SALMAN RUSHDIE: THE SATANIC VERSES

Salman Rushdie:
"The Satanic Verses"

Salman Ahmed Rushdie - Biography:

* 1947 in Bombay
1961 emigration to Britain
studied history in Cambridge
after that: working as an independent journalist
1981: first novel "Midnight's Children"
1988: "The Satanic Verses", most popular novel
murder thread on account of blasphemy by the Iranian president forcing him to hide
several respected prizes, such as the "Austrian prize of state of European literature" (1992) and the "Booker of Bookers" (1994)
style: mixture of realism, fantasy and grotesque tale, using historical facts and real political events
often allusions and language games

Saladin Chamcha	Gibreel Farishta
loss of his faith in god, but faith in Western European values, the God England; loses his faith at the end	loss of his faith in god, but detests the Western European world as well
Book I, III, and V
Metamorphosis of his body: hooves, horns, a fur, a tail and a voice like a goat à Devil	Metamorphosis of soul and mind: à Angel
Book VII
Metamorphosis only concerning his mind now (Remetamorphosis of his body) becomes "Man of a Thousand Voices" drives Gibreel mad with mean short rhymes, "the satanic verses"	gets very depressed and unstable is about to lose his fight against the Devil
Book IX
Victory over Gibreel	destroyed by the failure of his films and by Saladin commits suicide
Saladin's father in India becomes critically ill, calls for his son and forgives him his turning away from the parental home. Saladin is definitely disappointed of the British life and people, so he changes his mind once more and becomes a member of an Indian underground movement.

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