ABSTRACT

This work examines the fiction of Salman Rushdie - Grimus, Midnight’s Children,

Shame and The Satanic Verses, and its complex narrative structure. Fictional narrative

is discussed in terms of structuralist theory using studies by Mike Bal, Seymour

Chatman and Gerald Prince. Historical narrative is analyzed through the writings of

the philosophers of history, Hayden White, Louis O. Mink and Paul Ricoeur. These

theories are applied to the fiction of Salman Rushdie in order to investigate his use of

narrative. It is concluded that he uses a combination of historical and fictional

narrative in order to explode existing 'truths' and mythologies, and to suggest alternative

realities in their place.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

1 would Iike to express my gratitude to Prof. R. Lecker for his encouragement and

guidance when it was needed most, and to Ms. C. Weiwood for her assistance.

1 wouId also Iike to acknowledge Ron and Bernadette DeAngelis, my parents, for

their unwavering support and infinite patience throughout this endeavour.

Finally, 1 would Iike to thank my friends whose assistance was greatly appreciated;

Sami for tranlating my abstract into French, Sharlene and Donna for their encouragement,

Zarir for his enthusiasm, and especially TIM for offering his expertise and his unending

support.

This thesis is dedicated to my parents.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: A Discussion of Narrative 6

Chapter 3: The Nature of History and 17 Historical Narrative

Chapter 4: Grimus as a Novel and as an Introduction of Rushdian 26 Theories of History

Chapter 5: The Public and Private Histories of Saleem Sinai and the Indian 37 Sub-Continent in
Midnight's Children

Chapter 6: Pakistan/Peccavislan and Political Mythology in Shame 68

Chapter 7: Islam and Immigration in lhe Dream and Waking Worlds of The Salanic 85 Verses
Chapter 8:' Concluding Remarks 106

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

This thesis explores the fictional works of Saiman Rushdie, and the use of history and fiction in his
narrative. The purpose of this study is to prove that through a combination of history and fiction,
Rushdie is able to expIode existing mythologies and to offer in their place alternate truths and
realities. He is a new writer, but has already established his importance because of his Iiterary
excellence, and the dramatic political and religious impact of his novels. 1 approach the fictional
works of Saiman Rushdie l'rom two angles: l'rom theories of history and theories of fiction. The
section on fictional theories concentrates on the studies in narrative and structure by Mieke Bal,
Gerald Prince and Seymour Chatman. The ideas developed and supported by these and other
theorists discussed in the chapter emphasize the structure or form of the narrative. It is basically a
double structure, composed of story (what is told) and discourse (how it is told). This double
structure is exploited by Rushdie throughout his entire trilogy composed of Midnight's Children,
Shame, and The Satanic Verses. Antithetical themes, structures and characters in the novels work in
much the same way as the twin formation of story and discourse. They are diametrically opposed,
yet entirely interdependent; to such a degree tha! one could not survive without the other. In a
sense, they function Iike magnets; attracting and repelling each other at the same time. There is a
considerable amount of energy in the combination, a tension between characters, forces and ideas
that gives form to the discourse and momentum to the story. Rushdie's novels have a firm historical
grounding; both in recent political and cultural history, and in more academic theories of history.
Because their influence is not only felt, but stressed and explored within the text, it is important to
review sorne theories of history, especially those that explore its narrative nature. Several
philosophers of history are interested in this aspect of history; they include Hayden White, Louis O.
Mink· and Paul Ricoeur. The second chapter is a discussion of the nature of history, tracing the
development of scholarly findings on the topic, through its various phases and counterphases. The
pendulum of thought swings l'rom scientific, to what was at one point anti-scientific, but is now the
more independent theory of narrative. Narrative is the umbrella term that opens up to cover history
on one side and literature on the other. There are other types of narrative, even non-verbal
narrative, such as opera, ballet, pantomime, etcetera. Ricoeur, through his own studies and his
references to Arthur Danto, stresses the similarities between history and literature by defining

