ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the Islamic affiliations and affinities mapped by Salman Rushdie's post-9/11 fiction. Focusing on the transnational thriller Shalimar the Clown, it asks to what extent this novel offers a discursive, imaginative, or empathetic South Asian Muslim perspective on geopolitical events. Shalimar the Clown and The Enchantress of Florence have purported to provide international audiences with the reasons behind contemporary Islamic 'terror' and to excavate earlier histories of cosmopolitan Muslim civilization in India. In this sense, they continue partly to reflect the 'mosaic of diverse cultural identifications' experienced by Rushdie as a privileged, cosmopolitan intellectual and cultivated by the hybrid characters featured in his more diasporic fictions. The chapter argues that the specific Islamic networks or 'affiliations' that these novels also describe have many limitations. While not overlooking the limitations of Rushdie's recent punditry, other scholars have sought to refocus attention on the dissenting, sceptical perspectives provided in The Satanic Verses.
