THE HAWTHORNDEN PRIZE

Evening Star, Issue 21784, 28 July 1934, Page 19

THE HAWTHORNDEN PRIZE

AWARD TO AUTHOR OF ‘LOST HORIZON ’ The book selected by the committee of the Hawthornden Prize for the 1934 award is’‘Lost Horizon,’ by James Hilton. In. making the announcement and presenting the prize at the Aeolian Hall, London, Lord Winterton said that he had read the book with the greatest interest. It dealt with sonic very striking events. In the first chapter there was a veiled reference to Kabul, and one could read also an admirable account of flying across difficult country. He (the speaker) had had experience of flying across India, and the description given by Mr Hilton was thrilling. Sir Richard Paget said he thought the description in ‘ Lost Horizon ’ admirable and vivid; and the story itself, which, was highly imaginative, flowed smoothly . and even convincingly. He made three criticisms, one of which coricerried the, author’s use of the word “ whoin ” That word, he said, was a constant source of trouble. It was a very un-English word, for, the genius of English lay in doing away with Germanic terminal inflexions, and he would like to see “whom” permanently buried and “ who ” reigning hi its stead. He would also like to bury the absurd and cacophonous terminal “s’ ! -iu the third person singular, and to say, “ I go, : you go, he go,” just as w.e said, “.I can, you can, he can”— not “ he cans ” (except, in the canning industry). The : terminal “ s,” like the terminal “m ” in “whom,” was a relic of barbarism. When he was very rich he would give a thumping prize for the .best book written m pure with the relics of barbarism wiped out. Miss Alice Warrender, who founded the Hawthornden Prize in 1919, said ‘Lost Horizon’ was a beautiful book that took one into a strange region of peace. She announced that she had now made arrangements for the flaw thornden Prize to be continued after her death The author of ‘ Lost Horizon,’ Mr James Hilton,; started his literary career just after the War witli ‘ Catherine Herself,’ written when ho was twenty, and the best known of other novels he has published are 1 Contango ’ and ‘ Knight Without Armour.’ •He wrote ‘ Lost Horizon,’ which had a Tibetan setting, without ever having been to India or Tibet.