Chapter 23 - Salman Rushdie and Postcolonialism

Summary

The rise of postcolonial literary studies is closely entwined with the publishing success of the work of Salman Rushdie; the two have fed off each other. Rushdie’s work engages with several key concepts of postcolonialism. He challenges colonial discourses and historiography, castigates the post-independence state authorities in both India and Pakistan, and portrays new forms of hybrid cultural identities and processes of global migration. While Rushdie has projected himself as an Indian writer with inside knowledge of that country, the many palpable errors in his work as well as his strong British affiliations complicate this claim. So does a comparison with some indigenous postcolonial writers who still live in the subcontinent and write in an Indian language.