Does Salman Rushdie figure among the Nobel probable’s for 2023 and why so?
Mobilenews24x7 Bureau
Going beyond the stereotyped thoughts about literature, there was a time when Salman Rushdie was more focused than many of his contemporaries.
Not that his way of writing was all the while popular but that cannot let him be excluded from the league of some excellent novelist of his time.
‘Satanic Verses’ placed him awkwardly for years and hounded him till August 12. 22 when he was virtually crippled by an stabbing attack on his face.
Unlike Rushdie of yesteryears, he remained cool while convalescing and his quietness required no language to express his trauma.
These days there are talks in the literary circles about he being a probable for the Novel Prize for literature of 2023. At the same time the ghost of his controversial takes on freedom and then SV pulled his repute back.
There is no doubt that Rushdie is one of the most significant writers of our age. Nevertheless, I have not been a great fan of his writing. This, obviously, does not reduce the quality of his work.
Among the few good South Asian writers in English, he stood out for Midnight’s Children and it had its magical lure which held appeal for many including his critics.
Leaving aside the religious undertones in a few of his novels, Rushdie cannot be grudged for remaining one of the most clairvoyant prose writers.
But Rushdie started well before the 1990s, and one cannot deny the originality and significance of at least four of his novels, despite whatever religious objections one might have to one of them.
Many may not agree yet Rushdie has the ability to blend the magic of realism and sometimes brilliantly.
It could be that the mixture of facts and fiction that is increasingly a distinctive aspect of public life in the internet era is a consequence of the return of ‘orality’ through electronic and digital channels and the diminishment of high literacy, at least as in print culture.
As an avid reader of English prose, this author has a point that, as writer Rushdie stands among many passing tumultuous phases and then got almost killed, yet he maintained his cool. Rushdie deserves the Nobel
