Formations of Identity in Salman Rushdie's Fictions

Through a close reading of three of Salman Rushdie's earlier novels, Midnight's Children, The Satanic Verses, and The Moor's Last Sigh, this study takes an original approach to the discussion of identity formation. How is identity disrupted? And how is it reconstructed? This paper explores the body as a site upon which identities are played out. The protagonists' postmodern engagement in formations and deformations of identity is accompanied by a constant renegotiation of the relationship between body and self. An analysis of the protagonists' metamorphosed, deformed, and grotesque bodies provides a comprehensive understanding of collective identities. Moreover, the paper is concerned with the body's capacity as an active constituent in the formation of personal identities. The analysis is set against a backdrop of interdisciplinary theoretical texts ranging from postcolonial theory to sociology.