Who was the first person to scale Chomolungma, Goddess Mother of the Earth — Edmund Hillary or George Leigh Mallory? It has been the subject of many lectures and animated conversations between mountaineers for decades and Jeffrey Archer has reopened the debate with his latest, Paths of Glory.
In a clear departure from his previous works, Archer decided to take some
poetic licence with the life of Mallory and weave a romantic story about a mountaineer’s love affair with two women — his wife Ruth, and one of the most courted females in the world that towers at 29,002 ft, the Everest, in his latest book.
“I loved the idea of Mallory loving two women — Chomolungma and Ruth. He spent six months with one and the rest with the other. I believe he continued climbing when he was within 620 ft from the summit (where he was last spotted) as he had promised his wife that he wouldn’t come back for a fourth attempt,” says Archer.
The son of a clergyman, Mallory was an avid climber. He was part of three British expeditions undertaken in the early 1920s to Mount Everest. In his third attempt in June 1924, Mallory died at 38 along with his partner Sandy Irvine. Seventy-five years later, his body was discovered at 26,760 ft. There was nothing to indicate that he had reached the summit. But since one couldn’t find the photograph of his wife that Mallory had vowed to place on top of the mountain, speculation is rife.
“I haven’t any doubt that Mallory could have done it but I don’t know if he did it. He had the courage and the intelligence to conquer something that no one had done before,” says Archer.
The writer’s admiration for his subject is palpable. “Mallory’s an unsung hero. He’s a remarkable person and the stuff of fiction. He had a determination and a destiny not given to many”, says the author.
“I just loved the idea that 29 years before Edmund Hillary scaled the Everest, Mallory was standing 620 ft below the summit in a three-piece suit and a rolled up umbrella. It’s staggering. There were seven trips between then and Hillary’s and none of them succeeded.”
While Archer has stuck to the facts on Mallory’s expeditions, he has taken a few liberties when portraying his relationship with his wife. For instance, the letters one reads weren’t written by Mallory but by Archer.
Mallory’s socialist ideals, his support for equal rights for women have come out clearly in the book. But Archer hasn’t touched upon Mallory’s homosexual
attractions while he was at Cambridge. While there are hints in the book, especially in the scene where a naked Mallory, hair wet from a bath talks to his friend Guy Bullock, they’re very subtle. “I found that boring. He was a young man with a small group of men at Cambridge. That’s what they do but then he falls in love with one of the most beautiful women in England and there’s no doubt in my mind, he’s damn normal,” explains Archer.
In this sense, Archer is a mass entertainer. Unlike Salman Rushdie and V S Naipaul, who love to play up the various shades of a character, Archer sticks to writing stories about people the masses can easily identify with.
“When they read my books, I want people to be entertained and enjoy themselves. Somewhere down the line, the reader should think that Mallory was the first (to climb Everest). It’s fun to tease the reader,” says Archer, who is currently on a promotional tour of India.
His books have been translated into five Indian languages — Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi and Kannada. The Tamil version of his debut novel Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less was released on May 11. But how does he ensure the translated copy is as good as the original? “You can’t ensure the translation is as good as the original, you can only pray. All I can do is press the person who is translating to realise how seriously I take the translation.”
After 15 drafts — all handwritten, 1,000 hours of work and seven years of
research, Archer is now eager to let the sales do the talking for Paths of Glory. He’s keen to get back to the comforts of his study overlooking a cliff near his home in England where he’ll wrap up his next instalment — And Thereby Hangs A Tale, a compilation of 12 short stories due for release next year.
Archer is a recluse when he’s writing. Nothing comes between him and his book. “The magic moments — moments when you write a sentence you hope will touch a million people, a paragraph that you hope will move a million women to tears — don’t come when you’re half-drunk after a party. They come when you’re thinking of nothing else but the book,” Archer says when asked of how he unwinds.
Why handwrite? “How can I become leader of the Samajwadi Party if I use a computer (The party in its manifesto has called for a ban on computers),” jokes Archer. “I like handwriting. You get a sense it’s real, it’s yours, and there are no outside forces involved when you handwrite. It’s just you and your brain.”
He’s interested in making Paths of Glory into a film. Archer is meeting a couple of producers in Mumbai. But politics is definitely off the table. “I’m having such a good life with my writing, charity auctioneering and theatre. Also, very few of my generation are in politics, they’ve all moved to the House of Lords,” says Archer.
While Thomas Gray said “The paths of glory lead but to the grave” in his
Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard and though the lines aptly describe Mallory’s life, Archer has been able to duck the trend. His prison term is but a vague memory and the showman is back doing what he’s best at — writing and promoting his books.
— nithya@epmltd.com
