Scaling Holy Mountains: Mountaineering, Religion, and the Politics of Literature in Auden and Empson

W.H. Auden's The Ascent of F6 (1936), In Time of War (1938), and William Empson's "Autumn on Nan-Yűeh" (1937–38) feature holy mountains in East Asia. The experience of mountains in Tibetan/Chinese Buddhisms intrudes, and complicates, the political bearing of Auden's and Empson's writings. Although neither author embraces Eastern religions doctrinally, religious mountaineering nevertheless urges both to contemplate the tension in literature between aesthetic autonomy and political engagement. For both Auden and Empson, their experiences continue to linger as a formative catalyst in the shaping of their religious and political views during the postwar years.