11:15A-12:30P TR (30) 3 cr.
TOPIC: SALMAN RUSHDIE AND THE RESIDUES OF EMPIRE
This course will focus on the writings of Salman Rushdie, the Indian-born British author, who went into hiding after Ayatollah Khomeini pronounced a death sentence on him in judgement against the novel The Satanic Verses. Khomeini's fatwa initiated an international debate about the relationship between the state, religious identity, neo-colonialism, censorship, and artistic freedom. While these issues were thrown into sharp relief by the death sentence against him, Rushdie's writings demonstrate a long engagement with them. For example, his travel narrative through Sandinista-era Nicaragua, The Jaguar Smile, his novelistic indictment of EMERGENCY in Midnight's Children, and his critique of the excesses of Bhutto and Zia in Shame interrogate the relationship between authoritarian governments, their critics, and writing. In this course, we will trace these thematic concerns in Rushdie's fictional and non fictional writings. Particular attention will be placed on situating these works in their historical and geopolitical contexts. Students should expect to write weekly email journal entries, participate in a group presentation, and take a midterm and final exam.
Readings--The following works by Salman Rushdie:
Midnight's Children
Shame
The Satanic Verses
The Jaguar Smile
Haroun and the Sea of Stories
Imaginary Homelands
The Ground Beneath Her Feet
The Moor's Last Sigh