Exploring Magic Realism in Salman Rushdie's Fiction

Kluwick breaks new ground in this book, moving away from Rushdie studies that focus on his status as postcolonial or postmodern, and instead considering the significance of magic realism in his fiction. Rushdies magic realism, in fact, lies at the heart of his engagement with the post/colonial. In a departure from conventional descriptions of magic realismbased primarily on the Latin-American traditionKluwick here proposes an alternative definition, allowing for a more accurate description of the form. She argues that it is disharmony, rather than harmony, that is decisive: that the incompatibility of the realist and the supernatural needs to be recognized as a driving force in Rushdies fiction. In its rigorous analysis of this Rushdian magic realism, this book considers the entire corpusMidnights Children, Shame, The Satanic Verses, The Moors Last Sigh, The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Shalimar the Clown, and The Enchantress of Florence. This study is the first of its kind to do so.