Sunday, May 16, 2004
The Satanic Verses: A Novel - Salman Rushdie
I am sure that I had some notes about this book, but they seem to have disappeared somewhere in the pile of paper that is my bedroom.
I have been interested for some time about the book that saw this man hunted by the fundamentalist Muslim world.
It was a long slog to get through it, but that is not to say that it was bad. It was long, and written in such a way that quick reading is not possible.
It tells the story of two Indians, one a movie star, the other a voice over specialist, who are seated next to each other on a plane to London. The plane is hijacked and ends up exploding in mid-air. By a miracle they are spared and make it to shore in England.
But their fall does not leave them unchanged. Internal changes are mirrored by external metarmorpheses and a final battle between good and evil seems imminent. Dreams become real, past and present merge and mix, themes are drawn together through space and time. It is a complex novel, masterfully written, thoroughly engaging. I admire the writing immensely, but the detailed and flowery imagery as well as the complexity of the plot make it a novel that is hard to fall in love with. On an intellectual level it is amazing, one of the best pieces of writing that I have encountered, but as always this slows down the pace of the story, meaning that you are reading the book more for the writing than the story. For a literary work the plot is great, but I think the book could have been improved by being compressed somewhat. I am also sure that my reading of the book was shallow at best, and I missed many of the nuances and themes that could perhaps lead to a greater appreciation of the book.
I could not see evidence of a direct attack on the Islamic faith, but there was definitely a certain irreverance taken with religion, and I know that that is an easy way to upset fundamentalist types. There are also aspersions cast on the way in which Muhammad received the message of the Quran from Allah through the Angel Gabriel(Gibreel), and the way in which he may have comprimised during his intial attempts at conversion of the polytheistic people to his monotheistic faith. This I suppose does translate to an attack on the religion, to translate to my mainly Christian understanding, it is like questioning the validity of Jesus as a deity and also the message spread by the early Church. An easy thing to react to. But in the story it is not treated as important and I don't think that it was the author's intention to insult Muslims. It is unfortunate that that has happened because it is really a great book and deserves to be one of the classics. But if the controversy draws more people to his writing (like it did for me) than that can only be a good thing.
And because I am an incessant note taker while I am reading I will have to include the few quotes I jotted down.
But names, once they are in common use, quickly become mere sounds, their etymology being buried, like so many of the earth's marvels, beneath the dust of habit.
Language is courage: the ability to conceive a thought, to speak it, and by doing so to make it true.
She accepted loneliness as the price of solitude.
It is only at the moment of death that living creatures realise that life has been real, and not a sort of dream.
To dream of a thing is very different from being faced with the fact of it.
The true appeal of evil being the seductive ease with which one may embark upon that road.
If love is a yearning to be like (even to become) the beloved, then hatred, it must be said, can be engendered by the same ambition, when it cannot be fulfilled.
This was progress, a small increase in sophistication, and a large increase in cost.
I have been interested for some time about the book that saw this man hunted by the fundamentalist Muslim world.
It was a long slog to get through it, but that is not to say that it was bad. It was long, and written in such a way that quick reading is not possible.
It tells the story of two Indians, one a movie star, the other a voice over specialist, who are seated next to each other on a plane to London. The plane is hijacked and ends up exploding in mid-air. By a miracle they are spared and make it to shore in England.
But their fall does not leave them unchanged. Internal changes are mirrored by external metarmorpheses and a final battle between good and evil seems imminent. Dreams become real, past and present merge and mix, themes are drawn together through space and time. It is a complex novel, masterfully written, thoroughly engaging. I admire the writing immensely, but the detailed and flowery imagery as well as the complexity of the plot make it a novel that is hard to fall in love with. On an intellectual level it is amazing, one of the best pieces of writing that I have encountered, but as always this slows down the pace of the story, meaning that you are reading the book more for the writing than the story. For a literary work the plot is great, but I think the book could have been improved by being compressed somewhat. I am also sure that my reading of the book was shallow at best, and I missed many of the nuances and themes that could perhaps lead to a greater appreciation of the book.
I could not see evidence of a direct attack on the Islamic faith, but there was definitely a certain irreverance taken with religion, and I know that that is an easy way to upset fundamentalist types. There are also aspersions cast on the way in which Muhammad received the message of the Quran from Allah through the Angel Gabriel(Gibreel), and the way in which he may have comprimised during his intial attempts at conversion of the polytheistic people to his monotheistic faith. This I suppose does translate to an attack on the religion, to translate to my mainly Christian understanding, it is like questioning the validity of Jesus as a deity and also the message spread by the early Church. An easy thing to react to. But in the story it is not treated as important and I don't think that it was the author's intention to insult Muslims. It is unfortunate that that has happened because it is really a great book and deserves to be one of the classics. But if the controversy draws more people to his writing (like it did for me) than that can only be a good thing.
And because I am an incessant note taker while I am reading I will have to include the few quotes I jotted down.
But names, once they are in common use, quickly become mere sounds, their etymology being buried, like so many of the earth's marvels, beneath the dust of habit.
Language is courage: the ability to conceive a thought, to speak it, and by doing so to make it true.
She accepted loneliness as the price of solitude.
It is only at the moment of death that living creatures realise that life has been real, and not a sort of dream.
To dream of a thing is very different from being faced with the fact of it.
The true appeal of evil being the seductive ease with which one may embark upon that road.
If love is a yearning to be like (even to become) the beloved, then hatred, it must be said, can be engendered by the same ambition, when it cannot be fulfilled.
This was progress, a small increase in sophistication, and a large increase in cost.
