Imaginary Homelands is a collection of essays and criticism by Salman Rushdie.[1]

Imaginary Homelands
First edition cover
AuthorSalman Rushdie
PublisherGranta in association with Penguin Books
Publication date
1991
ISBN9780140140361

The collection is composed of essays written between 1981 and 1992, including pieces of political criticism – e.g. on the assassination of Indira Gandhi, the Conservative 1983 General Election victory, censorship, the Labour Party, and Palestinian identity – as well as literary criticism – e.g. on V. S. Naipaul, Graham Greene, Julian Barnes, and Kazuo Ishiguro among others.

The title essay – "Imaginary Homelands" – was originally published in the London Review of Books on 7 October 1982.[2] Comparing his work Midnight's Children to other works that draw on diaspora as a central theme, Rushdie argues that the migrant – whether from one country to another, from one language or culture to another or even from a traditional rural society to a modern metropolis – "is, perhaps, the central or defining figure of the twentieth century."[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b Rushdie, Salman (1991). Imaginary Homelands – essays and criticism 1981-1991. London: Granta in association with Penguin. ISBN 9780140140361.
  2. ^ Rushdie, Salman (7 October 1982). "Imaginary Homelands". London Review of Books. Vol. 4, no. 18.