Can we classify Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children as histogriographic metafiction?
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I think that Rushdie's work fits several of the conditions of historiographic metafiction. On one hand, the construction of the narrative through Saleem's eyes makes him the center of the work. This supposed authority is complete with fragmentation and a sense of disunity. Rushdie is deliberate in this, for Saleem's writing of Indian History is limited, at best. Saleem attempts to be the agent of his own being, but the conditions that surround him are overwhelming. At the same time, I think that the conscious attempt for Saleem to be constructing a narrative of Indian History makes him a source for historiography, as well. The idea of being able to write history, for both self and nation, is something of which Saleem is conscious. In the end, Saleem understands his motivations in both realms, making the work fit both standards.
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