A Study Of Defamiliarization In Midnitht’s Children

Salman Rushdie is one of the most representative writers of post-colonialliterature as well as an immigrant writer. Midnight’s Children，his representative work,reflects more than60years history of South Asian Subcontinent through theprotagonist’s family history. This thesis analyzes Midnight’s Children based on thetheory of defamiliarization to reveal how Rushdie represents the grotesque andcomplex social reality of India. It briefly reviews Rushdie’s cultural background andthe Rushdie Scholarship at home and abroad, and expounds the definition ofdefamiliarization and its application in literature. In the third chapter, it makes anelaborate analysis of defamiliarization in Midnight’s Children, including thedefamiliariztion of English language，the author’s applying of magical realism tocharacterization and images, and defamiliarization of narration. Through thesedefamiliarizing techniques and effects, Rushdie probes into the complexity of Indiasociety before and after its independence. These techniques of defamiliarization notonly reveal the complexity in religion, history and culture, and politics of Indiansociety, but also reveal the great trauma and fragments in India left by the colonial rule.Rushdie’s literary innovation in Midnight’s Children is appreciated by the westernreaders. With this novel, he established his status as a prominent figure inpost-colonial literature.