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Salman Rushdie

No one's mentioned the book 'Shame', which I loved (though I lent it to someone years ago and haven't seen it since - but that's a story for another thread).
I wrote my university dissertation on Midnights Children and Shame, and while I think Midnight's Children stands in a class completely on its own, I would thoroughly recommend Shame - it's set in Pakistan with a similar magic-realism take on politics.
While I was writing my dissertation my tutor told me a great story - that not long after Midnight's Children was published, the British Prime Minister was having a reception at Number 10 for Mrs Gandhi, and some bright spark in the PM's office thought it might be nice to invite Salman Rushdie, as he was a prominent Indian. Mr Rushdie very politely asked the official if he had read the book, to which the official said no. Mr Rushdie then suggested that he should read the book and then contact him again. Not surprisingly, he didn't hear any more about it.
 
samg said:
I wrote my university dissertation on Midnights Children and Shame, and while I think Midnight's Children stands in a class completely on its own, I would thoroughly recommend Shame
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I am jealous that you write your dissertation on books that you read! That is a REAL mixing of a hobby with a career! I have to write mine about the hobby of God, actually. About Nature and how it works at molecular and atomic levels. I guess that the Creator just laughs somewhere high in skies about what we human managing to find our about his creation :) I would not mind some help from Him with understanding of our lab-results and making our experiments work, but it seems that meanwhile he is busy with other stuff ;)

Are you sending your dissertation to your "God" - I mean Salman Rushdie? I bet that for him, for Rushdie, it is interesting to read what other people think of him, in academic level :) And you may have this priveledge of knowing whether your interpretations are correct! That is amazing!
 
samg said:
No one's mentioned the book 'Shame', which I loved (though I lent it to someone years ago and haven't seen it since - but that's a story for another thread).
I wrote my university dissertation on Midnights Children and Shame, and while I think Midnight's Children stands in a class completely on its own, I would thoroughly recommend Shame - it's set in Pakistan with a similar magic-realism take on politics.
While I was writing my dissertation my tutor told me a great story - that not long after Midnight's Children was published, the British Prime Minister was having a reception at Number 10 for Mrs Gandhi, and some bright spark in the PM's office thought it might be nice to invite Salman Rushdie, as he was a prominent Indian. Mr Rushdie very politely asked the official if he had read the book, to which the official said no. Mr Rushdie then suggested that he should read the book and then contact him again. Not surprisingly, he didn't hear any more about it.
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I hear that the old devil himself teaches at Emory University in Georgia. Have you had any phone or e-mail exchanges with him? It would be a far-fetched idea, but it would be interesting to see if we could get him to discuss his works at BAR.:D
 
SFG75 said:
Have you had any phone or e-mail exchanges with him? It would be a far-fetched idea, but it would be interesting to see if we could get him to discuss his works at BAR.:D
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I wish. I went to university almost 20 years ago, and the dissertation is now in a box gathering dust and mould in my mother's loft. I doubt he'd be that interested in it :)
 
I read The Moor's Last Sigh for a Southern Asia Literature course, and I absolutely loved it. I'm forever in awe of his ability to co-mingle Indian, British, American, (et cetera) history and culture (pop and otherwise) into his works and still be so coherient to those of us who don't always know what he is talking about. I'm in the middle of Fury right now, and I keep my dictionary (and Wikipedia) close at hand.
 
I would love to explore his work but I'd need a little more information about him. How would you describe Salman Rushdie's work, anybody? Does he write in any particular genre?
 
I've only read Shalimar the Clown, and even though I loved the prose and the plot twists and Rushdie's humour, I found his insight into the terrorist's mind really poor: if I got him right, people turn terrorists because their wives sleep with rich Westerners :confused: I don't know, I think it's a bit more complicated than that.
 
