Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Salman Rushdie's magical realism

How does salman Rushdie get a place in the blog on latin America?
I consider him as the Indian counterpart of Gabriel Garcia Marquez in employing magical realism.Obviously one should not take this too far. Rushdie will never write an autobiographical novel such as marquez's " memory of my melancholic whores"
His midnight children and Shame have extra doses of this typical Latin American magic.
I have just finished reading
Shalimar, the Clown
by Rushdie
As anticipated, it was a familiar journey through Rushdie world.
but less magic .. and more realism in this novel
Kashmir is the theme.
American ambassador, second world war- hero, comes to india, goes to kashmir, falls in love with a married Kashmiri woman and pays the price with his life.
Kashmiri traditions, political issues and terrorism have been portrayed realistically.
The weak clown, after loss of his wife, becomes a terrorist.
the story line is fantastic and the characters stay with you

There is one more connection of Rushdie to Latin America
he wrote a non fiction about Nicaragua after his visit during the Sandinista rule.

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