Shalimar the Clown - The terrors of a clown
This is excerpted from John Freeman's review of Salman Rushdie's new novel Shalimar the Clown for Scotsman.com
As I review this I wonder at the choices; both Rushdie's and Freeman's. Clown as Terrorist.
Shalimar the Clown (Salman Rushdie's new novel), is a book about the dark side of storytelling, about its occult power... a former US ambassador to India, is butchered to death by his Kashmiri Muslim driver, who goes by the name Shalimar the Clown...
From feasting to famine, and from clowning to killing, this metamorphosis is the backdrop for all of Rushdie's characters, which occasionally makes this a difficult novel to follow... Shalimar the Clown is a book without a centre; it is more like a dragon that consumes its tail as it proceeds forward... Civilization constantly erodes towards chaos. Its characters do not sit still long enough to have 'character'.
Here is how one man was convinced of his allegiance with extremists: "He was beaten, obviously. Then his beard was set on fire. Then electricity was offered to his eyes, his genitals and his tongue. Afterwards he claimed to have been blinded in one eye, which was an obvious lie, an attempt to blame the investigators for a previously existing condition. He had no pride and begged the men to stop. He repeated his lie, that he was just a schoolteacher, which offended them. To assist him they took him to a small stream containing dirty water and broken glass... He lost consciousness to avoid questioning, so when he woke up they chastised him again. In the end it was deemed correct to let him go. He was warned that the next time he would be killed. He ran away screaming: 'I swear I'm not a militant. I'm a schoolteacher.' These people were beyond saving. There was no hope for them."
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/thereview.cfm?id=1919562005
As I review this I wonder at the choices; both Rushdie's and Freeman's. Clown as Terrorist.
Shalimar the Clown (Salman Rushdie's new novel), is a book about the dark side of storytelling, about its occult power... a former US ambassador to India, is butchered to death by his Kashmiri Muslim driver, who goes by the name Shalimar the Clown...
From feasting to famine, and from clowning to killing, this metamorphosis is the backdrop for all of Rushdie's characters, which occasionally makes this a difficult novel to follow... Shalimar the Clown is a book without a centre; it is more like a dragon that consumes its tail as it proceeds forward... Civilization constantly erodes towards chaos. Its characters do not sit still long enough to have 'character'.
Here is how one man was convinced of his allegiance with extremists: "He was beaten, obviously. Then his beard was set on fire. Then electricity was offered to his eyes, his genitals and his tongue. Afterwards he claimed to have been blinded in one eye, which was an obvious lie, an attempt to blame the investigators for a previously existing condition. He had no pride and begged the men to stop. He repeated his lie, that he was just a schoolteacher, which offended them. To assist him they took him to a small stream containing dirty water and broken glass... He lost consciousness to avoid questioning, so when he woke up they chastised him again. In the end it was deemed correct to let him go. He was warned that the next time he would be killed. He ran away screaming: 'I swear I'm not a militant. I'm a schoolteacher.' These people were beyond saving. There was no hope for them."
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/thereview.cfm?id=1919562005
Labels: clown terrorist, evil clown, Rushdi, Shalimar the Clown
posted by Litotes The Clown at 11:38 AM
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