Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie is one of the major novelists of the last two decades. A writer at the forefront of the internationalisation of British fiction, his work is subjected to controversy and, unusually, to both critical and popular acclaim. Catherine Cundy’s book, one of the first major studies of Rushdie’s oeuvre, explores the diverse cultural influences and tensions that inform his fictions and highlights the complex blend of Eastern and Western ideas that shape his art. A short biographical piece prefaces the book, before moving into a chronological examination of his work. The novels and short stories are considered in relation to narrative technique, filmic influences, mythology, religion and national and sexual politics. Catherine Cundy also addresses the writer’s claim of a new hybridised identity and literary style, in the light of current contemporary critical and post-colonial theory. This wide-ranging, accessible and scholarly study of the fictions of Salman Rushdie is also a useful resource where criticism is still largely confined to articles in journals and periodicals.