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.
Chapter 10-EpilogueChapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 10 Summary
Chang explains how rare it is for the High Lama to meet with someone more than once before their first five years at Shangri-La, but Conway begins seeing the High Lama regularly. Barnard and Brinklow both decide to stay at Shangri-La, while Mallinson anxiously awaits porters for a return to India. Mallinson confesses his interest in Lo-Tsen to Conway, and Barnard starts regularly going into the valley to drink and meet women. Conway asks Chang about Lo-Tsen, and Chang vaguely asserts that many newcomers fall in love with her, finding comfort in her distance. Chang implies that Lo-Tsen does not have sex with anyone, but her presence calms people and softens their passions. Barnard confesses to Conway that he wants to start a gold-mining business, having found the veins that supply Shangri-La with gold. He has the High Lama’s permission to mine for gold in the valley, and he intends to use his knowledge of the mine to secure his freedom back at home. Conway vaguely encourages him, but he does not promise his assistance.
During another meeting with the High Lama, Conway spots a storm coming from Karakal. The High Lama tells Conway that Mallinson may become a problem, but he says Mallinson will be Conway’s problem. During tea, they discuss how Shangri-La is limited in its ability to take in newcomers, and, after tea, the High Lama reveals that he is going to die. Conway is shocked, but the High Lama insists that Shangri-La does not offer immortality, just a lengthening of life. The High Lama reveals that the frequent visits he and Conway shared were meant to confirm that Conway is a suitable replacement as the High Lama. The High Lama predicts that wars will increase in volume and devastation, but he hopes that Shangri-La will survive with Conway as its leader, assuring Conway that the responsibilities of the position are light. During a pause, Conway realizes that the High Lama is dead, and he steps outside, slowly realizing that he is now the head of Shangri-La. Mallinson grabs Conway, leading him away excitedly, but Conway cannot understand what he is saying.
Chapter 11 Summary
Mallinson pulls Conway into a dining room and explains that they need to leave immediately to catch up with the porters. He is upset that they were not told the porters had arrived, but he explains that he already paid them, and Lo-Tsen is coming with them. Conway is shocked, and he tries to tell Mallinson that leaving is not possible, leading to a full explanation of the history of Shangri-La that Conway learned from the High Lama. Conway does not mention the High Lama’s death, however, and Mallinson decides to leave without Conway. Later, Mallinson returns and says that he was unable to cross the mountain pass, but he does not understand what is wrong with Conway. Conway does not contradict Mallinson, who tells Conway that he is under some spell cast on him by Shangri-La. Conway asks Mallinson if he is in love with Lo-Tsen, telling him that she is older than she appears. Mallinson confirms his love and insinuates that he had sex with Lo-Tsen—offering this as proof that she is in fact as young as she looks and that the whole premise of Shangri-La is a lie. After studying Karakal, Conway decides to accompany Mallinson. They leave without issue and find the encampment of porters with Lo-Tsen, who smiles lovingly at Mallinson.
Epilogue Summary
The narrator finds Rutherford in Delhi, and he asks him about his travels. Rutherford says he traveled much of Asia, the Middle East, and India, but he did not find much conclusive evidence of Conway’s path. The narrator praises Rutherford’s manuscript, and Rutherford says that almost none of it is fiction, as he copied down exactly what Conway said in their conversation. Rutherford encountered some travelers, including an American who may have met Chang, but he could not find any substantive reports of Karakal, Shangri-La, or anything beyond myths of lamas living excessively long lives. The narrator and Rutherford agree that Conway was changed by the war, which might account for any “madness” on his part. Rutherford did find evidence of Meister, the German lama, leaving Germany in the mid-19th century, but that does not mean that Meister is unusually old. No evidence for Briac could be found, and Rutherford notes that he found no record of Perrault or Henschell. When he tried to find a way into the mountains, Rutherford says that no one was willing to help him get to the plateau, though he was able to see it from about 50 miles away. In his last effort to verify Conway’s story, he went back to Chung-Kiang, where Conway was in the hospital. A nun told him that a woman brought Conway in, and Rutherford tracked down the admitting doctor, who confirmed it. When Rutherford asked the doctor if the woman was young, he responded that she was the oldest person he had ever seen. The novel ends with the narrator and Rutherford wondering if Conway ever made it back to Shangri-La.
Chapter 10-Epilogue Analysis
The conclusion of the novel is ambiguous, but it hints that Conway’s story is true, as is the story told to Conway by the High Lama. Mallinson, in his role as a skeptic of Shangri-La’s spiritual claims, correctly notes that Conway has no evidence, which Rutherford later confirms to the narrator, but the discovery that Lo-Tsen, suddenly an old woman, delivered Conway to the hospital seems to confirm the life-extending effects of Shangri-La. Rutherford outlines myths of longevity, “curious knowledge,” and magic—tangible benefits of The East as a Source of Wisdom to draw in imperial interests. With Mallinson wishing to destroy Shangri-La and Barnard hoping to exploit its mineral resources for profit, the community’s future is uncertain.
In conferring on Conway the role of High Lama, the dying Perrault highlights the theme of Utopia as Refuge. He points toward storm clouds gathering over Karakal, predicting that the coming storm will engulf the whole world, causing immense destruction. The storm is a metaphor for the clash of nations and ideologies that will eventually take the form of World War II. Conway has lived through one such storm already, and Perrault predicts that this one will be worse still. Conway’s dilemma—whether to accept or refuse the position of High Lama—places him at the center of The Tension Between Ambition and Idleness. Perrault presents Shangri-La’s idleness as serving a crucial function, preserving the world’s cultural treasures from the destruction that comes with national and imperial ambition. By staying still, Shangri-La has made itself a sanctuary for art and beauty.
Ultimately, it’s Mallinson, the character who stands most directly for the concept of ambition, who destroys the peaceful serenity that Conway has found at Shangri-La. Despite Conway’s dispassion throughout the novel, his mask is broken by Mallinson’s claim that he had sex with Lo-Tsen. Conway has come to view Lo-Tsen as a symbol of the ethereal paradise he has built for himself in his mind—a conception that depends on her being elevated above the earthly plane of sexual desire. Mallinson’s claim thus shakes Conway’s entire understanding of the world as centered around Shangri-La. As he sees “the corridors of his imagination twist and strain under impact” (171), Conway struggles to reconcile Chang and the High Lama’s reports regarding lamas and initiates with Mallinson’s claim of Lo-Tsen’s sexual desire. When Mallinson suggests “a jolly little dinner at Maiden’s,” Conway expands the thought, claiming to have no interest in “[t]he life [he’s] thinking of…dinners…dances…polo…and all that” (166). Mallinson interjects that he did not say anything about “dances and polo,” but Conway’s point is that all these activities are critical to maintaining the lifestyle he will return to if he leaves Shangri-La, making him weigh the probable reality of his role as a diplomat against the potentially fictitious peace and tranquility of Shangri-La. Though he chooses to leave, his later attempt at returning can be read in two ways. First, Conway may have seen Lo-Tsen age, meaning the myth of Shangri-La is true, in which case Conway returns to assume his role as High Lama and live for hundreds of years. Second, Conway may not have any evidence of Shangri-La’s validity, but he may choose a life of simplicity over the complications of imperial ambition, in which case he does not care if he lives for a long time or takes on an authoritative role, as long as he can be free from the struggles of modern life. Critically, the ending of the novel presents Shangri-La itself as a symbol of tranquility, meaning that Conway is not seeking longevity or mysticism but peace of mind following World War I. The final question—“Do you think he will ever find it?” (183)—refers literally to the valley itself but figuratively to the mental tranquility that is his true desire.
