230625 British Literatures and the Processes of Culture: The Rushdie Affair (S) (SoSe 2008)

The "Rushdie Affair" of 1988/89 - the publication of Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses (1988), Muslim protests against the book, and Khomeini's (who at the time was the revolutionary and religious leader of Iran) call for the author's assassination - has become a touchstone of division for those concerned with, or interested in, multiculturalism and postcolonial theory in Britain and elsewhere. From today, the controversy looks like the starting point of a period of increasing tensions between the "West" and the "Islamic world". In this course, we will try to come to terms with the issues at stake in the affair (and resurfacing in later conflicts). We will zoom in on the novel itself, discussing in how far it can be seen as a political, a postcolonial, and/or a postmodern piece of fiction, and whether it is, as British Muslim intellectual Ziauddin Sardar claims, an example of "orientalist" writing - so you should start reading the novel as soon as possible. But we will also analyse the events around, and the reactions to, its publication. Finally, we will ask what conclusions can be drawn for our understanding of British culture and society but also of concepts such as tolerance, freedom of speech, secularism and multiculturalism.

A reader with key texts will be provided in the first session, but please get yourself a copy of the novel.