the consciousness of the past in the creativity of the：过去的意识在创造性的.pdf

International Journal of Asian Studies, 8, 1 (2011), pp. 89 –95 © Cambridge University Press, 2011 doi:10.1017/S147959141000029X review article the consciousness of thepast in the creativity of the present:modern tibetan literature and social change LamaJabb University of Oxford E-m ail lam a.jabb@ orinst.ox.ac.uk Modern Tibetan Literatureand Social Change. Edited by Lauran R. Hartley and Patricia Schiaffini-Vedani. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press,2008.Pp.424.ISBN 10:0822342774; 13:780822342779. Keywords: Tibetan literature;Tibetan poetry;Dhondup Gyal; Sangdhor When schooled toopoorly in verse T‘sprematuretospeak ofTibetan Studies; With tooinadequatea grasp ofverse Hasten not tocensureworks ofTibetan scholars1 Thus sings Sangdhor in a metrical poem in praise ofTibetan versification, countering an anti-versesentimentthatisprevalenton thecontemporary Tibetan literary scene.Sincethe flourishing of free verse form in the 1980s, thanks to the pioneering works of Dhondup Gyal,many Tibetan writershaveattackedmetrical composition foritsperceivedinflexible, archaic andinadaptable form anduniformity ofcontent.Sangdhor,one ofthemosticono- clastic and forward-thinking intellectuals writing in Tibetan today, vehemently refutes such a stance on the grounds that the bulk of great Tibetan works,literary or otherwise, are setin verse.Tounderscorehispointhewritesthe cited poem in a l“eaping and flying” styleofthemgur (p‘oem-songs’) genre.In fact,mostofhismany innovativepoemsarewrit- tenin an eclecticstyledrawingon Tibet’srich literary tradition,Buddhisttexts,oral sources and contemporary writings.Their content is equally diverse yet most of all current. It is infused with social and religious criticism, themes of romance and eroticism, critical lit- erary commentary and currentTibetan affairs.Hispoems,likethoseofmany otherwr