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FORGING NATIONAL IDENTITY. SALMAN RUSHDIE AND (POST)COLONIAL VIOLENCE
Authors: Roxana MARINESCU
Number of views: 297
This article deals with the issue of violence in its colonial stages in South-Asia and
also in its everyday postcolonial manifestations, as reflected in three novels by
Salman Rushdie: Midnight’s Children, Shame and Shalimar the Clown. The
symbolic violation of the National Body by the Imperial transgressor leads to
national identity forging in the case of three territorial units once part of the
British Empire: India, Pakistan and Kashmir. Violence is regarded as the basis of
this quest for national identity; it is a dimension of people’s existence, not
something external to society and culture. Moreover, it is a cultural construct, a
potential in essence that is given shape and content by specific people (victims and
perpetrators, as well as witnesses) caught in conflicts that they can no longer
control, within the context of their particular histories. Also, it is an “intricately
layered phenomenon”, with each participant and witness bringing their own
perspectives, which can vary dramatically