Shalimar the Clown
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Shalimar the Clown is a 2005 novel written by Salman Rushdie, an author perhaps most famous for his earlier work, The Satanic Verses.
Shalimar was published in September 2005 and has attracted significant attention, comparable to his earlier publications, particularly The Moor's Last Sigh and Midnight's Children, the latter of which was adjudged the 'Booker of Bookers',the best novel to have won the Booker Prize in its first 25 years.Shalimar the Clown derives its name from Shalimar Gardens, in the vicinity of Srinagar, one of several Mughal Gardens, which were laid out in several parts of undivided India when the Mughals reigned over the subcontinent. Shalimar is the name of one of the characters featured in the novel.
Shalimar the Clown was one of the finalists for the 2005 Whitbread Book Awards.
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[edit] Setting
The novel is based mostly in a small town in the Indian region of Kashmir. The town itself is imaginary, but it is located in an accurate geographic location not far from Srinagar.
In Rushdie style, the 1947 partition of India, the subsequent invasion by tribals from POK and Pakistan reinforced by regular army units, and finally the India-Pakistan war that resulted in the partitioning of Jammu and Kashmir, all appear in the story. Similarly, the 1965 India-Pakistan war appears also.
The title refers to a character, a Kashmiri villager who performs a tightrope act for amusement.
[edit] Plot
The main character is an illegitimate child of a U.S. ambassador to India and a girl from a Kashmiri village. The novel begins toward the end of the story, when the retired ambassador is murdered in California. The backdrop is the secessionist movement in Indian Administered Kashmir.
Although a number of narratives and incidents in the novel revolve around Kashmir, the novel opens in Los Angeles, U.S.A. Max Ophuls, a U.S. diplomat who has worked in the Kashmir Valley, is murdered by his former chauffeur, Shalimar. Max had an illegitimate daughter, ironically named India, from a Kashmiri woman with whom he had an affair during his diplomatic stint in India and Kashmir. Several flashbacks take the readers to the past, and one learns that Shalimar, the clown, was once full of affection, love and laughter.
[edit] Critical interpretations
A number of readers and critics feel that the title and the theme of the book is not exactly about Kashmir; nevertheless, Kashmir is certainly a reference point of the novel. Accordingly, the book is as much about Kashmir as Midnight’s Children was about the Emergency in India imposed in 1975 during Indira Gandhi's prime ministership, or The Satanic Verses is about Islam.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Sarah Johnson (2006-07-26). Salman Rushdie and a story of paradise lost. Amsterdam Forum. Radio Netherlands. Retrieved on 2006-07-31. – Interview with Rushdie about the book. Includes links to audio version of the interview.
