Shame (Masterplots II: British and Commonwealth Fiction Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Salman Rushdie
- First Published: 1983
- Type of Work: Magical realism
- Time of Work: c. 1920 through the early 1980’s
- Setting: Pakistan
- Principal Characters: Omar Khayyam Shakil, Sufiya Zenobia Hyder, General Raza Hyder, Bilquis Hyder, Chairman Iskander Harrapa, Rani Harrapa
- Genres: Long fiction, Magical Realism
- Subjects: Culture, Politics, Race, Twentieth century, Marriage, Violence, Death or dying, Fantasy, Childbirth, Animals, Honor, Pakistan or Pakistanis
- Locales: Pakistan
The Novel
Shame is a modern Arabian Nights fable set against a thinly disguised real background. The central symbolic figure is the simpleminded Sufiya (a name meaning “wisdom”). Her father, a rapidly rising army officer, is ashamed because his firstborn child is a girl. Her mother sees Sufiya’s simplemindedness (the result of a fever in infancy) as a sign of her own shame, retribution for an extramarital affair. Sufiya, a congenital blusher, becomes a sponge who soaks up the shame of those around her and of those who feel no shame but should. Shame accumulates in...
[The entire page is 2014 words long]
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