Midnight's Diaspora

"This collection engages with the larger context of Rushdie's work to reflect on the urgent issues raised by Rushdie's novels and their afterlives. The essays are first-rate, achieving accessibility without sacrificing rigor and depth, and bringing a variety of disciplinary perspectives to offer a fresh understanding of Rushdie's writings. This is rare."---Gyan Prakash, Princeton UniversityThis important collection of essays and interviews brings together a distinguished group of critics and commentators, including Rushdie himself, to explore the political and cultural contexts of Rushdie's novels. While each of the essays offers a distinct and often highly original take on Rushdie and his work, the two substantial interviews with Rushdie illuminate his thoughts on a series of literary and political subjects which he has for the most part been reluctant to discuss in public. This combination of fresh perspectives and historical and political context will appeal to a wide array of readers who are interested in Rushdie's work and the many pressing cultural and political issues it raises.Daniel Herwitz is Director, Institute for the Humanities, Professor of History of Art; Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Comparative Literature, College of LSA; and Professor of Art and Design, School of Art and Design at the University of Michigan. Ashutosh Varshney is Professor of Political Science at the University of Michigan.