Tibet has long been orientalized in fictional representations. Taking as a case study two texts by Alai, this paper investigates how a traditional Tibetan cultural trait–the fish taboo–is mobilized to complicate the representation of Tibetan culture. By describing the fish taboo Alai points at Tibet's cultural specificity, which in virtue of its exoticism can catch the attention of non-Tibetan readers. At the same time, however, Alai equips his characters with psychological depth, showing their contrasting inner emotions of attraction and repulsion toward fish. In this sense, Alai subtly points at the fallacies of flat representations of Tibet, thus dismantling them from within.
University College Dublin, Ireland - ORCID: 0000-0001-9709-4821
University of Costa Rica, Costa Rica - ORCID: 0000-0002-5799-0004
Chapter Title
Negotiating with the tradition: representations of fish in Alai’s fictional writing
Authors
Mario De Grandis, Filippo Costantini
Language
English
DOI
10.36253/978-88-5518-506-6.11
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2021
Copyright Information
© 2021 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Book Title
Food issues 食事
Book Subtitle
Interdisciplinary Studies on Food in Modern and Contemporary East Asia
Editors
Miriam Castorina, Diego Cucinelli
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
202
Publication Year
2021
Copyright Information
© 2021 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/978-88-5518-506-6
ISBN Print
978-88-5518-505-9
eISBN (pdf)
978-88-5518-506-6
eISBN (epub)
978-88-5518-507-3
Series Title
Studi e saggi
Series ISSN
2704-6478
Series E-ISSN
2704-5919