Seven Years in Tibet is definitely different than any other book we’ve read this semester. It recounts Heinrich Harrer’s time spent in Tibet after escaping from a POW camp and finding asylum in Tibet. Its purpose, I think, Harrer makes very clear at the end of the book, “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.” (p. 324) The purpose then, to bring to light the tragedy it was when China invaded Tibet and pushed out the autonomous reign of the Dalai Lama. And I think that Harrer does an excellent job of encouraging this sympathy, as he puts forth the many kindnesses and the graciousness he received from Tibetan people while he is seeking freedom from the British during World War II, and then the good relationships he develops after he is successfully granted asylum and a place to live in Lhasa. Even his description of his relationship with the Dalai Lama, where he gets the opportunity to instruct him in a Western understanding, and knowledge of the Western world. Without a doubt, Heinrich Harrer puts forth Tibet in a very positive light, and seems to care greatly for the people he lived with for seven years.

I think this is an interesting account too, because of how closed off Tibet was. Harrer even mentions there were a few times when we was told he was going to have to leave Lhasa and Tibet. Harrer achieves something incredible, living in a closed country for seven years, and technically living as an illegal alien in the country. This part of Harrer’s story actually interested me a lot, because he trekked his way into the country, then just stayed there without any real repercussions. He actually became influential through his relationship with the Dalai Lama, rather than getting forcefully removed from the country because he was there without permission. Because he was there all on his own will it seems, he adds an interesting twist to how well he makes relationships happen with Tibetan people.

What is really different though, is how little mountains are mentioned. Definitely, it cannot be discounted that Tibet is a very mountainous region, and Harrer does mention them enough to help remind us of that. But he does not seem to climb many mountains. He mentions a few small mountains around Lhasa that he climbed, but he did not make any actual trips to the Himalaya Range. It just seems odd to me, that a man who evidently loved the mountains, since he climbed the Eiger and many other mountains in the Alps, and who was on a mountaineering expedition to Nanga Parbat before his POW imprisonment. Perhaps though, it was this long exposure to the mountains in India and Tibet that really helped to cultivate in him an even greater love for the mountains. Maybe even because he loved the country and people so much, he came to love the mountains as well. In any case, this account is far different than anything else we have read thus far in class.