Salman Rushdie’s Grimus: An Attempt to forge the 'Uncreated Conscience'.

Abstract

Born in 1947, in Bombay in the family of Anis Ahmed Rushdie, a businessman who had received his education in Cambridge, and his wife, Negin, Salman Rushdie, indisputablyis known as one of the greatest living English novelists. In a family of four siblings (three sisters and one brother) Salman was admitted to an English Mission School in Bombay in 1954 and was a student there till 1961, when he was sent to England for his secondary education, at Rugby School. After moving to Karachi in 1964 Rushdie- family admitted him in to King's College, Cambridge to read History in 1965. Though not a believer in any religion, he grew a n interest in Islam. During this period he was involved in acting with the 'Cambridge Footlights', and developed a liking for world cinema as well. In 1968 he returned to Pakistan and worked briefly in television before returning to London to join a company of actors. In 1969 he started working as a copywriter for different advertising agencies, and also took time out to write a first novel on Indian Themes which remained unpublished. It was in 1970 that Rushdie met Clarissa Luard, whom he married in 1976 in April. In 1974 he went for a five months' tour to India and Pakistan. 1975 is the year when he began his career as a novelist and the first book Grimus was published. This year he was also actively involved with Black and Asian groups in London. In June 1979 his wife Clarissa Luard gave birth to his son Zafar and then he gave up his copywriting job and took to full time writing as a career. In February 1981 his novel Midnight's Children was published, which won him the famous Booker Prize in October 1981. It was around two years after that he published his next novel Shame in 1983. After one year in 1984 he travelled to Australia with the famous writer Bruce Chatwin and met Robyn Davidson there. In 1986 he travelled to Nicaragua at the invitation of the Sandimista Association of Cultural Workers there. He met there the American novelist Marriane Wiggins. Based on the visit, in 1987 he published The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey in January. In 1988 he took divorce from his first wife Clarissa Luard and married Marriane Wiggins. In September 1988 another controversial novel The Satanic Verses was published, and was denounced in India and Pakistan, and was publicly burnt in the street in Bradford. In 1989 on 14 February, Ayatullah Homeini announced the 'fatwa' against Salman Rushdie, and an offer of a reward was announced by the state of Iran for his murder. Rushdie had to go underground, under the special protection of the British Police. The affair drew global attention and stimulated anti-Islamic feelings in the west. The government of Britain made representation to the government of Iran to get the ‘fatwas' revoked but to no avail. It was during the period that Rushdie got separated from Marrianne Wiggins. In 1990 the world witnessed publication of several books on the 'Fatwa-issue', and in September same year, Rushdie's next book ‘Haroun and the Sea of Stories’ also saw light of the day. The next year in 1991 in the month of March, Rushdie published ‘Imaginary Homelands: Essays 1981-1991’ which included a section devoted to essays which provide Rushdie's own perspective on his situation after the publication of The Satanic Verses. In 1992, ‘The Wizard of Oz’ was published by the British Film Institute, and it took Rushdie another two years when he published his next collection of Stories ‘East-West’ in 1994. The next year in 1995, ‘The Moor's Last Sigh’ was published and received a luke-warm response from the Western media. In 1997, ‘The Vintage Book of Indian Writing’ edited by Rushdie with Elizabeth West was published, and gave way to much negative criticism in the fraternity of the writers of regional languages in India, for it included only one short story 'Toba Tek Singh' (by Urdu writer Sadat Hasan Manto) out of the whole body of writings in Indian languages, and thus, was acollection of Indian Writing in English only. In February, 1998 on the 9^thanniversary of 'Fatwa' against Rushdie; Rushdie met the British Prime Minister Tony Blair and requested him to begin the diplomatic moves afresh with the government of Iran, and finally in September 1998 the Iranian-government officially distanced itself from the 'Fatwa'. Rushdie, of course, took a sigh of relief after this.