Modern Tibetan Literature and Social Change

“Modern Tibetan Literature and Social Change will instantly become the standard reference for future writing on Tibetan literature. The significance of that literature for Sino-Tibetan relations and for the fate of the Tibetan cultural world is only now being recognized. The list of contributors to this collection is a veritable ‘who’s who’ in the study of Tibetan literature.” - Janet Gyatso, author of Apparitions of the Self: The Secret Autobiographies of a Tibetan Visionary

“This book is a milestone. It is the first to bring together the complex variety of ingredients that have nurtured modern Tibetan literature. It considers several literary genres, written in three languages (Tibetan, Chinese, and English), and gives sensitive attention both to Tibetan literary tradition and to the turmoil of modern politics and social change.” - Perry Link, author of The Uses of Literature: Life in the Socialist Chinese Literary System

“Modern Tibetan Literature and Social Change is a pioneering and engaging collection of articles by prominent Tibetan, French and American academics tracing the evolution of Tibetan literature over the past fifty years. Lean and perceptive articles cover a wide range of literary output...With the representations of ‘Tibetanness’ so hotly debated in China and the West, this collection gives a fascinating insight into the parallel debate raging within Tibetan literature itself.” - George Fitzherbert, TLS

“[T]his volume will be remembered as the book that legitimized Tibetan literature.” - Nathan W. Hill, China Review International

“Despite the growing interest in contemporary Tibet, there have been few publications in western languages of writings by contemporary Tibetans, besides those written in Chinese by authors such as Tashi Dawa and Alai who know little if any written Tibetan and have complex, difficult relations with their Tibetan heritage. Hartley and Schiaffini-Vedani’s collection of critical studies of modern Tibetan literature makes a major contribution to correcting this imbalance. . . . [H]ere we have rich context and analysis of Tibetan voices and not just those favoured by publishers in Beijing or New York.” - Robert Barnett, Pacific Affairs

“I selected to read Modern Tibetan Literature and Social Change with the desire for a deeper understanding of Tibetan culture, and I certainly received it. This collection is very approachable for such a scholarly work. Some of the language describing the writing of poetry was beautiful - true for any writer, in any language. I appreciated the introduction to writers who I probably would not have encountered on my own, and most of all, I gained a deeper understanding of what happens when a country is taken over, or shall I say ‘liberated’, by another. . . . This book is a rich resource, as the first comprehensive collection of its kind, for any scholarly inquiry into Tibetan literature.” - Jennifer M. Wilson, Feminist Review blog

“The work’s 14 chapters provide much-needed thematic reflections by Tibetan and non-Tibetan scholars into the subject matter and aesthetics of current Tibetan writing. . . . This important book is scholarly by amazingly readable; thus, it will find a multidisciplinary audience, including enthusiasts of Tibetan culture in general. An exceptional, invaluable acquisition. Essential. All readers, all levels.” - T. Carolan, Choice

“This project fills a long necessary gap not only in the study of Tibetan language and literature, but also in modern Tibetan cultural studies. It succeeds admirably in a task that is not attempted nearly often enough: of bringing Tibetan-related topics into meaningful dialogue with other areas and disciplines.” - Amy Holmes-Tagchungdarpa, IIAS Newsletter