Midnight's Children
Jun. 29th, 2009 08:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
icepixieI've finally finished Midnight's Children. It was really good! I can see why so many people love it.
What I can't see is why there are only two articles in the MLA database discussing the relationship between this book and both Portrait of the Artist and Ulysses. I mean, is it not obvious that this is in part a response to both of those books? Where Joyce went wild and crazy with form, Rushdie goes wild and crazy with content (and occasionally with form). Saleem Sinai's life bears not a few similarities to Stephen Dedalus's--the importance of the nanny/ayah, the descent into whorehouses and consequent purification (either through confession or being knocked out by a spittoon), the overbearing sense of importance, the way women impact his life (pointed out, I would argue, near the end of MC, where Saleem is all, "the women in my life are images of Maya and India!" and I write furiously in the margin, "It's been SEVENTY YEARS since PoA was published! You haven't moved beyond this?" and then Padma goes, "Or they're just women and you're being arrogant," and I note, "THANK YOU."), and the way their respective nations lurk in the background, influencing/being influenced by them. Saleem even, at times, narrates almost self-consciously like Molly Bloom.
I'm tempted to write an article that says all this.
What I can't see is why there are only two articles in the MLA database discussing the relationship between this book and both Portrait of the Artist and Ulysses. I mean, is it not obvious that this is in part a response to both of those books? Where Joyce went wild and crazy with form, Rushdie goes wild and crazy with content (and occasionally with form). Saleem Sinai's life bears not a few similarities to Stephen Dedalus's--the importance of the nanny/ayah, the descent into whorehouses and consequent purification (either through confession or being knocked out by a spittoon), the overbearing sense of importance, the way women impact his life (pointed out, I would argue, near the end of MC, where Saleem is all, "the women in my life are images of Maya and India!" and I write furiously in the margin, "It's been SEVENTY YEARS since PoA was published! You haven't moved beyond this?" and then Padma goes, "Or they're just women and you're being arrogant," and I note, "THANK YOU."), and the way their respective nations lurk in the background, influencing/being influenced by them. Saleem even, at times, narrates almost self-consciously like Molly Bloom.
I'm tempted to write an article that says all this.
no subject
Date: 2009-07-02 03:04 am (UTC)