A Study On The Construction Of The Third Space In Rushdie’s Work: Shame

The Indian-British writer Salman Rushdie, with his multicultural identities andspecial standpoint between the West and East, observes and reflects the world by dualperspectives. He expressed his view of the world in his works: the world is a beingformed by diversities; different cultures will definitely be integrated with each otherafter a process of cultural collision、communication and interaction. In his novelShame, a colorful and weird world in Pakistan after Partition of India is showed byRushdie’s techniques of magic realism. He rewrites and overturns the history andpolitics of his own nation, and embodies the abstract theory of cultural hybrid by theform of novels. Based on the text of Shame, this paper tries to apply the post-colonialtheory of Edward Said and Homi Bhabha into the explanation and analysis ofRushdie’s attempt to break down the barrier between the West and East and constructa literature world with cultural diversity and cultural integration from two aspects:characterization and narrative pattern in it. Meanwhile, Rushdie’s viewpoints onIndian history and politics and how to reconstruct the national culture in post-colonialera will also be probed in this thesis.This paper consists of four parts: in the first part: introduction, related studies onSalman Rushdie both abroad and at home would be discussed, and the content andbackground of the novel Shame is also brought out. It is emphasized that it isconducive to build a harmonious multicultural world by the research on Shame andadvocating cultural communication and integration between eastern and westernworld. In the second part, post-colonial theorists Said, Bhabha’s theory of ‘hybrid’and ‘the third space’ is expounded, which is demonstrated that Rushdie and his ownliterary works have done a precise expression and a strong response on Bhabha’stheory. On the basis of Said and Bhabha’s theory, in the third part of this paper,characterization and narrative pattern of Shame are further employed to elaborate,analyze and demonstrate Rushdie’s ‘hybrid’ discourse, which reflects that Rushdietries to break the boundaries of Eastern and Western culture to construct a literary text that can exist beyond cultural differences. At the same time, through the analysis onlanguage, narrative pattern and magical realism approach, the ‘hybrid’ of narrativepattern in Shame is verified. In the part of conclusion, points further indicated are as apost-colonial immigrant writer, Salman Rushdie construct a cultural ‘third space’ inhis works. And what we can use for reference from the research is to advocate therespect and understanding between different cultures and make efforts together toconstruct a harmonious world with cultural diversity and integration.