In a world where fake news threatens to bury us (and prolong the pandemic), literature represents a “no bullshit zone.”
Tag Archives: Salman Rushdie
Trump’s Wall, Symbolic or Literal?
Monday Literature majors will find their training useful in understanding why Donald Trump has chosen to shut down the government. It has to do with the difference between the symbolic and the literal. A literal wall makes very little sense, with the $5.5 billion dollars that Trump is demanding from American taxpayers (not from Mexico) […]
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Beloved, Donald Trump, magical realism, Midnight's Children, symbolic vs literal thinking, Toni Morrison, Trump's wall Comments closed
On the Damage Done by Religious Fanatics
Rushdie’s “Prophet’s Hair” is a humorous look at the damage that can be inflicted by fundamentalism. The observations apply to all kinds of fundamentalism.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged election 2018, Evangelical Christians, Fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalism, Prophet's Hair Comments closed
Using Lit to Battle Fake News
Authors can fight back against autocratic attempts to define reality but can no longer resort to classic realism, Salman Rushdie argues.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Donald Trump, fake news, Midnight's Children, Two Years Eight months and Twenty Eight Nights Comments closed
Islamic Philosophy vs. Muslim Fanatics
In his fantasy novel “Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights,” Salman Rushdie engaged in a debate within Islam about Reason vs. Faith. Good and bad jinn weigh in on each side.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged al-Ghazali, al-Qaeda, analysis, Averroes, Ibn Rushd, ISIS, Islamic terrorists, Two Years Eight months and Twenty Eight Nights Comments closed
Food Is More Than Food for Esquivel
Esquivel captures the greater significance of food in “Like Water for Chocolate.” I also share a whiskey cake recipe and reflect on the magic in magical realism.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged 100 Years of Solitude, cake recipe, Confessions, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Haruki Murakami, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Laura Esquivel, Like Water for Chocolate, magical realism, Marcel Proust, Midnight's Children, Remembrance of Things Past, whiskey cake, Wind-Up Bird Chronicle Comments closed
Ferreting Out White House Corruption
Salman Rushdie’s fantasy about genii attacking the earth contains a fantasy that is very topical: a “storm baby” who can root out graft.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged corruption, Trump administration, Two Years Eight months and Twenty Eight Nights Comments closed
Can a Dream Hold Us Together?
In “Midnight’s Children,” Rushdie shows the forces destroying India’s dream of national unity. Americans will find it familiar.
Posted in Uncategorized Also tagged Constitution, Declaration of Independence, founding fathers, Gunfighter Nation, Midnight's Children, Regeneration through Violence, Richard Slotkin Comments closed
