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Showing posts with label Salman Rushdie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Salman Rushdie. Show all posts

Thursday, 23 October 2014

#BookADayUK; A Reader Event For October. Day 23

The theme for today is 'Best book on diversity'. I confess to being a little puzzled by this particular label. Diversity is a term that can be applied in many different ways. So, I looked it up on Goodreads and discovered that, in this context, it's a label indicating that a major character is of a non-Caucasian origin.

I suppose I could have been silly, and nominated something like Lord of the Rings, with it's hobbits and other mythical creatures. But that hardly seems in the spirit of the thing. When I considered, I realised I'd read a fair number of books featuring non-Caucasian heroes, heroines and others. Salman Rushdie's Oeuvre is generally centred on races other than the Caucasian, and I've enjoyed a few of his works.

And, of course, I could have nominated the recent anthology of Epitaphs to which I contributed as one of seventy-two poets, many of whom were Indian, but that's not really what this is about either.

In line with what I've tried to do here in most cases, I decided to select the book most recently read that falls under this label. So, it looks as though it's going to be the Life of Pi, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Friday, 3 October 2014

#BookADayUK; A Reader Event For October. Day 3

Cover of "The Satanic Verses"
Cover of The Satanic Verses
Today's 'event' involves naming a book you love from one of the Cheltenham festival authors (to discover who they are, click this link). For me, it will have to be Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses. Yes, I actually read the book, not simply bought it for the kudos. Once you've read this volume you realise the real reason why he was subject to a fatwah.

Friday, 15 July 2011

Stuart's Daily Word Spot: Magic realism


Magic realism: blending fantastic or mythical elements in a matter-of-fact way into seemingly realistic fiction. The term magic realism is relatively recent, being first applied by Cuban novelist Alejo Carpentier, in the 1940s, when he recognized this style in much Latin-American literature. Among the Latin-American magic realists are Gabriel García Márquez, Jorge Amado, Jorge Luis Borges and Isabel Allende.
Magic realism is also described as an aesthetic style of fiction, which mixes magical elements with the real world. The narrative explains such magical elements as real occurrences, presenting them in a straightforward manner that places reality and the fantastical in the same stream of thought.
Salman Rushdie famously uses the technique in The Satanic Verses to great effect.