A STUDY OF THE NOTION OF CENSORSHIP IN SALMAN RUSHDIES HAROUN AND THE SEA OF STORIES Rajiva Wijesinhas essay Religion

and Culture in the Liberal State distinguishes between Shame and Guilt cultures as he observes that The former rely on peer pressure as it were to reinforce good behavior, while the latter internalize morality1. He remarks that generally Guilt cultures are associated with a higher degree of individuality while Shame cultures are perceived to be orthodox and censorious. Wijesinha however also observes that these categories can in fact be quite porous since even in Guilt cultures the personal convictions of an individual are the result of larger socializing forces2. Closely related to the ideas of Shame and Guilt is the idea of censorship, the discussion of which assumes centrality in Salman Rushdies novel Haroun and the Sea of Stories. While the novel is cast in the mould of childrens fiction, it operates as a socio-political allegory. The novel which describes the young protagonist Harouns adventures in fantastical lands espouses the importance of free speech and independent thought. The characters are emblematic and multidimensional and the situation of Rashid the storyteller who is deprived of his imaginative faculties is similar to Rushdies own predicament after the publication of The Satanic Verses. The critique of totalitarian censure is present not merely within the text but also at a meta-fictional level. Rushdie achieves this, in a rather tongue-in-cheek way, by writing a novel about censorship while being subjected to censorship. Though the novel is an allegory, the intended allusions are barely obscured since the index appended to the work explains the names and meanings of the people and places in the novel. Thus, the Dull Lake is said to be a caricaturized depiction of the Dal Lake of Kashmir, which is a place fraught with religious and political differences, and the names Haroun and Rashid are reminiscent of the Caliph of Baghdad.

. Wijesinha, Rajiva - Religion and Culture in the Liberal State from Liberal Perspectives for South Asia, pp. 185-186
. ibid

In his essay Wijesinha comments that The assumption that liberalism is intrinsically connected with the West is basic to Western liberal theoreticians.3 Perhaps it is this very assuption that Rushdie seeks to subvert as his critique of censorship employs quite obviously South Asian characters and contexts as well as the philosophy of non-Western philsophers. Andrew S. Teversons essay Fairy tale politics: free speech and multiculturalism in Haroun and the Sea of Stories suggests that the novel gives one ample reason to believe that Rushdie draws on the philosophy of the twelfth century Sufi mystic Farid-ud-Din-Attar4. Attar was accused of heresy by his contemporaries for writing his ornithological myth The Conference of the Birds, and his persecution by orthodox theologians was remarkably similar to the censure that Rushdie faced for writing The Satanic Verses. Rushdie employs Attars technique of portraying animals and birds which possess sophisticated intellect thereby opposing the rule practiced by a certain division of Islam which prohibits the depiction of animate beings in art, besides subverting anthropocentric presumptions which engender absolutism. The city in which Haroun and Rashid live is melancholic and nameless. This can perhaps be attributed to the collective lack of imagination which characterizes the city. The quest which Haroun undertakes aims at recovering Rashids and citys lost creativity and imagination. Rashids misfortunes begin when his wife Soraya leaves him for the rigidly rational Mr. Sengupta, and then the deeply disillusioned Haroun asks him What is the use of stories that arent even true?5 This and other objections to storytelling voiced by various characters in the novel are reminiscent of the Socratic objection relayed by Plato in The Republic which says that, for reasons both metaphysical and social, art has no claim to truth and therefore no value. These arguments are reflected throughout the tale, but primarily in Mr. Sengupta's censure of Rashid. Haroun and the Sea of Stories addresses these criticisms of art at numerous levels. The character of Rashid Khalifa can be said to be a personified representation of Philip Sidneys celebrated words in An Apology for Poetry wherein he counters the Platonic objections against art by stating that the artist "nothing affirms, and therefore never lyeth6. Rashid's intention is not to communicate "facts" or tell the "truth," so he can hardly be accused of an intention
3

. Wijesinha, Rajiva - Religion and Culture in the Liberal State from Liberal Perspectives for South Asia, pp. 176-177 . Teverson, S.Andrew- Fairy Tale Politics: Free Speech and Multiculturalism in "Haroun and the Sea of Stories", Twentieth Century Literature, Vol. 47, No. 4, pp.444-447 5 . Rushdie, Salman- Haroun and the Sea of Stories, pp.22 6 . Sidney, Philip- An Apology for Poetry, Literary Theory and Criticism

