Haroun and the sea of stories

Author

Sir Salman Rushdie

Born

1947, Bombay (Indian subcontinent, Kashmiri family)

University

Cambridge (history)

1981

Midnight's Children wins the Booker Prize

1988

The Satanic Verses published

1989

Fatwa declared by Ayatollah Khomeini

1990

Haroun and the Sea of Stories published

2007

Knighted for services to literature

Why the fatwa was declared

The Satanic Verses was seen as an insult to the Prophet Muhammad

Effects of the fatwa

Japanese translator murdered; Norwegian publisher and Italian translator attacked; Rushdie in hiding for 9 years; separated from his son

When the fatwa was rescinded

1998

2022 event

Rushdie was stabbed in the neck in New York (12 August 2022)

The dedication

To his son Zafar; the acrostic spells ZAFAR

Rushdie in the novel

Rashid (the storyteller); but also Batcheat (self-mockery), Bolo (egotism), Haroun (fear and concern)

Setting

Kosh-mar (the real world) and Kahani (the fantasy world)

Kosh-mar

Derived from "couchemar" (nightmare); the real, unhappy world

Kahani

The fantasy world of the Sea of Stories; "Kahani" means story

Narrative style

Omniscient limited narration; child's perspective

Why Rushdie used a child protagonist

Innocence of youth highlights adult atrocities; coming-of-age; humour; complex subjects explained simply

Genres

Magical realism, historical fiction, coming-of-age fable, allegory

Rushdie's language devices

Onomatopoeia, alliteration, rhyme, parentheses, capital letters, cliffhangers, meaningful names, acronyms, pathetic fallacy, symbols

Allusions

Gulliver's Travels, Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, Sinbad, The Thousand and One Nights, The Beatles

Themes

Freedom of speech, the foolishness of war, equality, identity, love and friendship

P2C2E

Processes Too Complicated To Explain

The Sea of Stories

The source of all stories, polluted by the Dark Ship

The Dark Ship

Represents censorship and the silencing of stories

Iff the Water Genie

Haroun's guide in Kahani

Butt the Hoopoe

Haroun's flying companion

Blabbermouth

The girl who fights with Haroun; a strong female character

Mali the Plentimaw fish

Helps Haroun; represents the intertwining of stories

The Guppies

The people of Gup, who fight the Chupwalas

The Chupwalas

The people of Chup, who hate stories and light

Princess Batcheat

The kidnapped princess the Guppies must rescue

The Source

The origin of the Sea of Stories, which the Guppies must also save

The choice the Guppies face

Rescue Princess Batcheat OR save the Source from pollution

Cultmaster Khattam-Shud

The villain who wants to silence all stories; "Khattam-Shud" means "completely finished"

Mr Sengupta

The man who takes Soraya (Haroun's mother) away

Soraya

Haroun's mother, who leaves Rashid

Rashid Shah

Haroun's father, the Ocean of Notions (storyteller)

What Haroun loses

His mother, his father's will to live, and (temporarily) the stories

Theme of loss

Haroun loses his mother; Rashid loses his wife and storytelling; the kidnapping of Batcheat; the loss of the Sea of Stories

Freedom of speech

The central theme; the novel defends free expression against censorship

Rushdie's critical approach

Believes in freedom of speech and open society; criticises theocracy and censorship