The Ascent of F6
Encyclopedia
The Ascent of F6: A Tragedy in Two Acts, by W. H. Auden
and Christopher Isherwood
, was the second play in the Auden-Isherwood collaboration, first published in 1936. It was a major contribution to English poetic drama in the 1930s.
The play tells the story of Michael Ransom, a climber, who, against his better judgement, accepts the offer of the British press and government to sponsor an expedition to the peak of F6, a mountain on the border of a British colony and a colony of the fictional country of Ostnia. Ransom is destroyed by his haste to complete the expedition ahead of the Ostnian climbers. The play is widely regarded as an allegory of Auden's own temptation to be a public figure; this interpretation was first offered by R. G. Collingwood
in The Principles of Art (1938),
The play was published in three slightly different versions: the first English edition in 1936, the American edition in 1937, and a second English edition in 1937.
The play is dedicated to Auden's geologist brother John Bicknell Auden
who had taken part in an expedition near the Himalayan mountain K2.
W. H. Auden
Wystan Hugh Auden , who published as W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet,The first definition of "Anglo-American" in the OED is: "Of, belonging to, or involving both England and America." See also the definition "English in origin or birth, American by settlement or citizenship" in See also...
and Christopher Isherwood
Christopher Isherwood
Christopher William Bradshaw Isherwood was an English-American novelist.-Early life and work:Born at Wyberslegh Hall, High Lane, Cheshire in North West England, Isherwood spent his childhood in various towns where his father, a Lieutenant-Colonel in the British Army, was stationed...
, was the second play in the Auden-Isherwood collaboration, first published in 1936. It was a major contribution to English poetic drama in the 1930s.
The play tells the story of Michael Ransom, a climber, who, against his better judgement, accepts the offer of the British press and government to sponsor an expedition to the peak of F6, a mountain on the border of a British colony and a colony of the fictional country of Ostnia. Ransom is destroyed by his haste to complete the expedition ahead of the Ostnian climbers. The play is widely regarded as an allegory of Auden's own temptation to be a public figure; this interpretation was first offered by R. G. Collingwood
R. G. Collingwood
Robin George Collingwood was a British philosopher and historian. He was born at Cartmel, Grange-over-Sands in Lancashire, the son of the academic W. G. Collingwood, and was educated at Rugby School and at University College, Oxford, where he read Greats...
in The Principles of Art (1938),
The play was published in three slightly different versions: the first English edition in 1936, the American edition in 1937, and a second English edition in 1937.
The play is dedicated to Auden's geologist brother John Bicknell Auden
John Bicknell Auden
John Bicknell Auden was an English geologist and explorer, and an official with the World Health Organization.Auden was born in York, the second son of George Augustus Auden and older brother of W. H. Auden. He was educated at St Edmund's School, Hindhead, Surrey, then at Marlborough College and...
who had taken part in an expedition near the Himalayan mountain K2.