Salman Rushdie from Postmodernism and Postcolonialism to Cosmopolitanism: Toward a Global(ized) Literature?

Abstract

ABSTRACTIn the era of what Selden, Widdowson, and Brooker call “post-theory,” presenting us with theory that is exhausted due to an ever-increasing difficulty in coming up with any clear-cut categorizations, Salman Rushdie’s prolific, multifarious oeuvre epitomizes contemporary literature’s incessant tendency to evade classifications. Being in between cultures, traditions, genres, conventions and influences, Rushdie’s work, often described as hybrid and cosmopolitan, can and should be read from a variety of perspectives. In a time when we are questioning the appropriateness of terms such as “postcolonial” and wondering if more general ones, such as “transnational,” “transcultural,” or “international,” would be better suited for today’s literature, this article analyzes Rushdie’s fiction between categories as gradually swerving away from postcolonial postmodernism toward cosmopolitanism, with special focus on The Ground beneath Her Feet, in an attempt to address and answer the controversial question of whether we are indeed moving toward a global(ized) literature.