the Baskul incident. Conway and Chang talk openly, and Chang tells Conway that the next step in Conway’s initiation is to live normally for five years, which is intended to distance the initiate from their previous life. Chang is 97 years old, and he is about to transition to full lama-hood. Chang tells Conway about a prior initiate, a Russian man, who retained much of his youth for a long time, but, when he left Shangri-La briefly, he was captured and returned too late, having aged dramatically in the brief time he was away. Conway begins to meet other lamas and initiates, such as a German named Meister; Alphonse Briac, a student of Chopin; and a man working on the “Brontë problem,” referring to the authors Emily and Charlotte Brontë. Chang emphasizes that the past becomes clearer over time in Shangri-La, and new lamas tend to hyperfocus on past events and their significance to their lives.
Conway asks Chang about Lo-Tsen, the Manchu woman who plays the piano, and Chang reveals that she came to Shangri-La at 18 years old on her way to her arranged marriage. Her transition was difficult as a young woman, and Conway feels bad for her. Briac shows Conway unpublished compositions of Chopin’s, and Chang tells Conway to expect another meeting with the High Lama in five years. However, the High Lama requests another meeting with Conway shortly after, during which the High Lama speculates that Barnard and Brinklow will adjust well to living at Shangri-La, while Mallinson will not. Conway compares Shangri-La to Oxford University, and the High Lama praises Conway’s sense of humor.
Chapters 7-9 Analysis
When Perrault arrived in the early 18th century, he found “an ancient lamasery existing then on this same mountain shelf, but it was in a state of decay both physical and spiritual” (111). Perrault, an exceptional man with physical strength, intelligence, and spiritual excellence, then saved the people of the valley, who were easily molded by his inspiring presence. This backstory participates in many of the tropes of European orientalism, which holds that the grace of Asia is found only in European observation and frequently imagines colonialism as saving Asian cultural treasures from Asian people. Conway maintains some distance from orientalist perspectives, comparing Shangri-La to Oxford and noting that the scenery at Oxford “is not so good, but the subjects of study are often just as impractical” (141). This statement is intended as a joke, but its effect is to equate Shangri-La with a bastion of English intellectualism, collapsing the imagined distance between Eastern and Western perspectives. Resolving The Tension Between Ambition and Idleness, Conway in this section comes increasingly to view impracticality as a virtue. His experiences in the war have given him a skeptical view of ambition and competition, and this skepticism makes him uniquely suited to understanding the contemplative idleness that operates as a supreme virtue in Shangri-La.
The theme of Utopia as Refuge develops significantly in this section, as the High Lama’s explicit desire to bring more people into Shangri-La challenges the community’s isolation; however, the purpose of increasing the population adds an interesting dimension to the importance of isolation in maintaining a utopian society. The High Lama explains that the “vision” of Shangri-La is to maintain and protect the “loveliest things,” which are “transient and perishable,” from the “war, lust, and brutality” that “might someday crush them until there [are] no more left in the world” (127). This dynamic essentially frames Shangri-La as a museum, curating objects, artifacts, and people from different ages and regions. Perrault’s motivating belief is a Christian one, that the “meek will inherit the earth” (128). The proviso that no one may leave Shangri-La then serves two purposes: Chang notes how the Russian man aged rapidly and died after spending too long away from the Karakal valley, and the High Lama’s vision dictates that Shangri-La must be protected from any kind of attack or subversion. People cannot leave Shangri-La because they will age and die, which forms a personal motivation, but they would also risk exposing the treasures of Shangri-La if they were to tell the story Rutherford has effectively handed to the narrator of the Prologue. Balanced within the isolation of Shangri-La is a compromise in The Tension Between Ambition and Idleness, as the High Lama acknowledges that “[they] must move with the times, you know, even at Shangri-La” (123). The “movement” the High Lama perceives is distinct from that of the imperial powers that Hilton appears to criticize. Progress in Shangri-La is not technological or social in the sense that European powers develop weapons or policies to control and govern but in the sense that Shangri-La moves toward its vision of protecting precious ideals, objects, and people. The progress at Shangri-La is framed as progressing toward happiness through stillness, as the High Lama tells Conway, “[Y]ou will achieve calmness and profundity, ripeness and wisdom, and the clear enchantment of memory” (125). This prediction emphasizes the value of contentment over external progress, such as Brinklow’s desire for converts, Barnard’s desire for money, or Mallinson’s desire for status. Again, though, Conway is marked as a unique person, like Perrault, by his genuine dispassion, which continues to support his endeavors as the selected representative from his group.
