Grimus

Grimus is the first novel by Salman Rushdie . It was released in 1975.

action

Flapping Eagle, a young Indian, flees with his sister after the death of his mother. A magician gives him an elixir of immortality. At first he feels immortality as a blessing, later as a burden. Tired of eternal life, after several adventures he again seeks the magician who is supposed to make it possible for him to die.

Remarks

The title Grimus is an anagram of Simurg , a mythical creature in pre-Islamic Persian mythology.

Salman Rushdie interweaves mythology, magic, religion and philosophy in Grimus .

Many of the motifs that Salman Rushdie used in Grimus , he developed further in his later novels, for example the search for identity and displacement.

reception

Because Grimus has no political explosiveness or historical analogy like other novels, and Salman Rushdie only became famous in 1981 with his second novel Midnight Children, Grimus and the importance of the novel in Rushdie's oeuvre is often overlooked.