Salman Rushdie is known more as a Magical Realist than a Fantasy Writer. His most famous works include Midnight’s Children, The Satanic Verses and The Moor’s Last Sigh; all of them (especially Midnight’s Children) often quoted as examples for Magical Realist fiction. Apart from these novels that reveal this dark, deep, realistic and nostalgic shades of Rushdie, there are two important books written by him that are less discussed by literary critics, that reveal the rather light-hearted, witty, soulful and a truly enjoyable side of this otherwise grim writer who writes controversial novels. Often dismissed as Children’s Literature, “Haroun and the Sea of Stories” and “Luka and the Fire of Life” are two Fantasy Novels aimed at children, whose true meaning only adults can understand.
The primary objective of the project is to critically analyse these two works of Salman Rushdie from the magical realist point of view, in spite of their classification under fantastic literature. The project also aims to discuss in detail the two genres of fiction that seem to culminate in these works; Magical Realism and Fantasy. Both the genres are to be treated as two separate entities but the possibility of the two being one and the same is also to be examined; keeping in mind the very minute difference that separates them.
Is Magical Realism but a fancy name for Fantasy or a different genre altogether? If yes then what are the attributes of this unique literary genre? Why do the both of them look similar? What are the common aspects between the two? Where in the selected works under one specific genre possible? The project aims to answer these questions as well by means of in-depth analysis of these two works and Magical Realist and Fantasy works by other authors.
No comments:
Post a Comment