Modern Tibetan Literature and Social Change

by Hartley, Lauran R.; Schiaffini-vedani, Patricia; Kapstein, Matthew T.

• ISBN13: 9780822342779
• ISBN10: 0822342774
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-06-30
• Publisher: Duke Univ Pr

Summary

Modern Tibetan Literature and Social Changeis the first systematic and detailed overview of modern Tibetan literature, which has burgeoned only in the last thirty years. This comprehensive collection brings together fourteen pioneering scholars in the nascent field of Tibetan literary studies, including authors who are active in the Tibetan literary world itself. These scholars examine the literary output of Tibetan authors writing in Tibetan, Chinese, and English, both in Tibet and the Tibetan diaspora. The contributors explore the circumstances that led to the development of modern Tibetan literature, its continuities and breaks with classical Tibetan literary forms, and the ways that writers use forms such as magical realism, satire, and humor to negotiate literary freedom within the PRC. They provide crucial information about Tibetan writers' lives in China and abroad, the social and political contexts in which they write, and the literary-critical merits of their oeuvres. Along with deep social, cultural, and political analysis, this wealth of information clarifies the complex circumstances under which Tibetan writers negotiate the realities they face in the PRC and in the diaspora. The contributors consider not only poetry, short stories, and novels but also other forms of cultural production-such as literary magazines, films, and Web sites-that provide a public forum in the Tibetan areas of the PRC, where censorship and restrictions on public gatherings remain the norm.Modern Tibetan Literature and Social Changeincludes a previously unavailable list of modern Tibetan works translated into Western languages and a comprehensive English-language index of names, subjects, and terms.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. vii
Note on Transliteration	p. xi
Introduction	p. xiii
Engaging Traditions
Heterodox Views and the New Orthodox Poems: Tibetan Writers in the Early and Mid-Twentieth Century	p. 3
Roar of the Snow Lion: Tibetan Poetry in Chinese	p. 32
The Development of Modern Tibetan Literature in the People's Republic of China in the 1980s	p. 61
Dondrup Gyel and the Remaking of the Tibetan Ramayana	p. 86
"Heartbeat of a New Generation": A Discussion of the New Poetry	p. 112
"Heartbeat of a New Generation" Revisited	p. 135
"Oracles and Demons" in Tibetan Literature Today: Representations of Religion in Tibetan-Medium Fiction	p. 148
Negotiating Modernities
One Nation, Two Discourses: Tibetan New Era Literature and the Language Debate	p. 173
The "Condor" Flies over Tibet: Zhaxi Dawa and the Significance of Tibetan Magical Realism	p. 202
In Quest(ion) of an "I": Identity and Idiocy in Alai's Red Poppies	p. 225
Development and Urban Space in Contemporary Tibetan Literature	p. 236
Modern Tibetan Literature and the Rise of Writer Coteries	p. 263
Tibetan Literature in the Diaspora	p. 281
Placing Tibetan Fiction in a World of Literary Studies: Jamyang Norbu's The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes	p. 301
Glossary of Tibetan Spellings	p. 327
Glossary of Chinese Terms	p. 338
Contemporary Tibetan Literary Works in Translation	p. 340
Bibliography	p. 345
About the Contributors	p. 369
Index	p. 373
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