James Hilton

I am totally entertained by James Hilton's writing. I thinking he is much more in the storyteller vein (perhaps a lighter Maugham) than what you might credit a literary master with. A few points that I observed about Hilton:

- Clear, evocative writing. Some of his descriptions were so good, that I paused on the plot and read out loud some of the passages to my wife, just to share the descriptions.

- Mined the zeitgeist of his time rather well. His big and famous stories are between the two World Wars, which sets the stage for massive societal change, which for crusty Britain, has enormous impact. In fact his description of his times 75 years ago feels eerily contemporary, complete with global terror (WWII), crashing markets (1929), societal apathy (over-the-top bonuses) and massive revaluation priorities (Labor movement).

- I think Hilton's main calling card is a certain wistfulness, nostalgia for lost innocence that makes this stories float two inches above the ground. A kind of magic, as it were, that in the words of a reviewer, adds another dimension to his writing.

The first two of the above points I think have been replicated hundreds of times in a period rich with world-wide-stories of all stripes.

What does distinguish Hilton's writing is the third point, I think. This third point is most exquisitely brought out in Lost Horizon (Shangri-La), soppily delivered in Goodbye Mr. Chips (Headmaster) and maturely done in Random Harvest (memory loss, a la Ghajini, without the in-your-face violence).