In the Presence of My Enemy: Memoirs of a Tibetan Nobleman Tsepon Shuguba

by Sumner Carnahan, Lama Kunga Rinpoche (With), Lobsang P. Lhalungpa (Foreword)

Book by Carnahan, Sumner

237 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1995

About the author

Carnahan has 12 books in print, including the award-winning audiowork/book, THE TIME IS NOW, and her latest story collection from Teksteditions, YOU ARE NOT ASLEEP. Published in anthologies, CDs, DVDs, broadcast internationally in collaboration with composers and performers, acknowledgements include the NEA, an ABC Radio Fellowship (Australia), IPPY book awards, and a 2010 Eric Hoffer Legacy Fiction Award, for ONE INCH EQUALS TWENTY-FIVE MILES. A new story was published in the Teksteditions anthology, WHAT IS THE SOUND OF SMOKE, 2014.

- “There have been few precedents to this kind of sustained avant-garde literature with a moving human content.” — The Oakland Tribune
- “The most musical prose since Gertrude Stein.” —The Village Voice
- “No other writer since e. e. cummings has inspired such a wealth of innovative music.” — Dictionary of the Avant-Gardes

Reviews

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a stunning read. An intricate look at the fall of Tibet from the inside, the author was a finanace minister of Tibet before China invaded the country. Hand picked for his post by the Dalai Lama, he was a nobleman in traditional Tibetan culture, which he describes quite colorfully. When China seeded spies to infiltrate and ovethrow Tibet, the author was tasked to lead an army of monks (who took up arms) to resist. The story delves into Tibetan culture, from daily life and relationships to spiritual leadership entwined with secular leadership of a nation. After the Dalai Lama fled Tibet (1959), the author was captured by the Chinese and spent 19 years in prison before being released and brought to the US by his son, who translated his father's story from Tibetan. The foreword of the book explains that this telling, from a Tibetan leader is meant to show the history against the more prevalent telling which includes plentiful Chinese propaganda, twisting the truths of the downfall and assimilation of Tibetan culture into China.
The Epilogue and Postcript are poignant if not a call to action.