The Travel Memoir Review

A lesson in humility for anyone imagining their own Asian travels to be deserving of ink

Review by John Ross

• Author: Heinrich Harrer
• Book First Published: 1952 (1953 English Edition)
• Publisher: Rupert Hart-Davis
• Rating: ★★★

How our ratings work:

★★★ – Loved it. Highly recommended. Transcends interest in the location alone
★★☆ – Liked it. Recommended, especially if you’re interested in the location
★☆☆ – Didn’t like it. But may still appeal to those interested in the location

The Gist

Seven Years in Tibet is Heinrich Harrer’s astonishing first-person account of escape, survival, and refuge in a country long closed to outsiders. Harrer, a world-class Austrian climber on a German expedition to the Himalayas, was interned in British India following the outbreak of World War II. After multiple failed attempts, he managed to escape into the wilds of Tibet. With fellow mountaineer Peter Aufschnaiter, Harrer trekked for almost two months before reaching Lhasa in January 1946, where he would remain until the Chinese invasion of 1950.

Harrer not only lived in Lhasa as a guest of the Tibetan government, but became tutor to the young Dalai Lama. First published in German in 1952, Harrer’s story was an immediate hit, helped by the West’s fascination with the Land of Snows – this was a time when the Abominable Snowman and the race to conquer Mount Everest made headlines.

The Guts

Harrer’s narrative begins with arrest and internment in British India in 1939, from which he and his companion eventually escape. What follows is an incredible 21-month trek across the Himalayas – unaided, unfunded, and mostly on foot. They enter the fabled city of Lhasa – long off-limits to foreigners – disguised as a pair of ragged pilgrims, and are slowly accepted by Tibetan society. Harrer’s skills lead to employment with the government on various projects, and he ultimately tutored the teenage 14th Dalai Lama in English, geography, and science.

Harrer’s admiration for the Tibetan people and their way of life is obvious:

“Wherever I live, I shall feel homesick for Tibet. I often think I can still hear the wild cries of geese and cranes and the beating of their wings as they fly over Lhasa in the clear cold moonlight.”

Harrer loved the country and people but is unsentimental in describing the backwardness of the feudal state, the superstition and corruption, the need for reform, and the medieval filth. Although we get accounts of Buddhist compassion where, for example, Tibetan labourers under Harrer’s charge are pained that their digging might cause the death of worms, Harrer also provides examples of the cruelty that stems from religious beliefs.

Why Read Seven Years in Tibet?

Harrer’s story has enduring relevance – it’s a great adventure, a tale of courage, endurance, and cultural curiosity, and it’s a glimpse of a lost world, of a Tibet before Chinese occupation and modernization. Seven Years in Tibet is an account of an accidental exile who ended up embedded in one of the most mysterious societies on Earth.

For the 1997 film adaptation of Seven Years in Tibet, the filmmakers thought Harrer’s book was missing narrative punch – it was too matter-of-fact and didn’t reveal enough of the man’s inner thoughts, so they decided to add an emotional arc. Unnecessarily so in my opinion. The book is better than the movie as the topic is Tibet, beautifully described by Harrer, who was a grateful witness to the last years of Lhasa as an independent entity.

The prose at times may be emotionally restrained for modern tastes, but it’s far from dry. His stoic voice gives the story integrity – it reflects a tough, pragmatic adventurer who didn’t cry over blisters. This tale of Tibet is a classic travel account which can never be repeated.