A groundbreaking anthology of modern Tibetan non-fiction, this unprecedented collection celebrates the art of the modern- Tibetan essay and comprises some of the best Tibetan writers working today in Tibetan, English and Chinese.
There are essays on lost friends, stolen inheritances, prison notes and secret journeys from and to-Tibet. There are also essays on food, the Dalai Lama's Gar dancer, love letters, lotteries and the prince of Tibet. The collection offers a profound commentary not just on the Tibetan nation and Tibetan exile but also on the romance, comedy and tragedy of modern Tibetan life.
For this anthology, editor and translator Tenzin Dickie has commissioned and collected twenty-eight essays from twenty-two Tibetan writers, including Woeser, Jamyang Norbu, Tsering Wangmo Dhompa, Pema Bhurn and Lhashamgyal.
This book of personal essays by Tibetan writers is a landmark addition to contemporary Tibetan letters as well as a significant contribution to global literature.
TENZIN DICKIE is a writer and a translator. She is the editor of Old Demons, New Deities: Twenty-One Short Stories from Tibet, the English language anthology of modern Tibetan fiction.
I remember the very first essay that I tried to write. I was in the sixth or seventh grade and my English teacher had told my class, Write an essay.' He said the word 'essay' in English. That was our assignment over the ten-day summer break.
My home was a Tibetan Buddhist nunnery in Dharamsala where my father was the principal. Living in a monastic compound surrounded by fields ringed by lesser Himalayan mountains in the distance, there was nothing for me to do but bother my older brother, disturb the nuns by skating outside their dorms and take long walks in the fields. Mostly, I was bored out of my mind. Still, I wasn't going anywhere near my assignment until the last day of summer break. Soon enough though, it was the last day of summer break. I had to write an essay.
But what was an essay? My teacher hadn't bothered to explain it properly. So, I went to my brother, like I still do when I'm at a loss. He said, 'It's a piece of writing. It can be about anything." Anything. Well then. I started writing. One day, I wrote, I saw a fairy. I was not a mature middle schooler. I kept on writing. My brother leaned over, stifled a smile with all the wisdom of his fifteen and said, 'One more thing about the essay. It has to years be true.'
A piece of writing that has to be true. That's still as good a description of an essay as any. Why does the essay have to be true? Why does it matter if the writing is true? Because the truth has power. We recognize the truth when we hear it. It speaks to us.
Book's Contents and Sample Pages
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