James Hilton. Lost Horizon. 1933

JAMES HILTON (1900-1954)
Lost Horizon

Hilton coined the term “Shangri-La” in this 1933 utopian fantasy, inventing a synonym for an idyllic escape from stress and real life, a visionary nirvana or remote haven free of the turmoil that besets human life. The novel draws on the post-World War I disillusionment with the killing fields of Europe and turns to the peacefulness of the lamasary at Shangri-la. There, where Conway and his companions have been taken after their plane crashed in the Tibetan mountains, the secret of long life is the medicinal tangatse berry. Frank Capra transformed the prize-winning novel into a film starring Ronald Coleman in 1937.