A Version of the World - Midnight's Children

Salman Rushdie wrote: "A book is a version of the world. If you do not like it, ignore it; or offer your own version in return."

His life--and the literature he has created--is fraught with controversy. He draws on contemporary events--spinning them with the prose of magical realism--to create unforgettable novels.

Midnight's Children portrays the transition between colonialism and independence for India; and Satanic Verses draws from events, but also refers to alleged Qur'anic verses. He records his dilemmas, his identity crisis. Rushdie interpreted the novel as being "about migration, metamorphosis, divided selves, love, death, London and Bombay." He said, "It's a novel which happened to contain a castigation of Western materialism."

Salman Rushdie was accused of blasphemy and mockery for his controversial Satanic Verses. He went into hiding after receiving death threats--a fatwa was issued against him. And, as is the case in such controversies, Satanic Verses has been banned.

He offered his own versions of the world, but I doubt he imagined that his books would cause such turmoil in his life. He proved to be rather adept at creating a ruckus around himself. As he once wrote:  "A poet's work is to name the unnameable, to point at frauds, to take sides, start arguments, shape the world, and stop it going to sleep."