Salman Rushdie

In this valuable study of Salman Rushdie, currently the world’s most controversial writer, Professor Goonetilleke examines “the Rushdie affair,” indicating that it is more complex than the terms in which it is usually projected–as freedom of expression versus Islamic fundamentalism. His focus, however, is on Rushdie as a novelist. He considers Rushdie’s fiction as art, in all its richness of significance and technique, tracing the collage of autobiographical and historical elements, and analyzes Rushdie’s complex position as a migrant writer, drawing on the cultural riches of two hemispheres while not belonging fully to either. He examines Rushdie’s development as a writer and the innovativeness of his art that has made him a major postmodernist.