, t: ....,;

historical narrative in almost the same terms as Gerald Prince defines fictional narrative in the first
chapter. History does not happen in a story form, just as life does not either. A universal history does
not already exist, simply waiting for an historian to record it on paper. One must participate in
history, and the writing of history. An historian is not merely a witness to the past about which s/he
writes, but s/he is a participant and an interpreter. Even if the historian does personally witness a
certain happening, it cannot just be recorded, but it must be put into perspective and given
meaning, by relating it to preceding and following events, and as Danto writes, "as parts of temporal
wholes" (Ricoeur 2: 147). Hayden White expands on the interpretive aspect of writing history, for
history is a narrative, and historical works can easily and revealingly be studied in methods very
similar to those used for studying fiction. White addresses how history is written, emphasizing the
poetic characteristics involved. This includes interpreting the data, and 'prefiguring' the field, that is,
constituting it "as an object of mental perception" (White 30). He feels that before writing, one must
examine the entire set of events and decide what the purpose of the text will be. Once the
hypothesis has been decided and declared, then you can move on to the next stage, which is how to
present your data, in which narrative form and style. This is a poetic or artistic way of viewing
history, because it focuses on the historian's very individual interpretation of the 'facts', ralher than
a scientific view which would be closer to a chronicle-like presentation of the event, allowing the
'facts' of the past to speak for themselves. But as White states, and Rushdie supports, this scientific
view is impossible because absolute truth does not exist, and recording the barest of facts involves
sorne level of interpretation; one must decide which facts even warrant recording. Louis O. Mink,
the final philosopher of history who is reviewed in any detail, restates the connections between
history and fiction, naming narrative as the structuring force, and classifying narrative as a cognitive
instrument, an actual form of human comprehension. The story is the primary organi7;ng scheme of
narrative, be it historical or literary, and although real life does not occur in a story format, it is
through the story structure that information is conveyed and understood. History and fiction employ
similar narrative and story structure in order to reach the audience. The main difference between
the two, according to Mink, "lies not in the kinds of intelligibility and understanding they respectively
afford, but in the n..ture and kinds of evidcnce for the truth of their statements" (123). Rushdie, in
his novels, wants not only to provide evidence for the truth of his statement, but to challenge the
existing truths, norms and mythologies, and to offer in their place another possible vision of the
world. He feels that it is his, and every writer's dutY to challenge the official version of history and to
offer an alternate reality. He does not expect or desire his image of this alternate reality to be taken
as a replacement for the official rend!!ion, for that would merely substitute one confining viewpoint
with another. Instead,' t.e wants to propose to the reader a possibility, or

rather possibilities, of reality, to create cracks in the closed official version of Iife, and

to allow for seepage between the various states of being. ne challenges the official, accepted
interpretation of history in two ways. He

tackles recent historical events in his novels, and he explores concepts of history. Rushdie blends
elements of fantasy with journalistic facts, magical creatures with real

Iife public figures. He is even courageous and reckless enough to contest the most solid

and sanctioned of truths, at least to those who profess to be believers, the Islamic

religion. His first novel, Grimus, is an investigation of the concepts of time and history, and how
myths develop. The main idea of history introduced is that the historian cannot be an outside
observer, but must be a participant in the events sIhe transcribes. By writing about the past, one is
interpreting it and thus influencing il. It is not

possible to tell 'the truth', or present 'the facts', because truths are numerous and facts

are subjective. The other significant notion presented here is his inquiry into the

concept of myth. This is done In Grimus primarily through the character of I.Q. Gribb

who studies how myths originate. Gribb is engrossed in the analysis of race-memory, "the sediment
of highly concentrated knowledge that passes down the ages" (163), and as

a corollary study has looked at "the growth of a mythology in a single, long-Iived

generation" (163). This mythology, of course, is the story of Grimus, and the Stone

Rose. It is strange that this story has mutated from being a real event into a myth, at least in the
psyches of the Island's citizens.

