Folio Books: Review of Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer (Putnam)

Seven Years in Tibet

by Heinrich Harrer

Published by Putnam

Seven Years in Tibet has just been adapted into a movie starring Brad Pitt, so it isn't surprising that Heinrich Harrer's 1953 book has been republished in a spanking new movie tie-in edition. The title of the book is an accurate summary of its contents: Harrer's account of the seven years he spent living in the remote and then little-known country of Tibet after escaping from a British internment camp in India in 1943.

He found himself in India just before the outbreak of the Second World War as a member of a German expedition attempting to scale the Himalayan peak of Nanga Parbat (though Harrer himself is Austrian). He does not explain very satisfactorily why he was in fact arrested by the British authorities in 1939 and subsequently interned, some days before Britain actually declared war on Germany. In the glare of publicity surrounding the production of the film, however, it has been revealed that Harrer at one time had connections to the Nazi party. This is not mentioned anywhere in the book; Harrer is notably silent about his political views, whatever they were.

Of course, knowing that Harrer may have been a Nazi, at least at one time, must make a difference to the way one approaches the book. But I don't think it disqualifies Seven Years in Tibet as a reading choice.

Roughly the first half of the book deals with the journey made by Harrer and his companion Peter Aufschnaiter from north India, after their escape, over the Himalayas and into neutral Tibet, and finally by a circuitous route into the capital city, Lhasa. Harrer's literary style is not remarkable but his writing is clear and detailed and he is a keen observer. (It should be noted that the book was originally written in German and translated into English by Richard Graves.)

The chief value of the book is in its privileged glimpses into the Tibetan way of life -- customs and rituals, morals and manners, politics, religion, festivals and costumes, the ubiquitous yak-butter tea -- long-hidden from Western eyes and ravaged by the Chinese invasion in 1950. It is a rare and fascinating record of a now almost extinct culture. Harrer's description of Lhasa, at which he arrives halfway through the book, is particularly vivid, and he is generous in his praise of those Tibetans, especially in the high ranks of the Dalai Lama's government, who befriended him despite his unauthorised presence in the capital city. One of Harrer's notable gifts is for quick, deft character sketches, and it is fair to say he captures quite accurately the Tibetan national character, at least as it once was.

Though his style never ascends above the prosaic, the sheer exoticness of the scenes and events Harrer is describing makes much of the book read like fantasy -- demon effigies carved from yak butter; bloodthirsty bandits in remote northern wastes; an 11-year-old god-king confined to an ancient labyrinthine palace, observing his subjects through a telescope; and a village named Kyirong, which means 'village of happiness', where in the middle of a bamboo grove hot springs bubble near the banks of a ice-cold glacial river.

The movie Seven Years in Tibet, as far as I know (I have not yet seen it) concentrates on Harrer's friendship with the young Dalai Lama. In the book they do not meet face-to-face until the third-to-last chapter, but their friendship is the climax up to which Harrer's time in Tibet leads.

Eventually Harrer takes on the role of an unofficial tutor to the god-king, imparting eagerly-desired knowledge of the Western world. But his happy stay in Lhasa ends with the invasion of Chinese forces and the subsequent flight of the Dalai Lama from his homeland into India. The book concludes with Harrer returned to Europe and the fate of Tibet still very uncertain. The unpleasant facts about what eventually came to pass can be looked up in any encyclopaedia.

I have suggested that Harrer's Nazi connections do not cancel the possible value of his book. Let me attempt to explain why with more precision. The actual extent of Harrer's involvement with Nazism remains unclear. But it is possible that, whatever his previous opinions may have been, the years he spent living among the Tibetan people, observing their Buddhist way of life, and growing to know them and respect them, removed from his character any blemish of fascist feeling. The affection he feels for the Tibetan people reminds me of Isak Dinesen's affection for the Kikuyu people in Out of Africa -- slightly condescending, perhaps, but quite genuine. Perhaps Seven Years in Tibet can therefore be read not only for its intriguing description and understanding of a now almost lost civilisation, but also as an account of the power of human sympathy to change an individual for the better.

I see no reason to doubt Harrer's final statement: 'My heartfelt wish is that this book may create some understanding for a people whose will to live in peace and freedom has won so little sympathy from an indifferent world.'

The 1997 reprint has a sort of imprimatur in the form of a brief foreword by the Dalai Lama himself, and includes an epilogue by Harrer which briefly recounts events in Tibet since the book was written (useful for those without encyclopaedias). Sadly, the reprint does not include the grainy black and white snapshots taken by Harrer while in Tibet, which appeared in the original edition. These are invaluable for their rarity. Their omission is particularly surprising because the Dalai Lama praises them in his foreword.

N.L., 23 December, 1997

Seven Years in Tibet by Heinrich Harrer, published by Putnam, US$13.95 ($ . on Amazon at time of writing, 20% off). Order or read more on Amazon

[This review was first published in the Trinidad Guardian on Tuesday 23 December 1997.]