Tibetan encounter with English in Exile: The Context and the Making of the Book ‘Red Star over Tibet’

Abstract

The book Red Star Over Tibet (1974) was the first work on Tibet in English by a Tibetan of peasant background in a world where the monks and aristocrats had predominantly produced literary works. While understanding the idea of exile where the work was written during the beginning of the author’s career, the book articulates an alternate voice of exiled Tibetan in India in terms of social location and in terms of the themes selected. It engages with modernity and English while trying to critique the Chinese invasion without being an apologist for the old order in Tibet.