'Gods into bulls, men into wolves, women into spiders': classical metamorphosis in The Satanic Verses

Abstract

This article examines classical metamorphosis in Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses. The novel’s classical elements have been largely clouded by the novel’s hybridity, its use of an encyclopaedic array of cultures, religions, and literature. The Satanic Verses demonstrates an in-depth knowledge and sophisticated use of classical literature. Consideration of those aspects of the novel enhances our understanding of the reception of classical literature and metamorphosis, and in particular the modern reception of Apuleius’ The Golden Ass. Such considerations also provide valuable insight to classics and postcolonialism. In the chaotic mingling of East and West in Rushdie’s ‘migrant Britain’, classical literature plays a vital role in the central questions of change and identity. This article discusses how classical allusions have intentional, specific purposes. It considers the protagonist Saladin’s Apuleian characterization, which has been previously undervalued. A discussion of Rushdie’s overlooked essay on Apuleius, ‘Travels with a Golden Ass’, sheds new light upon the novel’s Apuleian presence and Rushdie’s awareness of racial tensions, both classical and modern. That generates a reconsideration of the role and malleability of the classical world in migrant identity, in particular how it depicts the struggles of establishing and understanding individual and collective migrant identities.