Sly self-references in ‘The Moor’s Last Sigh’
In ‘The Moor’s Last Sigh,’ there are a couple of sly references to ‘Midnight’s Children’ — the celebrated case of the murder committed by Commander Sabarmati, and the Braganza Pickle that’s taking Bombay by storm. Also a reference to the Indian art-house film ‘Mirch Masala’ (Shabana Azmi), something about putting down a women’s spice revolt in a small town. I’m sure there are more which I’ve missed.
He loves these mirror worlds, alternate universes, linking what-might-have-been with what-was. Comic books do the same thing, rappers work in refs to previous tracks, but Rushdie’s are just smooth because the medium is richer. Sure, he’s a classicist, a maximalist with run-on sentences, but nobody does it like my Salmy. I was getting bored with the NYC routine (cook, work out, code) but I’ve been on a reading jag as of late, and it’s immeasurably richened my textures…
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