Imaginary Homelands

Imaginary Homelands is a collection of essays written by Salman Rushdie .

First edition (publ Granta)

In addition to the title essay, the collection also includes "'Commonwealth Literature' Does Not Exist". Salman Rushdie's “Imaginary Homelands” is an essay that propounds an anti-essentialist view of place.

Sections

Imaginary Homelands is divided into six sections. They are:

  • Midnight's children
  • Politics of India and Pakistan
  • Indo-Anglian literature
  • Movie and Television
  • Experience of migrants, Indian migrants to Britain
  • Thatcher/flout election, question of Palestine

Introduction

Salman Rushdie is the most controversial writer among Indian writing in English.

His book, Imaginary Homeland, are essays written during 1981 to 1992, collecting controversial issues of the decade. They are based on the experience of Rushdie's and his contemporary time scenario when Indira Gandhi was in power.

One of the novelists whose name Rushdie did not reveal, began his contribution by reciting a Sanskrit Shloka, and then, instead of translating the verse he declared, “Every educated Indian will understand what I have just said”.

This was unacceptable as, in the room were Indian writers and scholars from conceivable backgrounds such as Christian, Parasi, Muslim and Sikh. None of them rose in Sanskrit tradition and they were reasonably educated. The second day, an eminent Indian academic delivered a paper on Indian culture that utterly ignored all minority communities and characterized Muslim culture as imperialist and inauthentic.

This made him write a book that searched for his ‘existence'.

List of published works

The New Empire within Britain from Imaginary Homelands.

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