Salman Rushdy is a famous British writer of Indian descent. He is a member of the Royal Literary Society. He is considered a follower of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a prominent representative of magical realism. In 1981, he received the Booker Prize for the novel "Children of Midnight."
Writer Biography
Salman Rushdy was born in Bombay. He was born in 1947. His parents were Muslims of Kashmiri descent.
The craving for writing was most likely passed on to him from his grandfather, who was a poet who wrote Urdu, a language widely spoken in India.
14-year-old Salman Rushdie was sent to study in England. He majored in history research at King's College University.
He earned his first money in the theater and wrote reviews for magazines. In 1964, received British citizenship. Then he was 17 years old.
First publications
In literature, Salman Rushdy made his debut in the genre of semi-science fiction. His first tales and stories were not noticed by readers and critics.
The first success came to him after the publication of the novel "Children of Midnight." Many still believe that this is his best work.
The novel was first published in 1981. It was written in the genre of magical realism; it is a striking example of postcolonial literature.
The author also writes short stories and essays. His collection "East - West", the essay "Smile of the Jaguar", "Step Over the Line", "Fictional Homeland" is best known.
"Midnight Kids"
This novel tells the story of a gifted young man named Salem Sinai, who was born in 1947, on Indian Independence Day. The novel describes the life story of his family before and after the proclamation of the sovereignty of India. The fate of the protagonist is an allegory of the history of his native country.
At the very beginning of the novel, Children of Midnight, Rushdy tells the story of the Sinai family before his birth. The events that led to the independence of India are described. Salem, who was born at midnight on August 15, became a peer of his country.
It soon turns out that all the children born at this hour became owners of supernatural powers. They were nicknamed the children of midnight. The main character becomes a link between children scattered throughout the country. In the novel, the witch and Shiva the warrior, the sworn enemy of Salem, act.
The protagonist unwittingly becomes a participant in all major conflicts. With his family, he moves from India to Pakistan, is injured during the war between Pakistan and India, suffers from the regime established by Indira Gandhi in the country. Its history is described until the beginning of the 80s, when the novel was released.
Critics have noted that Children of Midnight is an amazing phenomenon, a work written at the intersection of magic and reality. The most surprising thing is that even special creatures are not able to defeat old prejudices. For example, the confrontation between Muslims and Hindus.
This novel brought real fame to Rushdie. He received the Booker Prize for him.
Soon after, another novel appeared in the biography of Salman Rushdie. It was called "Shame" and was dedicated to Pakistan, also written in the genre of magical realism.
The film adaptation of the novel
The novel "Children of Midnight" was so popular that in 2012 it was filmed by Canadian director of Indian origin Deepa Mehta. He turned out to be a fascinating adventure drama in which one can trace the main historical and political events that took place in India in the 20th century.
The film was nominated for the best film of the London Film Festival, received the award of the Guild of Filmmakers of Canada, was nominated for the main prize of the international film festival in Valladolid (Spain).
"Satanic verses"
A real sensation made the novel "Satanic Poems" by Salman Rushdie. It was printed in 1988.
The author formed the name from the part of the Qur'an telling about the first biography of the prophet Muhammad. Disputes about how authentic this piece is are still underway.
The main theme of the work is emigration, as well as the inability of people to adapt to a new culture due to the fact that they constantly strive to return to their roots.
The novel has two storylines that develop in parallel. The modern part unfolds in Bombay and London, and the ancient in Arabia, during the time of the Prophet Muhammad.
In the modern part of the novel "Satanic Poems" by Salman Rushdie, it all starts with the fact that terrorists blow up an airplane. Two Muslim Indians drop out of an aircraft. Their names are Saladin Chamcha and Djibril Farishta.
Chamcha is an Indian actor who works in England, mainly voicing characters. He has an Englishwoman, but no children. Chamcha is gradually turning into a satire, and later into a devil. Because of this metamorphosis, he is being chased by the police; he has to hide in a London hotel. He becomes his among young Londoners, they even have a fashion for devilism.
Farishta is a playboy who was a famous actor in Bollywood. At the same time, he specialized in playing the roles of Hindu deities. Now he is haunted by the ghost of a mistress who committed suicide. Farisht has to become the embodiment of the archangel Jabrail. Meanwhile, in London, he has an affair with a climber named Hallelujah.
Farishta goes to Mecca, which in the novel is called Jahilia. There he meets the Prophet Muhammad literally at the birth of Islam.
