Thinking Activity: Imaginary Homelands by Salman Rushdie

Summaries of Selected Essays from Imaginary Homelands

Salman Rushdie is a very radical and most controversial writer of Indian Writing in English. Best known for his work Midnight's Children and much more criticised for his work :Satanic Verses.' He is Indian born British writer whose works are allegorical and satirical in nature. He is very direct in his tone of writing, makes very sensual statements and time and again remains as the talk of the nation by his challenging Religious and Political statement. His novel emphasis more on historical and philosophical issues. His use of Magic Realism provides more exploration to his novel within a single story. To know more about Salman Rushdie you can refer below given Interview with Salman Rushdie.

(British journalist John Pilger interviews Salman Rushdie in 1983. Pilger has won an Emmy and a BAFTA for his documentaries, which have also won numerous US and European awards, such as the Royal Television Society’s Best Documentary)

'Imaginary Homelands' Book

'Imaginary Homeland' is the collection of 75 essays which were written between 1981 to 1992. Each essay in the book very artistically comprises the ongoing Religious and Political issues of the decades with the reflection of colonialism. As it is said it is based on the lived experience of Salman Rushdie, Though all issues which come in these essays are more relevant and significant for larger groups. As one critic rightly remarked....

“Whether he is analyzing racial prejudice in Britain or surveying an India riven by fundamentalism and politics of religious hatred, he writes as an impartial observer, a citizen of the world. Subtle and witty, these concise, eloquent pieces are a pleasure to read.”

—Publisher’s Weekly

Commonwealth Literature does not exist Before we dive deep into What Rushdie wants to convey by this essay it has become necessary to understand the meaning of Commonwealth Literature. The Commonwealth is an association community of 54 States and these all countries passed once under the process of colonisation and are now trying to decolonize themselves and their minds.  The term Commonwealth was first used by Oliver Cromwell in 1692. Commonwealth Literature is a vague term which covers a broad area of literature written in English from the countries which were once gone under the domination of Britishers. In the words of Salman Rushdie…. A body of writing created in the English Language  by a persons who are not themselves  White Britons or Irish or citizens of the  United States of America. In his essay of 'Commonwealth Literature does not Exist' Rushdie continuously rejected the notion to categories any writer under the any 'Literary Ghetto' or community like 'Commonwealth Literature.' To confine any literary writer within the border seems very conservative or traditional idea. Poetic Imagination can go beyond geographical, Imaginative or Constructive borders.  What commonwealth literature finds interesting in  Patrick White is his Australianness; in Dons Lessing, her Africanness;  in V.S. Naipaul, his West Indianness.... Books are almost always praised for using motifs and  symbols out of the author's own national tradition or  when their form echoes some traditional influences at  work upon the writer can be seen to be wholly internal to  the "culture" from which he "springs" Here, Rushdie's arguments seem double sided and complex, On one hand he is in favour of Transnational and Cross-cultural mixing in literature, which can go beyond borders and on the other side he said at the larger extent "Literature is an expression of nationality." So, Through this essay Rushdie wants to convey the idea that 'Commonwealth Literature does not exist. Because writers from different countries have their own culture and tradition. And Migrant writers cannot completely remain aloof from their native land. So, This is how a Migrant Writer living in an Ambiguous Existence, who can neither forget his roots and tradition and now they are living in a foreign country where they are suffering to give Redefinition and Reformation to their existence.

Imaginary Homelands Imaginary Homelands is a title of the book and there is also a same essay on this title in the book. The essay captures the past and present experience of Salman Rushdie. The essay written just after the publication of his Nobel Prize winner book 'Midnight's Children It is a kind of essay where Salman Rushdie is in Search of One's Own Identity and Origin. It highlights an individual's inner desire to belong somewhere, especially Migrant's desire to claim their native country as their Homeland. Notion of Home in Imaginary Homelands Imaginary Homeland emphasizes more on the life of writers who are living with multiple cultural identities, Also about writers who share multicultural experience, and within these different identities what are obstacles and consequences they felt as a writer. In the words of Michael Ondaatje,  "(Writers) born in one  place and choosing to live elsewhere, fighting to get back or to get away from our homelands all our lives" Whenever a writer lives away from their native country and writes about their homeland then he should be more conscious, more knowledgeable and more intellectual. Because his/her Physical Distance from the country can categories their writing only as fiction, not actual cities or villages but only Imaginary Homeland, 'Indias of Mind.' Concept of Translated Man The phrase given by Rushdie for Migrant people is 'Translated Man.' Whenever we translate any text something is always missing in that because of cultural context. In the same manner when a writer located in another country writes about his own native country his memories are like 'broken mirrors.' As it is said 'Out of sight, Out of mind. One cannot retain  every single thing. Some Fragments unconsciously lost from that. So, these Broken Memories are not the complete truth but a small part of the truth. And with these Fragmented memories they give partial explanations. That's why a Writer writing about their native land from a distance is called a 'Transplanted Writer.' Diasporic Writer with Dual sense of Writing Another interesting point which Salman Rushdie made in this essay is about Migrant Writers. Migrant writers have a dual sense to observe things because they are coming from totally different Socio-cultural backgrounds and now because of Migration they are living. in another distinct background. So, Multicultural experience developed a new insight to look at things which uniquely reflects in their work.  To give an example he uses his own experience of writing Midnight's Children. He said During Novel writing his experience of relocating himself from Britain to India and being an author with a dual sense of Identity from two different cultures affected his writing. In his own words… "Our identity is at once plural and partial. Sometimes we feel that we straddle two cultures; at other times, that we fall between two stools. But however ambiguous and shifting this ground may be, it is not an infertile  territory for a writer to occupy if literature is a part the business of finding new angles at which to enter  reality. then once again our distance, our long geographical perspective may provide us with such an angle." Major Ideas in Imaginary Homeland Cosmopolitanism Diasporic Consciousness Literature and Memory Postcolonialism: Use of English Nationalism Postmodern Literature To conclude it can be said that Imaginary Homelands is an essay which portrayed the inner conflict of Migrant people. At one point their strong urge to reclaim their Homelands and on the opposite side they are unable to capture the total reality with its deep essence. And this conflict led them to create a number of "Imaginary Homelands" in their fiction.

References

• “Fiction Book Review: Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981-1991 by Salman Rushdie, Author Viking Books $24.95 (448p) ISBN 978-0-670-83952-0.” PublishersWeekly.com, www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-670-83952-0.
• Kumar, Deepak. “A Note on the Notion of Home in Salman Rushdie's  'Imaginary Homelands'.” International Journal of Engineering Technology Science and Research, Volume 2, no. Issue 11, 0AD, pp. 196–197., www.ijetsr.com. Accessed Nov. 2020.
• “News Archives.” Salman Rushdie, 19 Dec. 2019, www.salmanrushdie.com/category/news/. 

• Rushdie, Salman. Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981-1991. Granta Books in Association with Penguin Books.