this is an M.A. presentation of mine. Hope you enjoy it.

1. Sir Ahmed Salman
Rushdie

2. was born on 19 June
1947 in Bombay.
Muslim family
of Kashmiri descent.
a British
Indian novelist
and essayist.

3. «His dual consciousness,
created as a result of this
linguistic division, is the
source of much of the
versatility and play in
Rushdie‘s use of English
in his fiction» (Cundy,
Salman Rushdie 1).

4. His second novel (1981), won
the Booker Prize in 1981.
deemed to be "the best
novel of all winners".

5. his fiction is set on
the Indian subcontinent.
He combines magical
realism with historical
fiction.
his work is concerned with the
many connections, disruptions,
and migrations
between Eastern and Western
civilizations

6. His Fourth Novel
(1988)
the subject of a major
controversy, provoking
protests from Muslims in
several countries

9. In 1983 Rushdie was elected
a fellow of the Royal Society
of Literature
In June
2007, Queen
Elizabeth II
knighted him for
his services to
literature.
In 2008, The Times ranked
him thirteenth on its list of
the 50 greatest British
writers since 1945.
Since 2000, Rushdie has
lived in the United
States.

10. His Works
2017 The Golden House
2015 Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights
2012 Joseph Anton: A Memoir
2010 Luka and the Fire of Life
2008 The Enchantress of Florence
2008 The Best American Short Stories
2005 Shalimar the Clown
2002 Step Across This Line: Collected Non-fiction 1992-2002
2001 Fury
1999 The Ground Beneath Her Feet
1997 The Vintage Book of Indian Writing
1995 The Moor's Last Sigh
1994 East, West
1992 The Wizard of Oz
1991 Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981-1991
1990 Haroun and the Sea of Stories
1990 In Good Faith
1988 The Satanic Verses
1987 The Jaguar Smile
1983 Shame
1981 Midnight's Children
1975 Grimus

11. deals with India's transition
from British
colonialism to independence and
the partition of British India
considered an example
of postcolonial, postmodern,
and magical realist literature.
the tale of post-colonial
India.

12. protagonist, Saleem
Sinai
set in the context of
actual historical
events.
"Snotnose, Stainface, Baldy,
Sniffer, Buddha, Piece-of-the-
Moon"

13. a loose allegory for events in
India both before and,
primarily, after
the independence and partition
of India.
born at midnight, 15 August
1947,the exact moment when
India became an independent
country.

14. begins with the story of the Sinai
family, particularly with events leading
up to India's Independence and
Partition,
divided into three books:
Part ı- 1915-1947 Part II- 1947-1965 Part III- 1970-1978

15. The Perforated Sheet
starts with the story of
Saleem’s grandfather, Aadam
Aziz
Adam and
Eve? A new
myth?

16. Westernized intellectual
recently returned from
Germany
he is a product of the
British Empire as well
as a witness to its falling
apart.
His Nose (as a
symbol?)
"That's a nose to
start a family on, my
princeling. There'd be
no mistaking whose
brood they were"
(1.1.26)

17. represents the traditional
East with her traditional
upbringing.
When Aadam can only see Naseem through the
hole in the sheet, the suggestion is that the woman
cannot be seen whole, but when Naseem is
presented as Reverand Mother, or Mother India.
India can only be seen and understood in
fragments and Aadam tries to change her
character.

18. The Perforated
Sheet
"...a large white bedsheet with a roughly circular hole
some seven inches in diameter cut into the centre,
clutching at the dream of that holey, mutilated square of
linen which is my talisman, my open-sesame, I must
commence the business of remaking my life from the
point at which it really began, some thirty-two years
before anything as obvious, as present, as my clock-
ridden, crime-stained birth." (1.1.3)

19. «In today‘s postcolonial,
postmodern world, no one can
or should try to retain a
singular identity. In fact, living
between East and West or
embracing the hybrid mixture
of India is a positive thing, one
which brings about newness in
the world» (Cundy, 1).

20. Rushdie ―privileges a postmodern space or
third principle that blends both sides of
binaries:
east/west, secular/religious, real/fantasy, and
colonizer/colonized and foregrounds
hybridity over clarity and open-endedness
over closure.

22. Just like Rushdie himself, Saleem is
a perfect representation of the
hybrid man, born with ―multiple
allegiances and identities.
He is a character of mixed
backgrounds—the son of a colonial
named William Methwold and a poor
Indian woman, yet raised as a son by
the middle-class Sinais.

23. Magic Realism
Postmodern thought in the late twentieth
century has worked to completely
destabilize and decenter these essentialized
myths about national and cultural history.

24. Postmodern theorists argue that
absolute truth can never be found, even
through supposedly objective historical
research.

25. «History is always ambiguous. Facts are hard to
establish, and capable Brown 24 of being given
many meanings. Reality is built on our
prejudices, misconceptions and ignorance as
well as on our perceptiveness and knowledge»
(Imaginary Homelands 25).

26. Thank you for listening!

27. • Ashcroft, Bill. The Post-Colonial Studies Reader. London:
Routledge. Online.
• Bhabha, Homi K. The Location of Culture. London: Routledge,
2008. Online.
• Cundy, Catherine. Salman Rushdie. Machester: Manchester
University Press. Online.
• Rushdie, Salman. Midnight’s Children.London: Consortium Press.
Online.
• Rushdie, Salman. Imaginary Homelands. London: Granta Books.
Online.
• Young, Robert J. C. Postcolonialism: A Very Short Introduction.
New York: Oxford University Press. Online.
Works Cited