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Midnight's Children (novel)
''Midnight's Children'' is the second novel by Indian-British writer Salman Rushdie, published by Jonathan Cape with cover design by Bill Botten, about India's transition from British colonial rule to independence and partition. It is a postcolonial, postmodern and magical realist story told by its chief protagonist, Saleem Sinai, set in the context of historical events. The style of preserving history with fictional accounts is self-reflexive. ''Midnight's Children'' sold over one million copies in the UK alone and won the Booker Prize and James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1981.Mullan, John.Salman Rushdie on the writing of Midnight's Children" ''The Guardian'', 26 July 2008. It was also awarded the special Booker of Bookers prize in 1993, and the Best of the Booker in 2008, to celebrate the Booker Prize's 25th and 40th anniversaries. In 2003 the novel appeared at number 100 on the BBC's The Big Read poll which determined the UK's "best-loved novels" of all time. Backgrou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Salman Rushdie
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie ( ; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British and American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern world, Eastern and Western world, Western civilizations, typically set on the Indian subcontinent. Rushdie's second novel, ''Midnight's Children'' (1981), won the Booker Prize in 1981 and was deemed to be "the best novel of all winners" on two occasions, marking the Man Booker Prize#Winners, 25th and the The Best of the Booker, 40th anniversary of the prize. After his fourth novel, ''The Satanic Verses'' (1988), Rushdie became the subject of several assassination attempts and death threats because of what was seen by some to be an irreverent Depictions of Muhammad, depiction of Muhammad. This included a ''fatwa'' calling for his death issued by Ruhollah Khomeini, the supreme leader of Iran. The book was banned in 20 countries. Numerous killin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Big Read
The Big Read was a survey on books that was carried out by the BBC in the United Kingdom in 2003, when over three-quarters of a million votes were received from the British public to find the nation's best-loved novel. The year-long survey was the biggest single test of public reading taste to date, and culminated with several programmes hosted by celebrities advocating their favourite books. Purpose The BBC started the Big Read with the goal of finding the "Nation's Best-loved Novel" by way of a viewer vote via the Web, SMS, and telephone. The show attracted controversy for adopting an allegedly Sensationalism, sensationalist approach to literature, but supporters praised it for raising the public awareness of reading. The British public voted originally for any novel that they wished.Book awards: BBC's Big Read - L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
One Thousand And One Nights
''One Thousand and One Nights'' (, ), is a collection of Middle Eastern folktales compiled in the Arabic language during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as ''The Arabian Nights'', from the first English-language edition (), which rendered the title as ''The Arabian Nights' Entertainments''. The work was collected over many centuries by various authors, translators, and scholars across West Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, and North Africa. Some tales trace their roots back to ancient and medieval Arabic, Persian, and Mesopotamian literature. Most tales, however, were originally folk stories from the Abbasid and Mamluk eras, while others, especially the frame story, are probably drawn from the Pahlavi Persian work (, ), which in turn may be translations of older Indian texts. Common to all the editions of the ''Nights'' is the framing device of the story of the ruler Shahryar being narrated the tales by his wife Scheherazade, with one tale told ov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dhaka
Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list of cities proper by population density, most densely populated cities in the world with a density of about 34,000 citizens per square kilometers within a total area of approximately 300 square kilometers. Dhaka is a megacity, and has a population of 10.2 million residents as of 2024, and a population of over 23.9 million residents in Greater Dhaka, Dhaka Metropolitan Area. It is widely considered to be the most densely populated built-up urban area in the world. Dhaka is an important cultural, economic, and scientific hub of Eastern South Asia, as well as a major list of largest cities in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation member countries, Muslim-majority city. Dhaka ranks list of cities by GDP, third in South Asia and 39th in the worl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lahore
Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and 27th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a population of over 14 million. Lahore is one of Pakistan's major industrial, educational and economic hubs. It has been the historic capital and cultural center of the wider Punjab region, and is one of Pakistan's most Social liberalism, socially liberal, Progressivism, progressive, and Cosmopolitanism, cosmopolitan cities. Origins of Lahore, Lahore's origin dates back to antiquity. The city has been inhabited for around two millennia, although it rose to prominence in the late 10th century with the establishment of the Walled City of Lahore, Walled City, its fortified interior. Lahore served as the capital of several empires during the medieval era, including the Hindu Shahis, Gha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mumbai
Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12.5 million (1.25 crore). Mumbai is the centre of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, the seventh-most populous metropolitan area in the world with a population of over 23 million (2.3 crore). Mumbai lies on the Konkan coast on the west coast of India and has a deep natural harbour. In 2008, Mumbai was named an alpha world city. Mumbai has the highest number of billionaires out of any city in Asia. The seven islands that constitute Mumbai were earlier home to communities of Marathi language-speaking Koli people. For centuries, the seven islands of Bombay were under the control of successive indigenous rulers before being ceded to the Portuguese Empire, and subsequently to the East India Company in 1661, as part of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Agra
Agra ( ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is the fourth-most populous city in Uttar Pradesh and List of cities in India by population, twenty-third most populous city in India. Agra's notable historical period began during Sikandar Khan Lodi's reign, but the golden age of the city began with the Mughals in the early 16th century. Agra was the foremost city of the Indian subcontinent and the capital of the Mughal Empire under Mughal emperors Babur, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir and Shah Jahan. Under Mughal rule, Agra became a centre for learning, arts, commerce, and religion, and saw the construction of the Agra Fort, Sikandra, Agra, Sikandra and Agra's most prized monument, the Taj Mahal, constructed between 1632 and 1648 by Shah Jahan in remembrance of his wife Mumtaz Mahal. With the decline ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kashmir
Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. The term has since also come to encompass a larger area that includes the Indian-administered territories of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, the Pakistani-administered territories of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, and the Chinese-administered territories of Aksai Chin and the Trans-Karakoram Tract. Quote: "Kashmir, region of the northwestern Indian subcontinent. It is bounded by the Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang to the northeast and the Tibet Autonomous Region to the east (both parts of China), by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to the south, by Pakistan to the west, and by Afghanistan to the northwest. The northern and western portions are administered by Pakistan a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magical Realism
Magical realism, magic realism, or marvelous realism is a style or genre of fiction and art that presents a realistic view of the world while incorporating magical elements, often blurring the lines between speculation and reality. ''Magical realism'' is the most commonly used of the three terms and refers to literature in particular, with magical or supernatural phenomena presented in an otherwise real-world or mundane setting, and is commonly found in novels and dramatic performances. In his article "Magical Realism in Spanish American Literature", Luis Leal explains the difference between magic literature and magical realism, stating that, "Magical realism is not magic literature either. Its aim, unlike that of magic, is to express emotions, not to evoke them." Despite including certain magic elements, it is generally considered to be a different genre from fantasy because magical realism uses a substantial amount of realistic detail and employs magical elements to make a po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sanjay Gandhi
Sanjay Gandhi (14 December 1946 – 23 June 1980) was an Indian politician. He was a member of the Lok Sabha and was the younger son of Indira Gandhi and Feroze Gandhi. During his lifetime, he was widely expected to succeed his mother as head of the Indian National Congress and Prime Minister of India, but following his death in a plane crash, his elder brother Rajiv became their mother's political heir and succeeded her as Prime Minister of India and President of the party after her assassination. His wife Maneka Gandhi and son Varun Gandhi are politicians in the Bharatiya Janata Party. Early life and education Gandhi was born in New Delhi, on 14 December 1946, as the younger son of Indira Gandhi and Feroze Gandhi. Like his elder brother Rajiv, Gandhi was educated at St. Columba's School, Delhi, Welham Boys' School, Dehra Dun and then at the Doon School, Dehra Dun. Gandhi was also educated at the Ecole D'Humanité, an international boarding school in Switzerland. G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Emergency (India)
The Emergency in India was a 21-month period from 1975 to 1977 when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency across the country by citing internal and external threats to the country. Officially issued by President Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed under Article 352 of the Constitution because of a prevailing "Internal Disturbance", the Emergency was in effect from 25 June 1975 and ended on 21 March 1977. The order bestowed upon the prime minister the authority to rule by decree, allowing elections to be cancelled and civil liberties to be suspended. For much of the Emergency, most of Gandhi's political opponents were imprisoned and the press was censored. More than 100,000 political opponents, journalists and dissenters were imprisoned by the Gandhi regime. During this time, a mass campaign for vasectomy was spearheaded by her son Sanjay Gandhi. The final decision to impose an emergency was proposed by Indira Gandhi, agreed upon by the President of India, and r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indira Gandhi
Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 until Assassination of Indira Gandhi, her assassination in 1984. She was India's first and, to date, only female prime minister, and a central figure in Indian politics as the leader of the Indian National Congress (INC). She was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India, and the mother of Rajiv Gandhi, who succeeded her as prime minister. Gandhi's cumulative tenure of 15 years and 350 days makes her the second-longest-serving Indian prime minister after her father. Henry Kissinger described her as an "Iron Lady", a nickname that became associated with her tough personality. During her father Jawaharlal Nehru's premiership from 1947 to 1964, Gandhi was his hostess and accompanied him on his numerous foreign trips. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