Rushdie is also questioning the ide'a that immortality in its most successful form means not only
living forever, but remaining the same forever: stagnating. The hero,

Flapping Eagle, a sYl"bol in North America of independence and bravery, encounters

the ancient Persian myth of the Simurg, and the myth of the Phoenix. Rebirth out of

the ashes of the past is worthless if it means an identical repetition of the pa.'t.

Empires and traditions may exist, but only if they are a positive force that allow for

growth. If not, then change, even if it means destruction to the existing order, is preferable.

The next three novels, Rushdie's trilogy composed of Midnight's Children, ~, and The Satanic Verses,
ail try to deflate or destroy existing mythologies. In

the first two books, these mythologies are in the form of the history of the sub

continent since Ir.dependence, which is a major myth wilhin itself. The third novel, The Salanic
Verses, investigates two main concepts: England as the center of civilization, and the mylh of Islam.
Midnight's Children tells the parallel tales of the private story of Saleem Sinaï, and the public history
of the Indian sub-continent. The two stories are interconnected and interdependent. Saleem is the
narrator, hero, storyteller and creator. Through his efforts, the myth of Independent India is being
reborn. His version of Indian history differs from the official version, in how it actually happened,
what motivated it, and in how it is recorded for future generations. Saleem, who influences past
events in four distinct ways, continues to be a significant factor through his struggles to preserve the
pasto This is done through 'the chutnification of history'; a proeess which may sharpen sorne of the
flavours, but allows the different ingredients to retain their individual characteristics. Yet before the
past reaches the point at which it can be preserved for posterity, il undergoes several translations. It
is viewed through a filter of time and memory, and from one specific point of reference, that is, how
it affected and was affected by Saleem Sinai and his family. The official version ofhistory is no less
biased, because il too is seen from a specific reference point; that of the ruling forces at the time.
Thus, history is experienced, remembered,\ written, spoken and finally stored in pickle jars. Much of
what is normally accepted as the real past has been exposed as false or distorted through Saleem's
rendition. Rushdie's point is not for the reader to replace the sanctified account with Saleem's; he is
portrayed as too unreliable a narrator for the reader to take such a naive view. Instead, Rushdie is
opening up the myth of India in order to allow leakage of other opinions and viewpoints, so that
alternative versions can begin to be heard. In Shame, Rushdie tackle the northern end of the sub-
continent, Pakistan. Again, the official history is exposed as being one possible way of seeing the
situation, and not the only or definitive way. Politics and politicians are the main targets of this
novel, because the creation of Pakistan was a very political aet; sharp and sudden rather than a
natural progression through the course "f history. Islam is shown to be just one of many tools
employed by politicians in order to gain and to remain in power. Aiso analyzed is the way in which
peoples' emotions can be manipulated by those in authority; how restricting people, imposing on
them Iimits of thought and behaviour will cause certain responses to occur. Thus, by imposing
Islamic restrictions on the citizens of Pakistan, those in control are able to remain at the top. The
same concept is employed in England by those with raeist or bigoted attitudes. Pakistan, the land of
the Pure, is parodied by Rushdie's mirror image, Peccavistan, a country of sin. Politieal leaders are
exposed as idiotic, and corrupt, Islam as repressive, especially to women, and the entire tale of the
history of Pakistan in dire need of rewriting and revisioning, There;5 not one dominant voice hcre as
was Saleem's in Midnjght's Children, but a multitude of voices or points of view. The result is to
provide a confusing but varied look at the creation of Pakistan, which is juxtaposed with chilling
anecdotes of the present situation in that country, and in England too. Hence, another version of the
past is proposed, although it is les5 hopeful

