Nationalism and Transnationalism in Salman Rushdie’s Novels

Abstract

This chapter considers how Rushdie engages with wider contexts of nationalism and transnationalism in his works. Tracing the evolution from national epics that investigate the immediate postcolonial aftermath of the partition of British India into the separate nation states of India and Pakistan and the later secession of East Pakistan to form independent Bangladesh, Rushdie’s work has also considered the crisis of nationalism in Britain in the wake of decolonization. Starting with The Satanic Verses and coming to a close with Quichotte, the chapter looks at a set of novels that are largely preoccupied with processes of global migration. The chapter, then, seeks to explore how the concept of transnationalism serves as a productive contextual category to track the motifs and movements of Rushdie’s migrant characters in Bombay, London, and New York, as they reconfigure their sense of self.