Haroun and the sea of stories, a children’s novel written by Salman Rushdie. It was his first novel after the ‘fatwa’ placed on him due to his novel ‘The Satanic Verses’. “Haroun and the sea of stories” is an enthralling tale about a young boy, Haroun, and his adventures on earth’s second moon, Kahani.
Haroun’s family is the only happy family in the ‘Sad city’ where all people are sad and have even forgotten the name of their city. Rashid, Haroun’s father, is a storyteller. He tells innovative, unique and entertaining sources. But their blissful life is rudely and abruptly interrupted, when his mother leaves with Mr. Sengupta, a conniving neighbour, who convinces his mother and instils doubt in his mind by asking “What is the use of stories that are not even true?” When Haroun says this to his father, he suddenly loses his ability to tell stories. But just when all seems lost; Haroun encounters Iff, the water genie, who can help his father. He then leaves for Kahani, for what was to become an eventful trip, accompanied by Iff, to help his father regain his touch in storytelling,
Although the novel is written in a light humorous touch, Rushdie has maintained a strong undercurrent of allegorical references to the censorship he faced in ‘The Satanic Verses’. By asking “What is the use of stories that are not even true?” he questions the very basis of any piece of fiction and the right to freedom of speech of writers. Also, he tries to hint at the answer by showing us the bliss which Haroun felt while listening to his father’s fables, the fact that they were happy as believers in power of fiction, until Mr Sengupta shook their belief, and also in the end when all people of ‘Sad city’ become happy as they remember the name of the city to be “Kahani”, or in a way reform their bond to fiction.
Rushdie also indicates that silence breeds distrust. The contrasting way of planning of war strategy by the Guppees and Chupwalas indicates to this fact. The Guppees have no restriction on freedom of speech, and thoroughly discuss their war strategy, with even the lowest soldier participating; whereas the Chupwalas are vowed to silence and thus can’t trust each other completely and end up facing mutiny while at war with Guppees. Rushdie clarifies his stand on the religious debate sparked off by ‘Satanic Verses’. He uses the ‘Old Zone’ of Kahani as an allegorical reference to the old religious myths and stories. As the lack of attention to the ‘Old Zone’ led to its stagnation and decay, similarly the oldest and the most fundamental fables on which religion is based must be reconsidered with changing times to prevent them from getting stagnant.
Rushdie uses the shadow warrior Mudra, to convey to us that the people on both extremes of the freedom of speech debate misunderstand each other and there must be better understanding between the two sides, although he concedes to the fact that the two sides can never completely agree with each other, ‘due to the disparity of light they were used to they (Guppees and Chupwalas) were not able to see clearly in the twilight.’ Rushdie tries to portray himself through the characters of this novel, two prominent examples being Rashid the storyteller, who is loved by everyone until he loses his storytelling ability due to lack of freedom of speech and belief in fiction. Also, in Prince Bolo, who concentrates on his selfish motive of saving his love, which accidently coincides with the general demand of the people. As Rushdie selfishly broods on why he was censored, and questions censorship, which accidently coincides with the larger and more general freedom of speech debate.
Another striking image brought forth is the father son bonding in the book between Haroun and Rashid and also in real life between Rushdie and Zafar, to whom the book is dedicated to. The narrative is simple, fast paced and easy to understand. Rushdie puts the reader into the world of fantasy without revealing many of its laws. We discover them as we journey through the novel, and some points are deliberately left unexplained. A queer thing about the narrative style is that even though it creates a fantasy land on the earth’s second moon; it tends to remind us of the real world’s presence by accentuating its absence. For example repeatedly Haroun contrasts the behaviour of Guppees and Chupwalas with the people of earth, the uncanny resemblance of many characters of Kahani to people on earth, etc.
A thoroughly enjoyable book overall for all age groups, especially so for adults as Rushdie catches you unexpectedly many times by a sideways wink to the real world inside the world of fantasy.
References: 1. http://www.postcolonialweb.org/pakistan/literature/rushdie/haroun1.html
2. Wikipedia
Manik Gaurav Vig 2009ME20666
come on ppl? no comment yet?
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ReplyDeleteThis 1990 book might be classified as a children’s book but inside there is a strong political message. This book was driven by Rushdie’s strong feelings against fatwa imposed on him because of “disrespecting Islam” in his book The Satanic Verses. Rushdie surely opposes censorship in every possible way and demands no curtailment in right to express his feelings which is evident in this book also. He questions that “What is the use of stories that are not even true? ”. He feels that an artist should include political and social issues in his works without any fear. He himself has criticized and commented over many critical and tense issues which have provoked everyone’s attention. He surely does like to be in limelight. Another force behind the book was Rushdie’s promise to his son, Zafar that the next book he would be writing after Satanic Verses would be something that children would love to read. True to his words, he started writing the book in 1989 few months after his fatwa. The story written in light language begins with a touch of “magical realism” which is a literary tool Rushdie uses very often. The names like Kahani, Guppies, Chupwalas are very obvious and interesting for children (especially of Indian-subcontinent). Altogether it is another classic which both children and grown-ups would love to read.
ReplyDeleteAbhishek Raj(2009me20652)
I agree with you Abhishek.. the element oh Hindi words and phrases used by Rushdie make the book a throughly enjoyable read for people from the sub continent.
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ReplyDeleteThe initial reaction I had when I got into this book was of ambivalence, but the magical writing of Salman Rushdie takes away all misgivings one may have being put over by a children’s story. After the controversial ‘Satanic Verses’ this book is the most appropriate and at-the-face response to his critics and detractors. From the very first page, the whimsical setting is made obvious by the informal narration and fairytale quality. The plot then slowly develops into increasingly unreal proportions with genies, UFOs and people who fight with their own shadows among other magical characters. The stories are rich, simple, clean and straightforward though carefully crafted. The metaphors and allegories are also rich and easily understandable which makes this book an enjoyable read for all – no age bar. The magical elements appear with a flash, a colour or sometimes with a loud, rumbling, chit-chat noise. The analogy between the real world and the story world is also significant. But most of all, this book never fails to generate laugh. At some level this is exactly what this book is about: fantasy, excitement, adventure, suspense and imagination. But there is more to this than meets the ‘blinking eye’. This book is a very beautiful metaphor of the art of storytelling. The flow of stories from mouths through ears, eyes and mind. The transformation and mixing that the old stories undergoes through the process of constant telling and retelling through the generations. The novel also seems to be an allegory to Rushdie’s experience as a writer especially with reference to censorship: “What is the point of a story if it is not true?” In a way this book is his way of telling the world that no matter how many dreadful fatwas are issued against him, his sea of stories will never end. This book is one ride I will always treasure!
ReplyDeleteGAURAV BARUAH
2009ME20660