The Fate of The Satanic Verses : A Parable in Law and Literature

SUBMITTED BY:
ASTHA PRAKHAR
Roll No. 2410, 2nd Sem. B.B.A. L.L.B.(Hons.)

SUBMITTED TO:
DR. PRATYUSH KAUSHIK
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH

The rough draft is submitted in partial fulfillment of project of the course titled Law and
Literature for the completion of B.B.A. L.L.B.( Hons.).

CHANAKYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY, PATNA

 INTRODUCTION

In the given relatively unsophisticated notions of "law" and "literature," Salman Rushdie's
novel, The Satanic Verses1, is "literature," and the measures taken or attempted against it in
Iran, India, and elsewhere, however questionable, are "law" or “interpretations of law”. This
interaction and clash between "law" and "literature" in the Rushdie incident is therefore
obvious as a matter of common sense. The parabolic significance of the novel in the context
of existing law-and-literature scholarship is also, therefore, commonsensically valid. A
parable is a story at once particular and universal fact-intensive, narrative example (and
possibly even subversive counterexample) that moves beyond its particular facts to general
maxims. In this paper, by retelling the Rushdie incident within a law-and-literature context2, I
will thus be telling a story about law and literature, in the tradition of legal storytelling begun
by the law-and-literature movement itself. My paper, in turn, will demonstrate how capacities
for reading and telling stories can be similar, and yet very different, within law and literature.

This paper presents the media incident surrounding Rushdie's publication of The Satanic
Verses as a parable for the coexisting proximity and distance between literature and law. Part
I briefly situates the parable by summarizing the legal action within the incident and the
novel that instigated it. Part II
suggests that the Rushdie incident speaks authoritatively about law and literature because it
can itself be understood as a complex literary narrative constrained by its own uncomfortably
trial-like, bipolar medium. This paper then moves on to reading the Rushdie incident for its
lessons about the law-literature boundary (Part III).

1
SALMAN RUSHDIE, The SATANIC VERSES (1989)
2
The preface from 1990 issue of The Cardozo Studies in Law and Literature ;
For students of Law and Literature, the essays, articles, speeches, protests and calls for action
over [The Satanic Verses] are immensely instructive. They provide an encyclopedic review of
the power of literature within a society and the way in which legal systems establish or limit
the zone in which literature can function.
 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
HYPOTHESIS
Rushdie no stranger to controversies and lawsuits offended not individuals and political
families by his new book but the religiously tribal mob with his book Satanic Verses.
Rushdie, although anticipated backlash from mullahs but the amount of law suits he had
to face was surprising.
SCOPE AND LIMITATION
 The resources on which the researcher resorts for data and information collection is
limited.
 There is time restraint which bounds the researcher.
 And, this research is limited to a particular area.

METHOD OF RESEARCH
The methodology adopted for this research work is traditional i.e., doctrinal and non-
doctrinal.

SOURCES OF DATA
The researcher focuses on obtaining information from both the available sources;
they are
(1) primary sources of data,
(2) secondary sources of data.

Primary sources of data include first-hand information available like journals, district plan
goals, etc. and secondary sources include magazines, journals, etc.

METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION

For the purpose of research work, the researcher has adopted doctrinal research method. In
Doctrinal Research Method, the researcher has collected information through library study,
books and through surfing the web.
 TENTATIVE CHAPTERISATION
1. INRODUCTION
2. BRIEF OUTLINE OF THE RUSHDIE INCIDENT
 Legal Responses to The Satanic Verses
 The Novel and How It Offends
3. WHY THE RUSHDIE INCIDENT HAS ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT
 Law And Literature
4. LITERARY NARRATIVE AS NARRATIVE EVIDENCE
5. CONCLUSION
6. BIBLIOGRAPHY