The Enchantress of Florence
The Enchantress of Florence is the ninth novel by Salman Rushdie, and was published in 2008.[1] According to Rushdie this is his "most researched book" which required "Years and years of reading".[2]
The novel was published on 11 April 2008 by Jonathan Cape London.
Plot outline
The central theme of The Enchantress of Florence is the visit of a European to the Mughal emperor Akbar's court and his claim that he is a long lost relative of Akbar, born of an exiled Indian princess and an Italian from Florence. The story moves between continents, the court of Akbar to Renaissance Florence mixing history, fantasy and fable.[3]
Part One
The tale of adventure begins in Fatehpur Sikri, the capital of Mughal emperor Akbar the Great, when a stranger arrives, having stowed away on a pirate ship captained by the Scottish Lord Hauksbank, and sets the Mughal court talking and looking back into its past. Chapter 1-In the day's last light the glowing lake. A man has "a secret which the emperor's ear may hear" Chapter 2-Aboard the Scottish milord's pirate ship
Part Two Chapters 10-15
The stranger begins to tell Akbar the tale, going back to the boyhood of three friends in Florence, Il Machia, Ago Vespucci and Nino Argalia, the last of whom became an adventurer in the Orient.
Part Three
The tale returns to the mobs and clamour of Florence in the hands of the Medici dynasty.
Historical characters in the book
- Adham Khan, Akbar's foster brother
- Akbar the Great – Mughal emperor
- Abu'l-Fazl – Akbar's chief advisor and author of Akbarnama
- Miyan Tansen – Legendary Musician, well known for his voice and music
- Ali-Shir Nava'i – poet of Herat, author of "My Dark Eyed One"
- Amerigo Vespucci – explorer and cartographer after whom the Americas are named
- Niccolò Machiavelli – Italian diplomat, political philosopher, musician, poet and playwright
- Andrea Doria – Genoese admiral
- Angelica is a fictional character in the epic poem Orlando innamorato, who Rushdie cites as the inspiration for the character Qara Köz, Lady Black Eyes, in the book
- Babar – founder of the Mughal Empire, brother of Angelica.
- Bayezid II – Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1481 to 1512.
- Birbal – Grand Vizier (Wazīr-e Azam) of the Mughal court in the administration of the Mughal emperor Akbar and one of the nine jewels in Akbar's court
- Elizabeth I – Queen of England
- Giuliano de' Medici – reigned in Florence from 1512 to 1516.
- Janissaries – infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops and bodyguards.
- Jodha
- Genghis Khan – founder of the Mongol Empire, and some of his descendants; e.g. Tamerlane
- Gulbadan – daughter of Babur, sister of Humayun, aunt of Akbar the Great.
- Hauksbank – fictional character, but the family may be based on Sir John Hawkwood, an English mercenary or condottiero in 14th century Italy.
- Humayun – second Mughal Emperor, father of Akbar the Great
- Khanzada Begum – Babar's sister
- Prince Khusraw – son of Prince Selim (Jahangir), grandson of Akbar the Great
- Leo, Pope Leo X – born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, brother of Duke Giuliano in Florence
- Lorenzo de' Medici – Florentine ruler of Florence, died from syphilis, Niccolò Machiavelli dedicated The Prince to Lorenzo
- Maham Anaga – wet nurse of the Mughal Emperor Akbar. She was the de facto regent of the Mughal state after the exclusion Bairam Khan in 1560 to Akbar's assumption of full power in 1562, shortly before her death.
- Mariam-uz-Zamani – wife of the Mughal emperor Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar. She was also the mother of emperor Nuruddin Salim Jahangir, her husband's heir.
- Mir Sayyid Ali – first master of Akbar's royal art studio
- Petrarch – Italian scholar and poet.
- Qutlugh Nigar Khanum – mother of Babur
- Shah Ismail – victor of the battle of Marv
- Savonarola – Italian Dominican priest and leader of Florence from 1494 until his execution in 1498.
- Scáthach – legendary Scottish warrior woman – name of Hauksbank's ship
- Selim I "the Grim" – son of Bayezid II and Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520.
- Shaybani Khan (Wormwood)
- Sultan Mehmed II – Sultan of the Ottoman Empire for a short time from 1444 to 1446, and later from 1451 to 1481. He conquered Constantinople, bringing an end to the medieval Byzantine Empire.
- Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia called "Vlad the Impaler"
- Martin Waldseemüller – cartographer of the 1507 Waldseemüller map, which shows an ocean between America and Asia five years before Europeans saw the Pacific.
Major themes
The book relates a succession of interweaving stories by a variety of storytellers, travellers and adventurers and of course touches on the histories and cultures of the various settings including the Mughal and Ottoman Empires, the earlier Mongols, and Renaissance Florence. There is a strong theme of sex and eroticism, much of it surrounding the Enchantress of the book's title, who was inspired by the Renaissance poem Orlando Furioso. There is also a recurring discussion of humanism and debate as opposed to authoritarianism, and Machiavelli is a character in the book.[4]. Similarly to Rushdie's previous works, the book can be considered a work of magic realism.
References
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- Haroun and the Sea of Stories (with Tim Supple and David Tushingham)
- Midnight's Children (with Tim Supple and Simon Reade)
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| Children's books: |
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| Anthology: |
- The Vintage Book of Indian Writing (co-editor)
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External links