and future-oriented than Saleem's. While it can be a risky undertaking to challenge recent and still-
existing political regimes, it is quite another matter to contest major world religions. Islam is the
subject of Rushdie's myth-breaking in as least part of The Satanic Verses. In his previous works,
Rushdie has shown his dissatisfaction with the rule-oriented and therefore restrictive Islamic
religion, which seeks to govern not only the spiritual but also the secula. concerns of its adherents.
Rushdie hopes not only to discuss what he shows to be terrifying mutations of Islamic thought (the
Imam and his anti-progress revolutionaries), but the very foundations of Islam itself. The dream
sequences about Mahound and Jahilia are also the exploration of a modern divided self who is
experiencing a loss of faith, "and is strung out between his immense need to believe and his new
inability to do so" (Rushdie, "In Good Faith" 53), If adhering to the strict, traditional codes is not the
answer, neither is submerging oneself ulterly into English, or modern, Western, culture, in the hopes
of washing away ail traces on one's sub-continental heritage, Of course this is not possible, for no
malter how much Saladin sounds, thinks, dresses and acts Iike an Englishman, no matter how much
he himself believes in his Englishness, he will always remain, by virtue of pigmentation, an Indian.
Another possibility is combining Indian and English characteristics; unfortunately this is perceived as
an unsatisfactory answer, as, 1 believe, is the solution offered in the text of retreating back to the
motherland. Rushdie never claims to offer solutions; his goal is to make people aware that there are
other possibilities, alternate realities existing simultaneously with what is generally accepted as e".e
'reality', He wishes to challenge humanity to awaken, politically and intellectually, to confront what
they know or fear to be untrue, and to be brave enough to take the leap into the worlds of
uncharted and endless possibilities.

CHAPTER 2 A DISCUSSION OF NARRATIVE

Narrative "is simply there like life itself ... international, transhistorical, transcultural" (Roland
Barthes, "Introduction to the Structural Analysis of Narratives" 79).

History and fiction are both part of a larger category, narrative. Narrative draws history and fiction
together by emphasizing their common qualities, but allows them at the same time to retain their
separateness. History and fiction have different goals, but use similar methods to rea<:h these goals.
Historians onen use a stOl"y form to convey information and to support their theories about the
pasto History is commonly used by novelists as a source of setting, character and even plot. Within
his writing, Saiman Rushdie combines elements of history and fiction. He blends historical and
fictional data to tell his story, the story of the subcontinent. Rushdie writes out of the tradition of the
Indo-Anglian novel in which history has always played a crucial role. Sinee its birth in the 18th
century, the novel of India (that is the novel about India or by Indians), has centered on the historical
occurrences of the subcontinent. There have been an abundance of bloody and dramatic events
from which to draw inspiration, ranging from the Indian Mutiny of 1857 through the happenings of
the 20th century: the Quit India movement, swaraj (non-violent noncooperation), Independence,
the Partition, Bangladesh, and the Emergency of 1975. There has been a piethora of exciting
characters worthy of many volumes; these include such leaders as the Mahatma Gandhi, Motilal
Nehru, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and her sons, Sanjay and Rajiv, Jinnah, Bhutto, Zia, Sheik
Abdullah ... the list goes on. Thus it is no wonder that Salman Rushdie has chosen the Indian
subcontinent, the land of his birth and heritage, as the focal point of his novels Midnight's Children,
Shame, and The Satanie Verses. But Rushdie is not merely (if one could use that term to describe a
topie as controversial and enervating as Indian history), interested in recreating the past, or
fictionalizing it to fit his story. Instead, he is concerned with exploring larger issues: the question of
history itself and its creation, the idea of truth and memory, and the concept of narrative. Rushdie
read history at Cambridge and therefore has a scholarly interest in these topics. But he also has an
emotional attaehment to India (he was born in Bombay), and Pakistan (he is a Moslem and his family
currently resides in Pakistan), yet also to England, his home of choiee with his wife. History is a
motivating force in Rushdie's work and in his life. His interest in the subject is academic, literary,
political and persona!. The settings, plots and even themes of his novels are inspired by historical
events and historieal theories. He