In this study, I examine Salman Rushdies fiction within the critical framework of globalization studies. In particular, I focus on The Satanic Verses (1988) and The Moors Last Sigh (1995) in order to elucidate the specific ways in which Rushdie engages the promises and pitfalls of cultural globalization. In my introduction, I lay necessary important epistemological groundwork through my examination of hybridity and fundamentalism within a globalized context. Both terms, I suggest, describe significant responses to, and conditions brought about by, an increase in cultural contact and exchange in an increasingly interconnected world. In Chapter 1, I delineate the ways in which Rushdie valorizes hybridity in The Satanic Verses. Not only does Rushdie promote hybridity as a capable of assuaging the problems of migrancy, he makes his point through a sustained critique of the dogmatic and fundamentalist propensities of religion, especially Islam. In my second chapter, I explore The Moors Last Sigh for evidence of an ideological revision, on the part of Rushdie, regarding hybridity. His first major literary work following the Rushdie affairan event precipitated by his treatment of Islam in The Satanic VersesThe Moors Last Sigh is in many ways less optimistic than its predecessor. However, I argue that Rushdie does not entirely dispense with his original claims; rather, he is wiser to the hazards of hybridity and multiculturalism, and he deploys modern India as test case for the ways in which these conditions are rendered vulnerable to misappropriation by Hindu fundamentalist regimes and, ultimately, the driving forces of global capitalism. In my conclusion, I briefly investigate a larger tendency, on the part of Rushdie, to resist totalizing views of the world. It is this tendency, I argue, that firmly situates Rushdie as an advocate of hybridity, but it also suggests that Rushdies search for coherence is actually quite similar to the main impetus for religious fundamentalism: an attempt to establish, or restore, a specific worldview to preeminence.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MONTANA/oai:etd.lib.umt.edu:etd-06032010-140534 |
| Date | 29 June 2010 |
| Creators | Henry, Matthew |
| Contributors | Eric Reimer, Katie Kane, Samir Bitar |
| Publisher | The University of Montana |
| Source Sets | University of Montana Missoula |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.umt.edu/theses/available/etd-06032010-140534/ |
| Rights | restricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Montana or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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