THE WORLD BREATHES IN POLYPHONY: RUSHDIE'S RESISTANCE TO DESIGNED UNIFORMITY THROUGH HAROUN AND THE SEA OF STORIES (original) (raw)

The present paper tries to trace out some of the postmodern traits in this immensely allegorical, funny and technically innovative novel of Salman Rushdie entitled Haroun and the Sea of Stories (1990). Rushdie wrote this novel with the intention of contributing to the oeuvre of children's literature. But as children enjoy this novel for its amazing and baffling story telling style, adult and mature readers find it attacking upon the omnipresent 'Ocean of Notions' which he presents as a character, besides other interesting names like the Shah of Blah, moon of Kahani, Controller Walrus, cult leader Khattamshud, General Kitab, Prince Bolo, Land of Gup and Land of Chup and many others. All the names themselves hide and reveal so many ideas and perceptions. The present novel is usually read as a criticism of Enlightenment theory but at the same time, Rushdie is cautions of erecting simplified dichotomies. Because, for the most part, humankind as a race and as individuals finds itself immersed in the ambiguous grey zone of judgement in which right and wrong, good and bad, civilization and barbarism cease to exist in a tidy binary opposition. Distinctions among them are rather blurred and confused, as God Himself is Bezabaan (tongueless), according to Rushdie. Rushdie lets Haroun adopt a postmodern spirit of skepticism and critique but with a political motive. He is accompanied by Iff and Butt, with additional power of seeing beyond the restrictions of perceived reality. He literally shifts the world on its axis by clashing the past, the present and the future. He acknowledges that we exist simultaneously in all three temporal modes and must therefore, acknowledge the authority, claims and limitations of each. Thus, as no rules can claim to be holy in the present 'postmodern' times, we can always move towards a new beginning and a deeper, more progressive understanding of our reality.