An Analysis Of Shame From The Perspective Of New Historicism

Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie is a famous Indian British novelist and essayist. Shame is Salman Rushdie‘s third novel, published in 1983. The novel won France‘s Prix du Meilleur Livre étranger(Best Foreign Book). Shame was translated into Chinese by Huang Canran in 2009 and recommended by Mo Yan. Since then, the imaginary and absurd world created by Rushdie was opened to not only western readers but also ordinary ones in China.This thesis is composed of five chapters. In the first chapter, the author introduces the writer Salman Rushdie, his masterpiece Shame, and then comes up with the purpose and significance of the thesis. Moreover, the author also gives an exposition on Historicism, and a brief account of the critical response of Shame both abroad and at home.Chapter two explores Salman Rushdie‘s historical consciousness and how it is embodied in Shame. Rushdie‘s perspectives on history and fiction writing coincide with New Historical views on literature. His historical consciousness in writing Shame is in effect strongly influenced by the political and cultural context of South Asia Subcontinent. New Historicism breaks the boundaries between reality and fiction, facts and plots. Rushdie breaks the boundaries between fiction and history by inventing plots in the specific era of South Asia Subcontinent. As a writer who has always extremely hated political corruptions, Rushdie reconstructs the evils of histories by artistic creation, reflecting the social problems caused by political corruptions.Chapter three analyzes how Rushdie reconstructs histories through marginalized voices that are neglected and oppressed. In this way, Rushdie breaks the official historical discourse. In Pakistan, women who have been oppressed by white men and local patriarchal are marginalized and deprived of voices to express themselves. In a male-dominated society, women are bound to lose their voices. Female characters in Shame start to express themselves through vocal discourse and mute discourse and succeed in challenging Raza Hyder and Iskander Harappa‘s male superiority. Through depicting their struggle to fight back and voice through actions and discourse, Rushdie shows his understanding of New Historicism. Moreover, this chapter also analyzes Rushdie‘s narrative strategies in constructing histories in the novel, namely the anecdote.Chapter four analyzes how Rushdie represents the power relations generated by the socially constructed institution of sexuality and the institutionalized system of religion through a strategy of power and subversion. It is well known that Pakistan as a multi-national state has experienced so many conflicts among races and there are also so many riots caused by people who believe in different religions. Although the nation-state has infiltrated the lives of Pakistanis, the state does not fulfill the expectations of the people. Rushdie points out in Shame that sexuality and religion may be used as the means of subversive power to take part in the process of establishing the nation-state. At the meantime, the writer also worries about the possible consequences caused by these two kinds of subversive powers.In conclusion, the writer of this thesis points out that Rushdie is a responsible writer with strong historical consciousness. Through showing concern on marginalized people, Rushdie creates histories which rival the official historical discourse. Rushdie‘s concern about women in Pakistan and the current political situation has been clearly represented in Shame.