The Wildest Dream: The Biography of George Mallory [Hardcover]

Peter Gillman (Author), Leni Gillman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2000

• Chronicles all three of Mallory's Everest expeditions
• Illuminates how Mallory reconciled his ambitions on Everest with his unquestioned love for his wife and family

Since the discovery in 1999 of George Mallory's body on Everest, controversy has raged over whether Mallory and Andrew Irvine could have summitted the mountain. Every detail of the climb has been dissected and Mallory's skill as a mountaineer has been hotly debated. Observing the debate, Peter and Leni Gillman felt that the essence of who Mallory was as an individual had been lost. In The Wildest Dream they offer the most comprehensive biography ever written about one of the twentieth century's most intriguing personalities.

Exploring Mallory's early years, the Gillman's take the reader to Cambridge and Bloomsbury where Mallory consorted with some of the most colorful literary and artistic figures of Edwardian England: Rupert Brooke, James and Lytton Strachey, Maynard and Geoffrey Keynes, and Duncan Grant, among others. The Wildest Dream moves on to examine exactly what Mallory accomplished as a climber, evaluating the quality of his routes and skills within the context of climbing in the early 1900s.

At the heart of this biography, and of Mallory's life, is his wife, Ruth. The letters they exchanged during the many separations caused by World War I and three Everest expeditions reveal the depth of their commitment to each other and the unwavering support and strength Ruth offered George. The Everest expeditions are also insightfully rendered, offering perspective on criticisms levied at Mallory after the 1921 and 1922 attempts. The authors examine how Mallory, a dedicated husband and father, arrived at his fateful decision to participate in the doomed 1924 expedition and why he continued to press for a summit attempt when the odds seemed stacked against him. As Mallory once declared, a climber was what he was, and this is what climbers did; this was how they fulfilled their wildest dreams.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In 1924, a 37-year-old English schoolmaster and war veteran named George Mallory bid farewell to his beloved wife and children and went off to Tibet, where he intended to climb the north face of Mount Everest, a feat that had never been achieved. He was warned that the approach might not be attainable--and that, in any event, humans might not be able to survive at such altitudes without oxygen. But in that fine British spirit of dauntlessness, Mallory pressed on all the same, and he and his novice companion Andrew Irvine did not survive.

When Mallory's frozen body was found on the high slopes of Everest in 1999, it touched off a wave of interest in the question of whether he had reached the top before falling to his death--which, if so, would unseat Edmund Hillary's 1953 expedition as the first to summit. Peter and Leni Gillman, themselves mountaineers, hint that he did, drawing on evidence that is at best circumstantial but compelling all the same. Their interest in this biography, however, is to provide a more complete picture of Mallory as a man of his time, who was a familiar among the Bloomsbury set of writers, a loving husband and father, an accomplished scholar and teacher, and a modest hero who, though not technically the best climber of his time, never refused a challenge. The Gillmans acquit themselves in this task very well, and they offer a fascinating reconstruction of what they imagine to be Mallory's last moments on earth. Their book makes a fine companion to Conrad Anker and David Roberts's The Lost Explorer and David Breashears and Audrey Salkeld's Last Climb. --Gregory McNamee

From Publishers Weekly

Why did George Mallory, his 1924 expedition in treacherous straits, nevertheless make a last-ditch attempt to go for the summit of Mt. EverestAa decision that cost the lives of this seasoned climber and his young climbing partner, Andrew Irvine? To the Gillmans, British journalists and mountaineers who together retraced Mallory's 1921 reconnaissance expedition, the answer is plain: he hoped to resolve the conflict at the core of his marriage, to obviate the need for further expeditions and further separations from his beloved wife, Ruth. This vivid, illustrated biography is both a moving tribute to Mallory and a fresh reappraisal of the man and the legends surrounding him. While the authors take no position on whether or not Mallory and Irvine reached Everest's acmeAa controversy intensified by the discovery of Mallory's body in 1999Athey provide a useful summary of the ongoing debate. Drawing liberally on letters between Mallory and his wife, the Gillmans chart the highs and lows of a marriage strained by his periodic absences. While mountain climbing was for decades an imperialist's sport, Mallory did not fit the mold. A rector's son, he became a Fabian socialist and agnostic at Cambridge, making friends with poet Rupert Brooke, Robert Graves and Bloomsbury painter Duncan Grant, and indulging in a brief homosexual affair. Mallory's literary output includes a study of Boswell and an intense love sonnet to fianc?e Ruth. Among the spate of recent books on Mallory's Everest expeditions, this biography stands out for its well-rounded, sensitive portrait of a restless, thoughtful adventurer. Photos. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Mountaineers Books (September 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 089886741X
• ISBN-13: 978-0898867411
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,038,577 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Peter Gillman was born in Bromley, Kent, in 1942. He attended Hawes Down school, Dulwich College (1953-61), and University College Oxford (1961-64). He was editor of Isis magazine at Oxford. He became a journalist on leaving Oxford and was soon writing for the Sunday Times, first as a freelance, then on the staff, where he spent five years on the newspaper's Insight team. He became a freelance journalist in 1983 and has written for most British newspapers since. He has also written or co-authored a number of books, including Eiger Direct (with Dougal Haston) (published 1966); The Plumbat Affair (with Paul Eddy and Elaine Davenport) (1978); The Falklands War (with Paul Eddy and Magnus Linklater) (1982); Collar the Lot, co-authored with his wife Leni Gillman (1980); Alias David Bowie, with Leni Gillman (1986); The Duty Men (1987); In Balance: 20 years of mountaineering journalism (1989); Everest: the best writing and pictures (1993); The Wildest Dream (biography of mountaineer George Mallory) with Leni Gillman (2000) - winner of Boardman Tasker prize for mountain writing; Everest: 80 years of triumph and tragedy (2001). He has a specialism in mountain writing and has won a record six annual awards from the Outdoor Writers Guild. He has worked in television and cinema and also works as a trainer in journalism and writing. See website www.peterleni.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "The" bio of Mallory, August 29, 2000

