'Midnight's Children' problems.

[l.m.fosse at easteur-orient.uio.no]

>I'm sorry to interject so sharply, but am I the only one who finds it
>extremely problematic to either typify Rushdie's novel as "very south
>asian" or to disavaw that there are strands within it which reverberate
>against "postcolonial literatures" since WWII, which may also find their
>antecdents in european novels between the war -- themselves never
>conceived in a vacum, nor untainted by exposure to the then-colonies?

I certainly agree that Rushdie's novels are not a pure product of the South
Asian tradition, but I find that elements in Midnight's Children that could
only have originated in South Asia. Rushdie does not have to be a South
Asian scholar to have knowledge of the South Asian tradition. As far as I
can see, Western criticism has not be sufficiently aware of this. But by
all means: Rushdie is alive and should be able to comment upon this.
Instead of speculating on his sources of inspiration, South Asian or other,
we should perhaps just ask him.

Best regards,

Lars Martin Fosse



Lars Martin Fosse
Research Fellow
Department of East European
and Oriental Studies
P. O. Box 1030, Blindern
N-0315 OSLO Norway

Tel: +47 22 85 68 48
Fax: +47 22 85 41 40

E-mail: l.m.fosse at easteur-orient.uio.no