Coronation Everest (Faber English books for schools) - Hardcover

Morris, James

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0571096492 ISBN 13: 9780571096497

Publisher: Faber, 1970

Synopsis

May 29, 1953: Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay first reach the summit of Mount Everest, and Coronation Day for a new Queen, Elizabeth II.

About this title

About the Author:

Jan Morris was born in 1926 of a Welsh father and an English mother, and when she is not travelling she lives with her partner Elizabeth Morris in the top left-hand corner of Wales, between the mountains and the sea. Her books include Coronation Everest, Venice, The Pax Britannica Trilogy (Heaven's Command, Pax Britannica, and Farewell the Trumpets), and Conundrum. She is also the author of six books about cities and countries, two autobiographical books, several volumes of collected travel essays and, more recently, the unclassifiable Trieste and the Meaning of Nowhere. A Writer's World, a collection of her travel writing and reportage from over five decades, was published in 2003. Hav, her novel, was published in a new and expanded form in 2006 and was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the Arthur C. Clarke Award. Her most recent book, Contact!, about the people she encountered on her many travels, was published in 2009.

From Publishers Weekly:

More than 29,000 feet above sea level amid the desolation and frost of the Himalayas looms the sublime summit of Mount Everest, the very top of the world. Special correspondent for the London Times and an eyewitness to the climb, Morris (then James Morris) recounts Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's famous ascent of the mountain. The first climb ever to reach the top of Everest culminated on May 29, 1953, two days before the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II--a truly royal gift for the young monarch. The quest begins in isolated Katmandu and trudges steadily eastward across the valley to the foot of Everest and upward to its pinnacle. First published in England in 1958, Morris's narrative is at times guilty of a certain sentimentalism redolent of postwar, postcolonial Britain; nevertheless it transcends its era. In vivid language and sharp detail, Morris describes the events and individuals of the historical trek. Her insightful and lively reflections on local customs and food, fauna and flora are interspersed with quiet musing on the Sherpa people and her own curiosity about the mythical Abominable Snowman. Occasionally sullied by the more down-to-earth concern over competing, news-pilfering reporters--hell-bent on snatching the story from right under her nose--Morris's ruminations oscillate between terror and beauty, ultimately surpassing laconic reporting to achieve virtuosity. At first, the author speculates as to why anyone would attempt such a formidable exploit, but her skepticism gives way to hope, and the endeavor, ostensibly that of a few adventurous souls, becomes that of all of humanity. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber
• Publication date: 1970
• ISBN 10: 0571096492
• ISBN 13: 9780571096497
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 146