Salman Rushdie Interviews: A Sourcebook of His Ideas

(Hardback)

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Description

Without some insight into his thinking process, Salman Rushdie's complex novels remain baffling even to the well-read. This volume puts forward a selection of significant statements made by Rushdie during the last two decades in the 20th century. Given in response to questions by authors, scholars, and journalists, they illuminate the life and work of this contraversial novelist. Gathered here are Rushdie's utterances, ordinarily hard to locate if only because, originally published in journals now defunct, they lie buried in archives across three continents. The material included in this collection ranges from biographical snippets, though literary explications to political dicta and historical analyses. Taken together, they make up a psycho-biography of the writer who, in our age, has emerged as the archetype of the romantic artist - tyrannized and tormented, yet refusing to abandon either his position of his art. The core of Rushdie's ideas embedded in the interviews comes as a mine of information, especially valuable for students and scholars. Accompanied by annotations and a detailed index, the interviews offer a guide to Rushdie's seemingly impenetrable fiction.

Reviews

"P.S. Chauhan offers the most complete book on this enigmatic author. He lines up a global cast of eminent film directors, authors, critics, and media personalities, each with their own take on contemporary arts, culture, and politics, quizzing Rushdie in season and out. The result is a panoramic text of Rushdie ideas on almost everything that can matter to people in the art world. Chauhan's scholarship and reader-friendly editing make this book an invaluable resource for students of Postcolonial and Postmodern literatures. It should serve readers and scholars for a long time to come as an important sourcebook of Rushdie's ideas expressed in response to queries, intelligent and curious."-Manthia Diawara Editor of Black Renaissance Professor and Chair, African Studies New York University
"Presenting a history of the development of Salman Rushdie's ideas, this book provides a crucial window into the cultural, literary, and intellectual background framing Rushdie's work. Meticulously annotated and carefully selected, these interviews chart the growth of one of the world's most famous writers. They also provide a detailed backcloth to the development of a tradition of diasporic writing from the Asian subcontinent, a literary movement which has been central in shifting the ways in which the contemporary novel has now come to be written and to be read."-Susheila Nasta Research Lecturer at the Open University, London Editor of Wasafiri
"Salman Rushdie Interviews are an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the works of this internationally renowned and controversial novelist. The 34 interviews cover Rushdie's early career to the present, and the interviewers range from those of Rushdie's native India in his days of relative obscurity to celebrities such as David Frost and Francine Prose. The trajectory of Rushdie's career is delineated as he moves from dedicated artist to dedicated artist to dedicated artist who is forced to be a spokesperson for various causes after the fatwa issued against his life following the publication of The Satanic Verses. Rushdie speaks on literature, history, film, politics, and rock and roll, revealing his omnivorous hunger for aesthetics and knowledge. Most importantly, the interviews are a treasure house for those interested in his writing, illuminating the largest themes to the smallest details."-Veronica Makowsky Editor of MELUS University of Connecticut
For anyone interested in Rushdie's work, the book is essential. Most pages contain some new insight, a surprising fact, a useful quotation, or a different way to see his work....This is an extremely useful book for understanding Rushdie's novels and some of his blind spots.-World Literature Today
"For anyone interested in Rushdie's work, the book is essential. Most pages contain some new insight, a surprising fact, a useful quotation, or a different way to see his work....This is an extremely useful book for understanding Rushdie's novels and some of his blind spots."-World Literature Today

Author Bio

Pradyumna S. Chauhan is Professor of English at Arcadia University.