Salman Rushdie is one of the world's most important writers of politicised fiction. He is a self-proclaimed controversialist, capable of exciting radically divergent viewpoints, a novelist of extraordinary imaginative range and power, and an erudite, and often fearless, commentator upon the state of global politics today. In this comprehensive and lucid critical study, Andrew Teverson examines the intellectual, biographical, literary and cultural contexts from which Rushdie's fiction springs in order to help the reader make sense of the often complex debates that surround the life and work of this major contemporary figure. Teverson also offers detailed critical readings of all Rushdie's novels, from Grimus through to Shalimar the Clown.
This definitive guide will be of interest to those working in the fields of contemporary world writing in English, postcolonial studies, twentieth and twenty-first century British literatures, and studies in the novel.

1. Contexts and intertexts
2. From science fiction to history: Grimus and Midnight's Children
3. Tragedy in Shame
4. Satire in The Satanic Verses
5. Pessoptimistic fictions: Haroun and the Sea of Stories and The Moor's Last Sigh
6. The pop novel in the age of globalisation: The Ground Beneath Her Feet and Fury
7. Critical overview and conclusion
Afterword: Shalimar the Clown