Salman Rushdie and Indian Historiography : Writing the Nation into Being PDF

This book explores the depiction of Indian history in Salman Rushdie's novels in relation to the way in which Indian history is narrativised in modern Indian historiography.

The central argument is that Rushdie's conception of India is framed within the parameters of nationalist discourse and nationalist historiography, and that it was inspired in particular by the political and historical writings of India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru.

The book explores for the first time the marked parallels between Rushdie's critique of the Nehruvian legacy and the most significant recent trends in Indian historiography, specifically the feminist and subalternist movements.

Particular attention is paid to the representation of women and to gendered notions of the nation, such as the concept of Mother India.

Drawing on the theoretical work of Mikhail Bakhtin, this book proposes that Rushdie advocates a democratic, 'novelistic' intersubjectivity as a basis for a new imagining of India.