At the end of the work, Farishta, in a fit of jealousy, kills Hallelujah. In connection with this, his entire journey to Muhammad can be considered as one of the consequences of exacerbation of schizophrenia. Chamcha returns to India after making peace with his father.
Salman Rushdie's book reaction
This novel by a British writer caused a large number of negative assessments among Muslims. The Iranian theologian Khomeini even publicly cursed the writer and sentenced the author and everyone involved in the publication of this book to death. Khomeini explicitly called on Muslims to enforce the sentence.
This reaction to the work of art has led to serious consequences. Diplomatic relations between Iran and Britain were severed. This happened after one of the Iranian foundations announced a reward for the murder of Rushdie. At first, the amount was equal to two million dollars, and later increased to two and a half million. The fund also noted that this does not have to be a Muslim, they are willing to pay anyone who kills Rushdie.
Most likely, such a fierce reaction was caused by one of the chapters in which Mahound, as the prophet Muhammad is called in the novel, recognizes several pagan goddesses, who have a special status in the eyes of God, under the pressure of the leaders of Mecca. In another episode, a former opponent of Mahound, a poet named Baal, hides in a brothel, all the prostitutes in which are called the same as the wives of the prophet.
There is another scandalous episode of the novel. In it, Jabrail meets with a religious fanatic, in whom it is easy to recognize Khomeini himself.
Rushdie is hiding
For many years, writer Salman Rushdie has to hide. Only occasionally does he appear in public. He even repented, but the Muslim community rejected him. Khomeini's successor named Ali Khamenei said that Rushdie’s death sentence will never be canceled, even if he becomes the most pious person on Earth.
Only when President Mohammad Khatami came to power in Iran did the situation begin to calm down. In 1998, he stated that the government did not intend to take any action that could harm Rushdie. Therefore, the case of the author of "Satanic verses" can be considered closed.
But in 2003, the Revolutionary Guard organization from Iran stated that the death sentence for the writer was still in effect. In 2012, the award was increased to 3 million 300 thousand dollars.
The last time they returned to this topic was in February 2016. Then it became known that in Iran the reward for the execution of the sentence has grown again. Now for 600 thousand dollars.
Best for 40 years
Rushdie has another unique award. In 2008, an online voting was organized in England for the best Booker Prize winner of the last 40 years. The award went to the hero of our article. He was recognized as the best among the rest of the laureates in the aggregate of literary merits.
Only his children were able to come to the ceremony. They were awarded a special prize and a check for 50 thousand pounds.
By the way, after the scandal with "Satanic verses", the writer reoriented to fairy tales, and also began to publish Salman Rushdi's storybooks. One of his most famous and popular works of that period is the small novel "Harun and the Sea of Stories". Perhaps his brightest work.
In the mid-2000s, Rushdie, despite ongoing persecution by Muslims, led the PEN Center in the United States for three years.
Personal life
It is known that Rushdy was married four times. The most famous wife was an Indian actress Padmme Lakshmi. They got married in 2004. For the writer, she became just the fourth wife.
Lakshmi has Indian and American citizenship. Fame came to her in 1999, when she played in the adventure series Lamberto Bava "Pirates".
Viewers can remember her from the melodrama of Paul Maed Burges “The Princess of Spices” and the drama by Vondy Curtis Hall “Glitter”.
The problem of emigrants
Rushdy continues to raise the problem of emigrants raised in one of his first works. In particular, the novels “The Earth Beneath Her Feet” and “Farewell Sigh of the Moor”, published in the 90s, are devoted to her.
In addition to studies of the self-identification of emigrants, the British writer in these works raises the topic of the cult of celebrity in the modern world, subject to total globalization.
"Clown Shalimar"
One of the author’s most recent novels is called The Clown Shalimar, Salman Rushdy wrote it in 2005.
In this work, Rushdy talks about the difficult and tragic situation that develops in Kashmir, the homeland of his parents. On the pages of this novel, readers can follow the successive transformation of an ordinary acrobat clown named Shalimar into a real cold-blooded assassin.
At the center of the story are several main characters. This is Shalimar himself, actress Bunny, the American ambassador Max Ofals, as well as his daughters. On their example, Rushdi demonstrates the clash of Muslim, Western and Indian cultures.
After 2005, Rushdy released three more novels. This is the "Florentine sorceress", "Two years, eight months and twenty eight nights", "Golden House".