''Les Chemins de Katmandou'' ("the roads to

Kathmandu , pushpin_map = Nepal Bagmati Province#Nepal#Asia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Bagmati Prov ...

") is a 1969 novel by the French writer

René Barjavel René Barjavel (24 January 1911 – 24 November 1985) was a French author, journalist and critic who may have been the first to think of the grandfather paradox in time travel. He was born in Nyons, a town in the Drôme department in southeastern ...

. It tells the story of a man who joins a group of

hippies A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

who live and travel in Nepal, where they take drugs and practice

free love Free love is a social movement that accepts all forms of love. The movement's initial goal was to separate the state from sexual and romantic matters such as marriage, birth control, and adultery. It stated that such issues were the concern ...

in the belief that it will free them from

materialism Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materiali ...

, only to meet disappointment.

Adaptation

The novel was written in tandem with a 1969 film of the same name (in English, ''

The Pleasure Pit ''The Pleasure Pit'' (french: Les Chemins de Katmandou, it, Katmandu, also known as ''Dirty Dolls in Kathmandu'', ''The Road to Katmandu'' and ''Ways of Katmandu'') is a 1969 French-Italian crime film, crime-drama film written and directed by Andr ...

''), directed by

André Cayatte André Cayatte (3 February 1909, in Carcassonne – 6 February 1989, in Paris) was a French filmmaker, writer and lawyer, who became known for his films centering on themes of crime, justice, and moral responsibility. Cayatte began his directoral ...

and starring Renaud Verley and

Jane Birkin Jane Mallory Birkin, Order of British Empire, OBE (born 14 December 1946) is an English-French singer and actress. She attained international fame and notability for her decade-long musical and romantic partnership with Serge Gainsbourg. She als ...

. The film had 1,635,664 admissions in French cinemas.

References

1969 French novels French novels adapted into films French-language novels Hippie movement Literature related to the sexual revolution Novels about drugs Novels by René Barjavel Novels set in Nepal Presses de la Cité books {{1960s-erotic-novel-stub