Building "the Third Space" With Magical Realism

Salman Rushdie is a leading figure in contemporary British literature, called godfatherof postcolonial literature. He spends five years on Midnight's Children, which is a grandand all—inclusive classic. It had been awarded Booker, the highest literary prize in Britishliterature twice. The thesis intends to discuss Rushdie's particular postcolonial position of"neither the one nor the other", his opposition to both western discourse hegemony andradical decolonization theory, from the perspective of magical realism as a postcolonialdevice. In the present waves of globalization, a large number of writers with multipleculture background form a special group which is worthy of research. As for such a writeras Salman Rushdie, who was born in colonized country and then migrated to suzerain,there is more expansive academic space. On the one hand, there are few researches on suchan internationally famous writer;on the other hand, the neutrality of his postcolonialposition enriches our knowledge of postcolonial discourse, and has important realisticmeaning. Additionally, the expatiation of the writer's postcolonial positions from theperspective of magical realism will further our understanding of the artistic feature in thenovel.The thesis is divided into five parts: Introduction, three chapters in main body andConclusion. The whole content is as follows:Introduction: The key word "the third space" in the title will be explained as a concept.Rushdie, his attention to history and the particular form of metafiction in Midnight'sChildren will also be introduced generally, in order to assist the discussion in the mainbody of the thesis.Chapter One: The development of postcolonial theory will be recounted, and thenpostcolonial situation in India before and after Independence. At last, Rushdie's particularpostcolonial positions represented by his rewriting of Indian history and by thepresentation of India's hybrid identity will be discussed.Chapter Two: This part is a general introduction about the development of magicalrealism. It will focus on the explanation of magical realism not only as a literary techniquein Latin America, but also as a particular postcolonial device. The discussion in thischapter will assist the understanding of my purpose on juxtaposition of these twocategories, postcolonialism and magical realism, which are seemingly irrelevant.Chapter Three: This part will focus on the writer's magical realist techniques such asnon—linear narration, magical images, exaggerations, prophecies and hybrid text, whichare used to represent his postcolonial positions of "the third space" embodied through hisattempts to rewrite Indian history and to present the hybridity of India's identity.Conclusion: As a conclusion, this part generalizes the content and originality of thethesis, Rushdie's particular postcolonial positions and its reason, and points out the valueof the research.