Mountain writting
20th Century mountain writing and film
A few main themes related to The Ascent of F6:
1920s
Heroism
End of Empire, nationalism deflated
Mallory
Media
1930s
Nationalism revived: Fascism
Propaganda: German bergfilme, Leni Riefenstahl
The Ascent of F6 (1936) comments on all of these themes
Real events related to our reading in the early 20th century
1900-1921 Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration (Scott, Shackleton, Mawson)
1901 Queen Victoria dies January 22
1903 Frank Slide, April 1903 (plays a role in Outlander) (http://www.history.alberta.ca/frankslide/)
1909 Robert Peary claims to reach North Pole
1911 Old Indian Trails of the Canadian Rockies
1912 Titanic sinking
1914 -1918 First World War
Some key themes related to exploration, nationalism, and the post-WW1 period:
-the end of the Victorian empire-building period had come
-the war shattered Victorian assumptions about progress, technology, and the basic goodness of human nature: how could the glories of British “civilization” lead to something so horrific?
-masculine, heroic, epic ideas of warfare and combat had been destroyed: what could replace these?
-in a general way, polar exploration and claiming new mountain summits showed nations they could still achieve something “glorious”
-for individual men who’d survived the war, “normal” life may have been impossible and expeditions provided a goal, an outlet . . . a way to continue struggling?
1921 British Mt. Everest exploration expedition
1922 First British Mt. Everest expedition
1924 Second British Mt. Everest expedition: George Mallory and "Sandy" Irvine disappear on 3rd attempt to reach the summit.
-it’s not known whether they died on the climb, or while descending from the summit
-Mallory was the only member to play a role in all 3 expeditions
Can you spell . . . “Romanticism?”
A few main themes related to The Ascent of F6:
1920s
Heroism
End of Empire, nationalism deflated
Mallory
Media
1930s
Nationalism revived: Fascism
Propaganda: German bergfilme, Leni Riefenstahl
The Ascent of F6 (1936) comments on all of these themes
Real events related to our reading in the early 20th century
1900-1921 Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration (Scott, Shackleton, Mawson)
1901 Queen Victoria dies January 22
1903 Frank Slide, April 1903 (plays a role in Outlander) (http://www.history.alberta.ca/frankslide/)
1909 Robert Peary claims to reach North Pole
1911 Old Indian Trails of the Canadian Rockies
1912 Titanic sinking
1914 -1918 First World War
Some key themes related to exploration, nationalism, and the post-WW1 period:
-the end of the Victorian empire-building period had come
-the war shattered Victorian assumptions about progress, technology, and the basic goodness of human nature: how could the glories of British “civilization” lead to something so horrific?
-masculine, heroic, epic ideas of warfare and combat had been destroyed: what could replace these?
-in a general way, polar exploration and claiming new mountain summits showed nations they could still achieve something “glorious”
-for individual men who’d survived the war, “normal” life may have been impossible and expeditions provided a goal, an outlet . . . a way to continue struggling?
1921 British Mt. Everest exploration expedition
1922 First British Mt. Everest expedition
1924 Second British Mt. Everest expedition: George Mallory and "Sandy" Irvine disappear on 3rd attempt to reach the summit.
-it’s not known whether they died on the climb, or while descending from the summit
-Mallory was the only member to play a role in all 3 expeditions
Can you spell . . . “Romanticism?”