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Abstract
Based on James Hilton's 1933 novel Lost Horizon, five themes are identified that might compose the core of Shangri-La's popular image. These themes serve as an organizational framework for examination of Pakistan's Hunza Valley, the so-called "Shangri-La of the Karakorams." It is concluded that as sublime as parts of the valley may be, it is not now and has never been the Utopian place that some would have it. The quest for such a place, however, illustrates the universal conflict between the real and the idealized in nature.