Reimagining Tibet

Book excerpt: This book examines how territorial, civilisational and cultural location determines one’s gaze and attitude while representing a contested space like Tibet. It analyses representations of Tibet in three novels: James Hilton’s Lost Horizon (1933), Jamyang Norbu’s The Mandala of Sherlock Holmes (1999) and Kaushik Barua’s Windhorse (2013). It shows how these novels project different types of gaze — insider, outsider and insider-outsider — and explores them within the context of some contemporary Tibetan activist writers. The book also looks at Tibetan exilic writings and virtual activities of the Tibetan activists whose programmes and rhetoric counter the age-old image of the Tibetans as passive and non-violent people. It shows how activists utilise social networking as an effective platform to counter imperialist occupation of Tibet by China. It includes interviews of eight Anglophone Tibetan writers – Tenzin Tsundue, Thubten Samphel, Tsering Namgyal Khortsa, Tsering Wangmo Dhompa, Jamyang Norbu, Tenzin Dickie, Bhuchung D. Sonam, and an Indian writer who has written on Tibet, Kaushik Barua. Interdisciplinary, accessible and engaging, this book presents one of the first studies on how Tibet has been represented in English fiction. It will be of interest to scholars and researchers of literature, media and cultural studies, politics, history and China studies.