Self-reflexivity in Salman Rushdie’sShame
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Department of English
Abstract
This research paper explores Salman Rushdie’s novelShameby focusing on
the self-reflexive nature of narration. It attempts to highlight that this approach ofthe
authorto self-reference his own processdraws attention tothe constructed nature of
thenoveland it also challengesthevariousoppressive ideologiesby drawing
attention to their construction.There is a regular intrusion ofnarrator as the authorof
thenovel where he discusses in length about his inspiration, ideas and approach to
write this novel.Here the author reflects upon the various issues like historical
narrative, religion, relationship of shame and violence, oppression of women.Instead
of justdramatizing the issues and themes, the author examines their construction and
function. By drawing attention to their conventionality, he problematizes their use as
a tool of oppression.Thereareseveral references to the events and characters of
Pakistan’s history as well as other literary works.This paper primarily uses Linda
Hutcheon’s concept of Historiographic Metafictionand Patricia Waugh’s ideas of
metafictionto explore how the Rushdie’s self-aware and self-referential technique of
storytelling focuses on the intertextual and parodic nature of this novel.The self-
reflexive act of the narrator illuminates the various themes and issues discussed by
the novel.Thenarrator lays bare the traditional methods of characterization and
narrationandhighlights the constructed nature and artificiality of the textas well as
reality.It also foregrounds the relationship between fiction and the world outside the
fiction.