Magic Realism Video No 2 - Salman Rushdie

In this short video Salman Rushdie really hits the spot when talking about magic realism: "Once you accept that stories are not true, once you start from that position, then you understand that a flying carpet and "Madam Bovary" are untrue in the same way, and as a result both of them are ways of arriving at the truth by the road of untruth, and so then they can both do it the same way."

The video is part of a longer interview with Rushdie in which he also talks about computer games, linear storytelling, inspiration, Islam and terrorism, and more. You can find the full-length video on the excellent Big Think website here: http://bigthink.com/videos/big-think-interview-with-salman-rushdie.

A Hungry God by Pia Chaudhuri

Aruna is born with an unusual gift, which despite its extreme significance, leaves her with the ghastly side effect of burning red hot, and in turn causing her to soak everything she comes into contact with in rivers of sweat. 

Her mother despises her, the villagers fear her, and her new husband is repulsed by her. But when her marriage takes her to London, Aruna’s new life finally drives her to face up to her nature and carry out a deed she will always regret. 

Maya was abandoned by her mother at just six years old. When she makes an unexpected discovery as an adult, she questions the circumstances surrounding her disappearance for the first time. She leaves London and embarks on a journey of discovery to India, her ancestral homeland, to find the truth. 

While Aruna and Maya’s lives collide, weather patterns shift, an enchanted forest opens its heart, a sister appears only at night, dreams become messages, sacrifices are made, and an unusual gift is finally understood – ensuring the circle of life remains unbroken forever. 

Goodreads description

Pia Chaudhuri's A Hungry God is a book that shows that some really excellent new authors are using the self-publishing route to bring high quality fiction to the market. Pia is also a member of the Magic Realism Books Facebook Group. 

 As you will have realized  I really enjoyed this book, which is part of the strong tradition of magic realism that arises from the meeting of Indian and European cultures, and which is most exemplified by the books of Salman Rushdie. Chaudhuri's story moves from India to the UK and back again, and from the heat of South Asia to the cold winters of London. Heat, as you will have seen in the description above, is carried by Aruna within herself.  

The book focuses on two strong young women who grow up in two very different worlds and yet are strongly linked. I am unable to say more without giving away a key plot element. I am not sufficiently au fait with Indian mythology and the Hindu religion to put the magic element in context, but as a result of reading the book I want to learn more. And to my mind Pia Chaudhuri succeeds better than Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni does in The Mistress of Spices in creating credible magic in a realist setting.  

The realism is also very strong and the author is not afraid to tackle harsh subjects like domestic abuse. As I have said before on this blog it is the realism that makes magic realism work. 

An excellent first novel from a young author I will be watching with interest. 

I received this book free from the author in return for a fair review.

The Enchantress Of Florence by Salman Rushdie

A tall, yellow-haired young European traveller calling himself 'Mogor dell'Amore', the Mughal of Love, arrives at the court of the real Grand Mughal, the Emperor Akbar, with a tale to tell that begins to obsess the whole imperial capital. The stranger claims to be the child of a lost Mughal princess: Qara Köz, 'Lady Black Eyes', a great beauty believed to possess powers of enchantment and sorcery, who becomes the lover of a certain Argalia, a Florentine soldier of fortune. When Argalia returns home with his Mughal mistress the city is mesmerized by her presence, as two worlds are brought together by one woman attempting to command her own destiny...

But is Mogor's story true? And if so, then what happened to the lost princess?

Amazon description

Review

I have not read very much Rushdie and I was not sure what I would make of this book. Going by the reviews it seems to divide opinion, but I loved it.

The book is like an incredible tapestry, rich in imagery, history (it comes with a long bibliography), descriptions, themes and characters. Although a work of historical fiction, as Rushdie has said: "non-historians think of history as being a collection of facts, whereas actually it's not -- it's a collection of theories about the past. We revise our view of the past all the time, depending on our own present concerns."  
As rationalist westerners we see history through our realism focused eyes. But the worlds that Rushdie draws - the Mughal court and Renaissance Florence - believed in magic, enchantment and religion. It is therefore only right that a book set in such a world should share those belief structures. Accurate historical fiction is magic realism and that is what Rushdie writes brilliantly, for example the Great Mughal, Akbar, has a fantasy wife, who exists not only in the mind of Akbar but also on Rushdie's pages as an independent character.

Of all the characters the best drawn is Akbar, who is a mass of contradictions, a bloody tyrant who meditates on the role of kingship, religion and identity. The yellow-haired Italian stranger is less well drawn with good reason because we are viewing him through Akbar's eyes and Akbar cannot tell whether the stranger's story is true or not and he and we never know. We are shown at the beginning of the book how ruthless the stranger can be in pursuing his own interests. Rushdie has been criticised by some readers as being anti-women in this book, defining women by their sexuality, as whores or sexual enchantresses. Although a feminist and a liker of strong women characters this aspect of the book did not bother me. Rushdie is accurately depicting the world of the Mughals and Renaissance Italy and the place of women in it. The enchantress of the title uses her sexual beauty and force of will to bind men to her. The book closes with her saying to Akbar, "And now, Shelter of the World, I am yours." And Akbar thinking "Until you're not, my Love. Until You're not" for the Enchantress had always moved on from one man to another as their power to protect her fails. The power of men is shown throughout the book to be fragile and short, even Akbar's great palace is brought to dust. Perhaps, one wonders, the only power that survives is that of the illusion of the perfect woman.

by Zoe Brooks