to mislead. "Nobody ever believed anything a politico said," Haroun observes, but "everyone had complete faith in Rashid because he always admitted that everything he told them was completely untrue and made up out of his own head"7. The realm of imagination can provide for alternative worlds. The very fact that fictional stories do not necessarily represent reality constitutes their strength. The expansiveness and ambiguity of Rashids stories are thus in direct opposition to the closure and finitude that the tyrant Khattam-Shud, the ruler of Chup, demands of his subjects. The question of censorship resurfaces in Rushdies depiction of the nations of Gup and Chup which represent starkly different forms of nationhood. By alluding to Homi Bhabhas essay DissemiNation: Time, narrative and the margins of the modern nation, Teverson distinguishes between pedagogical and performative models of nationhood which represent Chup and Gup respectively. It is said that the former views the people as an a priori historical presence and the latter envisions people as being constructed and continuously reconstructed in the "enunciatory present"8. Through the character of Khattam-Shud Rushdie perhaps engages in a scarcely concealed criticism of the Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini who had issued a death sentence against him following the publication of The Satanic Verses. The character is etched out in a rather Chaplinesque way as humor is employed to great effect to undermine a dictator and the very idea of censorship. Khattam Shud represents a fundamentalist ideal of a nation that exists as an entity independent of any actual manifestations of national life and that defines itself by its opposition to other nations. The Sea of Stories in the land of Gup, by contrast, represents the idea of a nation that is able to incorporate new facets into the national narrative as they become part of the ongoing performance of national life. Teversons essay observes that Whereas Khattam Shud demands a nation that can be homogenized; the supporters of the story sea celebrate a "liminal" idea of nation that will never be complete or incomplete, neither resolving nor eliminating cultural difference but recognizing it as an insurmountable and dynamic aspect of community. It is this "liminal figure of the nation-space" that presents the supreme threat to Khattam Shud because, as Bhabha puts it, it ensures "that no political ideologies [can] claim transcendent or metaphysical authority for themselves".
7 8

. ibid, pp. 20 . Teverson, S.Andrew- Fairy Tale Politics: Free Speech and Multiculturalism in "Haroun and the Sea of Stories", Twentieth Century Literature, Vol. 47, No. 4, pp. 460-461

The opposition to censorship is also seen in the distinction between the plethora of "small" stories in the Sea of Stories and the "grand mythology" promoted by Khattam Shud. Teverson remarks that Khattam Shud's is the totalized account of experience that must suppress difference to maintain the illusion of its own totality; the story sea is a riot of diverse narratives that resist the drive toward assimilation9 The fluid formlessness of the Sea of Stories is empowering since it eliminates the possibility of unqualified control and censorship. However, the dichotomy between the nations of Gup and Chup is not brought about by reinforcing simple Manichean oppositions. The Twilight strip where Haroun meets Mudra, the silent artist who speaks in the Language of Gesture is a metaphoric representation of indistinctness which lies between the two nations, and the awed Haroun muses that silence had its own grace and beauty (just as speech could be graceless and ugly)10. Mudras rebellion can be interpreted in the context of Wijesinhas words as he remarks while conformity in shame cultures implies a communitarian outlook, challenging it involves an even greater sense of individuality than in the case of someone who has to overcome a sense of guilt.11 In his portrayal of the almost utopian land of Gup, the author is not oblivious to certain obvious social factors which delimit ones freedom within a seemingly egalitarian society. Thus, while Blabbermouth, the page, is forced to disguise herself as a boy in order to obtain employment, the rather obviously foolish Princess Batcheat and Prince Bolo enjoy considerably more freedom of speech and thought owing to their social positions. The fact that the inhabitants of Gup criticize Batcheat and Bolo quite unabashedly indicates that censure need not either necessarily be an unconstructive phenomenon or flow from a singular figure of authority. Interestingly, the analogies drawn between Gup and India and Chup and Pakistan are unmistakable. One can perhaps also draw parallels between Khattam-Shud and the Pakistani leader Zia-ul-Haq whose military rule and religious zeal may be said to have been reflected in Khattam-Shuds unreasonable megalomania. However, yet again, Rushdie refrains from unambiguously prioritizing one form of government over the other. He critiques both, the chaos and disorderliness of the multicultural liberal state of Gup, as well as the political repression and censure in the autocratic regime of Chup.

. ibid . Rushdie, Salman- Haroun and the Sea of Stories, pp. 125 11 . , Wijesinha, Rajiva - Religion and Culture in the Liberal State from Liberal Perspectives for South Asia, pp. 185
10

Haroun and the Sea of Stories is rich in performance possibilities. However, since the allegorical elements of work can largely be attributed to the word-play and puns, and the diverse range of subjective interpretations that these may be subjected to, a dramatic representation of the work might diminish the powerful impact of its word-play by rendering the allusions and pronunciations unambiguous. It is perhaps for this very reason that Rushdie chose to make the work into an audio-book read by him which would retain the intended nuanced interpretations of the words and phrases used in the novel12. Nonetheless, a play based on the book was adapted for the stage by Tim Supple and David Tushingham13. The play premiered in 1998 at the Royal National Theatre in London14. In his analysis of the anti-authoritarian stance of Rushdies works, Wijesinha remarks that What he (Rushdie) suggests thenis that even what seems most rooted in tradition can be challenged and questioned from within.15 This is precisely what Haroun and the Sea of Stories seeks to establish as Rushdie adroitly performs the dual functions of condemning unwarranted censure and upholding the value of art in society.

Bibliography 1. Rushdie, Salman- Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Penguin Books 2. Rajiva, Wijesinha- Religion and Culture in the Liberal State from Liberal Perspectives for South Asia, Cambridge University Press India Pvt. Ltd., 2009 3. Teverson, S.Andrew- Fairy Tale Politics: Free Speech and Multiculturalism in "Haroun and the Sea of Stories", Twentieth Century Literature, Vol. 47, No. 4, pp. 444-466, Published by: Hofstra University, Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3175990 4. Plato- The Republic, Book 10, Translated Benjamin Jowet, Literary Theory and Criticism, Doaba Publications
12 13

. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haroun_and_the_Sea_of_Stories . ibid 14 . ibid 15 . ibid

5. Sidney, Philip- An Apology for Poetry, Literary Theory and Criticism, Doaba Publications