I plan to read one of Salman Rushdie's novels over the next couple of weeks. I've decided on either The Satanic Verses or Midnight's Children, but I really don't know which one. The Satanic Verses, the novel that garnered Rushdie the fatwa requiring his execution, is probably his greatest claim to fame, yet he's received more critical acclaim for Midnight's Children, the book that won the Booker of Bookers prize for the best novel within the last 25 years. And so I find myself at a loss.

Anyone here have any recommendations?
 
azalune said:
I plan to read one of Salman Rushdie's novels over the next couple of weeks. I've decided on either The Satanic Verses or Midnight's Children, but I really don't know which one. The Satanic Verses, the novel that garnered Rushdie the fatwa requiring his execution, is probably his greatest claim to fame, yet he's received more critical acclaim for Midnight's Children, the book that won the Booker of Bookers prize for the best novel within the last 25 years. And so I find myself at a loss.

Anyone here have any recommendations?
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I don't know the other book, so I'll have to leave that to our other readers to comment on it. I did read The Satanic Verses and I have to admit it was only due to the controversy that I remember from the 80's when he was inhiding and the Ayatollah Khomeini wanted his head on a platter. The style of writing is long and rather winded, though I think there are other reasons for that. A lot of Indian writers tend to write in an airy, yet ever flowing style in my honest opinion. That tendency made it boring in parts, but the gems throughout the book made it worth it. I really enjoyed the beginning of the novel where
the two men are falling through the air and a dialogue is held regarding their situation and their past.
The "controversial" part is really tame, at least I think so. Though then again, the Ayatollah took umbrage at a character who was said to be based on his likeness. There is also an interesting depiction
of the pagan Arabs being chased out of town and the Muslims take control, quickly conquering the libertine passions of the people. It is also hilarious as the prostitutes at a house of ill repute share the names of Muhammad's wives. Perhaps that was also a big boiling point with the Ayatollah.

Your time won't be wasted with The Satanic Verses. I'm glad that I did read it and I think history will look very favorably upon it as a great work of fiction.
 
AquaBlue said:
Is Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie worth the time and money?
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Though I've not read it, it won the Booker Prize (in 1980?) and then won the Booker of Bookers, being voted the best book in the then twenty-five history of the award.
 
Currently reading midnights children. Very quirky sense of humor, makes u laugh out loud at times..
I'm not sure if you'll agree but it reminds me of G.G Marquez's A 1000 years of solitude.
 
Midnight's Children

Laughingman said:
Currently reading midnights children. Very quirky sense of humor, makes u laugh out loud at times..
I'm not sure if you'll agree but it reminds me of G.G Marquez's A 1000 years of solitude.
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I haven't read Marquez, but see the thread here on Magic Realism.

I liked Midnight's Children which I read at a time when I was studying the history of India of that period. Rushdie writes in fantasy, but he doesn't make up the history. Later I heard a tape of Nehru intoning "Tonight at midnight while the world sleeps, India awakes...." and it gave me chills after reading of Rushdie's midnight.

My only complaint about Rushdie is that he goes on too long. One feels that he is enjoying his language and word tricks so much that he just can't stop.
 
:) Haroun and the sea of stories. Just thinking about it makes me smile!! The book is so wonderfully written.. You enjoy each and every line.
His other books are equally good too.Reading them is so much fun.

I haven't read all of them though.. Going to start with Midnight's children soon.
 
silverseason said:
I haven't read Marquez, but see the thread here on Magic Realism.

My only complaint about Rushdie is that he goes on too long. One feels that he is enjoying his language and word tricks so much that he just can't stop.
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Thanks for refererence, I didn't know that genre existed but it seems that all my favorite stories are magic realism ones =0

& now that you mention it, I can't help but notice his lang/word tricks and its distracting me from the story!!! T-T
 
I heard Rushdie interviewed on The Diane Rehm show a couple weeks back as he was promoting The Enchantress of Florence. He mentioned a quote from his friend Umberto Eco who said "when books are like mine I don't like them and when they are not like mine I also do not like them."
 
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