By 

Phelps Gates (Chapel Hill, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wildest Dream: The Biography of George Mallory (Hardcover)

The subtitle bills this book as "THE" Biography of Mallory, implying that it's intended to be definitive, and it is. The authors are especially thorough in their discussion of Mallory's sexuality, a subject that other biographies either ignore (like the proverbial elephant in the living room) or equivocate on. Their study of letters of the Bloomsbury set (including Mallory's own) pretty much settles the issue: the cover photograph is perhaps a hint of the revelations to come. The book concentrates on Mallory's personal life more than on the details of his last climb (readers interested in the vexed debate over whether he made the summit or not will be better served by Anker and Robert's or Hemmleb's books), but one couldn't ask for a better treatment of Mallory's character. One oddity: the index entries relating to pages 20-40 are jumbled (see, e.g. the entry for Graham Irving), perhaps indicating that major changes were made in this section after the book was in page proof? A puzzlement!

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Wildest Dream, October 27, 2000

By 

Sibile Doumont Knot (Gainesville, Florida USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wildest Dream: The Biography of George Mallory (Hardcover)

I absolutely loved this book. It was wonderful to read about the whole man, from his childhood to his young years, his family, his marriage and finally his travels and climbs to Everest and of course the times in which this happened. The title is so poetic and wonderfully fitting. He was not an obsessed loner but someone who shared many interests with other great women and men of his time. As a mother of children who are just starting out in school, I was surprised and interested in his teaching methods and musings about education and schooling. Some of his thoughts are mine exactly and this is almost 100 years later. He was a great writer and reading his letters is a pleasure in itself. I wish there would be a publication of all this writings. While his homosexual exploration certainly belongs to a full bio, I find the whole sexuality discussion rather unnecessary. I think his marriage and more so his and Ruth's relationship in itself is proof - at least to me - that George Leigh Mallory was not homosexual. I feel very sad for Ruth as her life turned out to be one of suffering. She lost her mother so early, then her husband and finally, just when she found happiness again, she does not get to live it out.

I am puzzled by how easily the authors dismiss Mallory's technical abilities as insufficient for having made it to the top. While these first climbers may have certainly been inadequately dressed for the environment, I don't believe for a minute that these men were not fit or accomplished enough compared to today's climbers. Weeks on a boat, then travelling essentially on foot and horses made them fit enough (probably also by being able to acclimatize themselves for a much longer period than today)for any crack at the summit. This is a book about a man who dared to live his wildest dream against - finally - all odds and this story is worth being told.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Primarily About The Man Not The Mountain, January 17, 2001

By 

taking a rest - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Wildest Dream: The Biography of George Mallory (Hardcover)

This biography of George Mallory written by Peter and Leni Gillman is excellent. It is exactly what it claims to be, so while climbing must be a part of any book about Mr. Mallory, this really is about the person who was a climber. This book ranges over his whole life; this is not an "Everest Book". The book does extensively document an enormous number of climbs he made, the first ascents, and of course the years he spent in his attempt to conquer Everest. The book does explore the question of whether or not he and his climbing partner Sandy Irvine were the first to Summit Everest, however like all other positions, the final proof is lacking and may or may not ever be found.

If you are looking for a great book on its own, or as a companion to this work, "Ghosts of Everest: The Search For Mallory And Irvine", is excellent. This second book is a documentary of the expedition for the answers to the fate of the two climbers, and it is extremely well done. "The Wildest Dream" also does much to clarify the rock climbing abilities of Mr. Mallory, which some historians have called into question, and have used as a basis for their position he never made it. Both these books (for this non-climber) put this issue to rest.

This book explores Mr. Mallory as a Family man, a Father, a Soldier, as well as the skills for which History remembers him. The Biography explored the vast differences between climbing as a sport today, and climbing as an activity dominated by a class system, that at times increased the danger of their activities. With any comparison today, the equipment, the risks that were taken, and the weather they survived with their primitive clothing, is nearly beyond belief. That Mallory, Irvine, and others reached such heights on Everest is nothing short of a type, effort, and endurance that put one in awe of these men.

The book also deals with those who coped with the extremely long absences these attempts required. Mallory's Wife and Family played a large if intermittent role in his shortened life, they stood by and waited for him through World War I, and his Mountaineering. We gain insight into Mallory the Professor, and other aspects of his life that were unknown to me.

After all the reading I have done it has become less an issue for me of whether the final piece of that last climb was completed. It is likely we may never know. But what Mallory and his friends did was so extraordinary, and so many years prior to the summit being reached, in many ways the final mystery may be more of a curiosity for the ages. For I believe what they did do, secures their place in History as extraordinary people.

An extremely interesting, and well-documented Biography.