The Inheritance of a Lost Paradise: A Re-Evaluation of Salman Rushdie’s Shalimar The Clown

This research paper critically examines Salman Rushdie's novel Shalimar the Clown from a postcolonial, historical and allegorical perspective. It looks at a key issue in the work: the loss of the Paradise that was Kashmir and the implications and consequences of that loss. The novel is a combination of fiction, history, magic realism and allegory. It looks at the terrible tragedy of Kashmir through the powerfully drawn characters of Boonyi, Shalimar, Max and India. The characters reflect the fates of their nations. They are doomed to self-destruct. Their inheritance is an inheritance of pain and loss. Shalimar is Rushdie's tribute to a lost homeland which has been destroyed by violence. The destruction of Kashmir lies at the heart of this passionately written novel. Shalimar's original profession as a tightrope artiste comes a full circle when he becomes the member of an international terror organization. Walking the tightrope becomes the ultimate symbol and a metaphor for history. Shalimar the Clown analyzes the roots of violence and connects it to the divisions and conflicts caused in the world by neo imperialism and terrorism.