Research Catalog

Title

False summit : gender in mountaineering nonfiction / Julie Rak.

Author

Rak, Julie, 1966-

Publication

Montreal ; Kingston ; London ; Chicago : McGill-Queen's University Press, [2021]

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xii, 268 pages : illustrations, map; 23 cm

Summary

"Exploring the role of gender politics in narratives about high-altitude mountaineering in the Himalayas and the Karakoram. The race to climb Everest catapulted mountain climbing, with its accompanying images of conquest and sport, into the public sphere on a global scale. But as a metaphor for the pinnacle of human achievement, mountaineering remains the preserve of traditional white male heroism. False Summit unpacks gender politics in the expedition narratives and memoirs of mountaineers in the Himalayas and the Karakoram. Why are women still a minority in the world's highest places? Julie Rak proposes that the genre has itself reached a "false summit"--a peak that proves not to be the pinnacle--and that mountaineering is not ready to welcome other ways of climbing or other kinds of climbers. For more than two centuries mountaineering, as an activity and as an ideal, has helped shape how the self is understood within the context of conquest, adventure, and proximity to risk. As climbing shows signs of becoming more diverse, Rak asks why change is so hard to achieve and why gender bias and other inequities exist in climbing at all. Exploring classic and lesser-known expedition accounts from Everest, K2, and Annapurna, False Summit helps us understand why mountaineering remains one of the most important ways to articulate gender identities and politics."--

Subject

• Mountains in literature
• Mountaineering in literature
• Sex role in literature
• Mountaineering expeditions

Genre/Form

Literary criticism.

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Additional Formats (note)

• Issued also in electronic format.

Contents

Leadership and Gender on Annapurna -- K2: The Gendered Rope -- Everest and Authenticity -- Everest: Gender Politics and the 1996 Disaster.

Call Number

JFE 21-4432

ISBN

• 9780228006268
• 0228006260
• 9780228006275
• 0228006279

OCLC

1201656177

Author

Rak, Julie, 1966- author.

Title

False summit : gender in mountaineering nonfiction / Julie Rak.

Publisher

Montreal ; Kingston ; London ; Chicago : McGill-Queen's University Press, [2021]

Type of Content

text

still image

cartographic image

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Additional Formats

Issued also in electronic format.

Other Form:

Online version: Rak, Julie, 1966- False summit. Montreal ; Kingston ; London ; Chicago : McGill-Queen's University Press, 2021 0228007720 9780228007722 (OCoLC)1226488725

Research Call Number

JFE 21-4432