Imaginary Homelands: Selected Essays: Salman Rushdie

Hello Readers!

Imaginary Homelands is a collection of essays written by Salman Rushdie. He wrote these essays between 1981 to 1992. 

As part of the postcolonial studies, four essays from "Imaginary Homelands" are taken. The essays are as follows.

1. Imaginary Homelands

2. 'Commonwealth Literature' does not exist

3. Attenborough's Gandhi

4. New Empire within Britain

In this blog, the summaries of these four essays are given.

1. Imaginary Homelands

In this first essay, Rushdie recalls his memories of past and the present. The essay has some diasporic tone and a question, 

2. 'Commonwealth Literature' does not exist

To cite a quote from a website,

Commonwealth Literature is used to cover the literary works from territories that were once part of the British Empire, but it usually excludes books from the United Kingdom unless these are produced by resident writers who originate from a former colony. (A. D. McKenzie)

http://www.ipsnews.net/1997/04/literature-what-is-commonwealth-literature/

3. Attenborough's Gandhi

Richard Attenborough has directed a remarkable film, Gandhi in 1982. But in the essay what Rushdie states about the film is very worth reading. To give a gist of the essay, one may say that watching film is also an artistic exercise. Now artistic activities also require much hard work and homework. Especially before and after watching a film. This essay is an example of a film review, and how critically we can see almost all the aspects of the film. 

"If this is the Best Film of 1983, God help the film industry."

4. New Empire within Britain

This

References:

Rushdie, Salman. Imaginary Homelands. Granta Books, 1991. PDF.

Thank You!