Salman Rushdie
From ArticleWorld
Salman Rushdie was born Ahmed Salman Rushdie in 1947. He attended Rugby School in Warwickshire and graduated from King's College in Cambridge. While working for an advertising agency, Ayers Baker, he discovered that he wanted to be a writer. He dived in to a full-time writing career soon after.
Career
His first novel was Grimus. It was generally ignored by the book-buying public and literary critics. It was a fantastic tale, part-science fiction (also known as magic realism and is seen in most of his novels). It was followed by Midnight's Children. Shame, a novel reflecting the political-turmoil in Pakistan followed right away.A few years later in 1988, he authored Satanic Verses . He wrote an essay The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey in 1987. His latest work, Shalimar the Clown was released in September 2005. It is currently a finalist for the Whitbread Book Awards. There are some recurring features of his works
- Political situations of different countries: for example, he wrote about Nicaragua in his non-fiction work The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey . His novel Shame was about the political unrest in Pakistan.
In the Moor's Last Sigh, he explores the influence of the Iberian Peninsula on India.
- Magic realism: a recurring style in his fiction, he first used it in Grimus, which, as mentioned before was ignored by readers and critics alike. The reader finds the same style in Midnight’s Children.
Midnight's Children, Satanic Verses
Two of his works deserve a special mention: Midnight's Children and Satanic Verses. Midnight's Children was his second novel. This work is considered his best work to date. He shot to fame with this work and was awarded the Booker Prize. It was also awarded 'Booker of Bookers' prize in 1993. There is a reason why this book of his is so great. It was a trendsetter. It succeeded in changing the way Indian writers wrote after that. Rushdie himself could not match its success to date, though he continues to be a brilliant writer. Influences of modern literature are found in these two novels. While the inspiration for Midnight's Children came from The Tin Drum (Günter Grass's novel) The Satanic Verses is seems to be influenced by the Russian novel The Master and Margarita (Mikhail Bulgakov's classic).
Rushdie earned several accolades for his works. Some of his awards are:
- Booker Prize for Fiction
- James Tait Black Memorial Prize (Fiction)
- "Booker of Bookers" or the best novel among the Booker Prize winners for Fiction
- Prix du Meilleur Livre Etranger
- Whitbread Novel Award
Fatwa
The author's work "Satanic Verses" had content that offended Muslims and a "fatwa " or orders for execution were given. Many people who worked with Rushdie (publishers, translators) were killed in the riots that followed.