Mountain symbolism and geographical imaginations

摘要

Mountains stand tall in the quest for understanding nature-society interactions. To study this mountain symbolism without a careful consideration of how mountain literature reflects and shapes geographical imaginations would only tell part of the story, much like evoking a tale of Sir Edmund Hillary without Tensing Norgay, or George Mallory without Andrew Irvine. Mountains of the mind and The artificial horizon embrace the mystique of mountains fervently, as they each quote liberally from epic tales of mountain lore. Readers of Mountains of the mind also experience the vicarious thrill of armchair mountaineering - the next best thing to a personal alpine jaunt. Whether through Robert Macfarlane's lyrical expose of what sent Mallory and Irvine into the Everest death zone or tales of his own climbs in Britain, the Alps or the Tian Shan, Mountains of the mind synthesizes the experiences of numerous key individuals over the past four centuries who have helped shape the ways in which the nature of mountains has become intertwined with human imagination. Martin Thomas also offers a highly personal account of the inseparable myths and geographical imaginations of the Blue Mountains, a range familiar to Sydneysiders on the western horizon.