Literature’s ‘fearless daring’: Outrage and Outrageousness in Salman Rushdie’s Joseph Anton and Luka and the Fire of Life

Études Britanniques Contemporaines

关键词: Salman Rushdie;    Joseph Anton;    Luka and the Fire of Life;    censorship;    satire;    freedom of expression;   

DOI  :  10.4000/ebc.790

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

This paper examines the last two texts so far published by Salman Rushdie from the angles of outrage and outrageousness. Although one is a novel for children and the other an autobiographical memoir, both books turn out to voice the same concerns and ideas, albeit in different modes. The paper first attempts to analyse how Rushdie defends his good faith and the literary worth of The Satanic Verses in Joseph Anton, as well as the provenance and nature of the attacks levelled at Rushdie from all sides of the political spectrum. A second section is devoted to the playful treatment of the themes of outrage, offence and freedom of expression in Luka, while the end of the paper looks at the aesthetics of both works: the theme of the artist’s freedom to shock is expressed by Rushdie in forms that are often ‘outrageous’, displaying flamboyant wordplay and comic virtuosity, but also, more surprisingly, moments of subdued, almost humble sincerity in the genre of autobiographical introspection.

【 授权许可】

Unknown