Salman Rushdie’s Novels: Themes and Techniques

Abstract

Chamsul Alom Sorowarthy Abstract: The name of Salman Rushdie has become synonymous with the new novel in Indian writings in English. Although now he is a British citizen of Indian origin, Rushdie mainly draws on the South Asian region as the geographical setting of his novels. It seems he has not been able to serve his umbilical cord with the homes respectively. It is not just a sentimental attachment, but a very healthy pragmatic concern for the social and political life of the people of the region. Rushdie’s political engagement, however, is not just registered in subject matter he chooses to address; his political arguments are, in fact, inseparable from his conception of the nature and function of the art. Hence in this paper attempt has to be made to objectively assess the major novels of Salman Rushdie in the light of the critical responses of the variegated at times contradictory, hues to fiction. Salman Rushdie, a Bombay born London based novelist is ranked among the world’s best novelists like Milan Kundera, Gracia Marquez, Gunter Grass, John Irving and V.S. Naipaul. He established himself as one of the best novelists of the world. Among his works with just six novels – Grimus, Midnight’s Children, The Satanic Verses, The Moor’s Last Sigh, The Ground Beneath Her Feet and Shame, he has emerged as a major novelist delineating the contemporary scene on the Indian sub-continent. His novel Midnight’s Children (1980) has unleashed the torrent of praise when it won the 1981...