Her king/ Olga

Poem:
Her Kind by Sexton

I have gone out, a possessed witch,

haunting the black air, braver at night;

dreaming evil, I have done my hitch

over the plain houses, light by light:

lonely thing, twelve-fingered, out of mind.

A woman like that is not a woman, quite.

I have been her kind.



I have found the warm caves in the woods,

filled them with skillets, carvings, shelves,

closets, silks, innumerable goods;

fixed the suppers for the worms and the elves:

whining, rearranging the disaligned.

A woman like that is misunderstood.

I have been her kind.



I have ridden in your cart, driver,

waved my nude arms at villages going by,

learning the last bright routes, survivor

where your flames still bite my thigh

and my ribs crack where your wheels wind.

A woman like that is not ashamed to die.

I have been her kind.

Exile Through Heartbreak

In Salman Rushdie's Shalimar the Clown, the reader is given a glimspe at a form of exile primarily instigated by heartbreak. Shalimar's love for Bhoonyi makes her betrayal that much more difficult to endure. Maxmillian's affair is the ultimate catalyst. Shalimar's exile comes in a violent form, as he becomes an assassin and ultimately murders Maxmillian. With the intense political backdrop, it is interesting that Shalimar's exile is arguably brought about because of his own feelings. I guess that Shalimar can be most closely related to Nabokov's Humbert Humbert in this regard, although his feelings were not nearly as unconventional, and his actions proved dangerous on a different level. The motivations for the exile of the characters we have examined is truly astonishing, since there can be such a broad range of factors.

Memory & Exile

“And memory was not madness was it, not even when the remembeed past piled up so high inside you that you feared the files of your yesterdays would become visible in the whites of your eyes. Memory was a gift. Is was a positive. It was a professional resource” (122) remarked Coloel. The first mention of the Coloel’s memory is described as “exceptional” (96). Later, his feelings regarding his memory progress until it is seen as a possible mental problem, which he refuses to seek help for fearing it will end his career. I find it interesting that Rashdie decided to use memory as a curse and a gift being that many of the books we read referred to exile and memory collaboratively.

Olga Volga

After reading Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie, I feel that there is a strong sense of Exile in the novel. I must admit that this novel was not one of my favorite, mainly due to the writing style. I found it to be long, and really drawn out. The thoughts of Olga Volga really stood out to me, she said 'I live today neither in this world nor the last, neither in America nor Astrakhan. Also I would add neither in this world nor the next. A woman like me, she lives some place in between. Between the memories and the daily stuff. Between yesterday and tomorrow, in the country of lost happiness and peace, the place of mislaid calm. This is our fate. This I now don't feel. Consequently however I have no fear of death" (p.9) This excerpt brings up many important themes in the novel, including the aspect of death, a type of nomadic stream and that of being a woman. This passage brings up a wide range of topics to discuss.

Shalimar the Clown

The most poignant moment in the book, for me, comes from Olga Volga the potato witch. "As to myself," she says, "I live today neither in this world nor the last, neither in America nor Astrakhan" (9). Seemingly irrelevant, this conversation with Olga Volga is tinted with loss, with exile. She goes on to say that she lives "in the country of lost happiness and peace, the place of mislaid calm." Rushdie seems to have taken special care when crafting these few short lines. It seems almost as if he is speaking in his own voice. Rushdie himself is no stranger to exile, both personally and politically. He has walked around with a death sentence hanging over his head since the late 80's and is the given reason for the British breaking political ties with the Iranians.

-- Ian Herman

Agha Shahid Ali

As a prelude book Shalimar the Clown the author Salman Rushdie placed a poem by Agha Shahid Ali that emphasizes a similar strain of exilement that appears throughout the entirety of the novel.

“I am being rowed through Paradise on a river of Hell:
Exquisite ghost, it is night.
The paddle is a heart; it breaks the porcelain waves…

I’m everything you lost. You won’t forgive me.
My memory keeps getting in the way of your history.
There is nothing to forgive. You won’t forgive me.
I hid my pain even from myself; I revealed my pain only to myself.
There is everything to forgive. You can’t forgive me.
If only somehow you could’ve been mine,
What would not have been possible in the world”?
-Agha Shahid Ali

When I first read this poem, I initially thought of India, and her exile from both of her parents. Which could certainly be true, for there is a reason why Rushdie placed this particular poem at the beginning of the novel. It set the mood for the mood for this dreary, complex narrative, full of different people suffering and enduring life.

The beginning of the poem reminds me of the beginning of the book, where India’s sleep-talk is explained, which could be a psychological effect of her mother’s death/abandonment. Especially the line: “My memory keeps getting in the way of your history” (5) which crosses with her India’s own life and her mother’s death.

This poem also relates to Shalimar’s love for Bhoonyi, and the betrayal he felt for Max when he stole her away from him. It is filled with a certain angst, hopefulness and nostalgia, but deep and dark. The last two lines: “If only somehow you could’ve been mine, /What would not have been possible in the world”? emphasize Shalimar’s loss, and exile, as he is left to endure a dirty betrayal, and lost love one.

Rushdie somehow blends "reality fiction" and fantasy and makes them both believable-- even when they are components of the same story. Each major character in the story has a unique, personal exile, existing in a world that is all his or her own. It is interesting that the very art of fantasy-writing entails "creating" a world, and that is just what Rushdie has done-- created realities for different characters in different formats.
Perception plays an important role in Shalimar the Clown, and the message within the complex madness of the tale seems to be that the world is made up of perceptions. Each of us has a unique set, and can never fully relate to anyone else's. It is fascinating to enter into the universe constructed by Rushdie and to see how the views of different characters overlap or clash. The results of each interaction end up making the story, and part of the joy in reading Rushdie's work was chronicling each step and example.

Significance to 9/11

One of the most difficult readings I have ever read. Very difficult to get into until the midpart of the book. As mention by Sara, this plot has been used in several of today's mainstream books, person is heart broken and then seeks revenge on others. Also the book can be made with reference to 9/11 because Shalimar wanted to get revenge on others, similar to how 9/11 occur because of possible jealousy.
Doing some background information on Rushdie, he was under police protection for several years because of the books that he wrote which had references to terrorism. I find it unique that Rushdie would write about such a topic that at the time of the novel released would most likely to criticized with relation to India.

Below there is a link with connection to Shalimar The Clown which I found rather interesting about the life of Rushdie.
http://www.radionetherlands.nl/features/amsterdamforum/20060730af

Shalimar the Clown and a different style of writing

Honestly out of all the books that we have read in class, and that I have read in other classes or independently, the main plot (apart from the historical background) of The book Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie, did not impress me much, it seemed a little played out and predictable . The guy that was once great, innocent and wonderful and then is betrayed by a beautiful woman, and kills the man with whom she had an affair (as a means of revenge) or viceversa. However, the writing style presents an interesting challenge to one as a reader. It is so complex and poetic that it is almost impossible to follow, it seems to be mostly written in the passive voice (which is not very common) and it contains so many adjectives that constantly throw one off the main story, and enhance the character's integrity and/or rationality. Also, it presents an amazing imagery and metaphoric language that intensify the emotions of Shalimar as a young man. Rushdie is so successful in his narration that it makes the feelings become almost personal "Standing before him, oiled of skin and with wildflowers scenting the carefully braided hair [...] was the girl he loved, waiting for him to make her a woman and in doing so make himself a man" (Rushdie 60). I thought this specific moment is so enticing, it displays the climax of the innocent and naive love story between Shalimar and Boonyi Kaul, and it places the reader in this mood of expectancy that when she tells him "if that was it" (Salman 61) it is just heartbreaking.