Moor-stuff, Granada-yada

Thanks to Eric for the various discussion questions he provided the other night. Here are some other tidbits/links that you may find worth pursuing: since the novel's primary setting is in southern India, you may want to read about the Malabar coast; the presence of the Portuguese in India and the role of Vasco de Gama also play significant roles in The Moor's Last Sigh; finally, since he will increasingly develop into a villain via the character of Mainduck, you might wish to learn about Bal Thackeray, the head of Shiv Sena (a party he founded in 1966) and someone who has been called the "godfather of Bombay" for more than thirty years (actually, it was Thackeray who had the city renamed Mumbai some years ago). Also, if you don't quite know what a palimpsest is, you might want to procure a working definition of the notion! Regarding all of the contexts, we have some fundamental questions to consider (some of which we got started on this past Tuesday): Why would Rushdie use Arab Spain to reimagine contemporary India? Why would he choose to focus on a Bombay characterized by its Portuguese heritage and by the presence of Jewish and Christian minorities on the Malabar coast? How does The Moor's Last Sigh update the politics of Midnight's Children? The Moor, of course, is born in 1957 (so he's ten years younger than Saleem) to a Jewish father and a Portuguese Catholic mother; he's also the descendant of Vasco de Gama, the early Jews of Cochin, the last Moorish caliph, and possibly -- and crazily (see p.176 & following) -- Prime Minister Nehru.

Given the pepperiness of this novel, it's also interesting to think about the spice trade (i.e., Sydney Mintz's book on sugar comes to mind, as does Timothy Morton's book on "the poetics of spice"). The discussions of pepper early in the novel call our attention to the history and travels of products that the colonies supplied to the metropolises of empire ("'not so much sub-continent,'" Aurora would say, wittily, "'as sub-condiment'" (4-5)), which is another aspect of the genius of this novel (it calls attention to the notion of consumption in other ways, too; I'd still like for us to look at the ambivalent assessment of capitalism and globalization in the "Under World/Over World" sequence on pages 184-7). This line-of-inquiry connects with Paul Gilroy's work, too, since before the passage of cultural productions across the Black Atlantic there was the passage of bodies (slaves-to-be) and goods like sugar and spices. Complicated questions and issues ensue from this convergence.

Well, enough for now. Thank you for your hard work, collegiality, and consistent contributions to our lively (and, remembering the Walrus mustaches, unpredictable) Tuesday night discussions. If you're on the move during this Spring Break week, travel safely, and I wish all of you some restorative hours over the coming week! See you on the other side ...