2006, 1st UK edition. 184 pp. A Rope of Writers: A look at mountaineering literature in Britain traces the strands running through a century of mountaineering literature. From the earliest to the modern of guidebooks, writing about British hills has a long, varied and (mostly) honourable tradition. The author, mountain enthusiast and literature teacher, takes a shrewd and appreciative look at the genre. The reader is led on a diverse tour of all things climbing and walking, taking in fiction writers, humorists and philosophers amongst others, tracing the strands running through a century of mountaineering literature - short listed for the 2006 ‘Boardman Tasker’ award.
From O G Jones and W P Haskett Smith to the modern guidebook, from early Club articles to The Black Cliff, writing about the British hills has a long, varied and (mostly) honourable tradition. Graham Wilson, mountain enthusiast, literature teacher and several–times author in the field himself, takes a shrewd, appreciative look at the genre. With characteristic idiosyncrasy, he leads the reader on a tour as diverse as the walks and climbs themselves, taking in essayists, fiction–writers, humorists, philosophers and even a hill fanzine, tracing the strands running through a century of mountaineering literature, and acknowledging the debt to those who went before.
“Just as a succession of climbers has led through in the solution of ever harder problems, so does literature use its own combined tactics. In the mirror of reading you often catch a glimpse of what and how you think or feel. Such moments can encourage a further generation to polish its own reflections and add them to the common store.” Hardcover, DJ, New.
