Tottering Satan

Over the weekend I finally finished Satantic Verses. As I said in class, I have nothing against this novel and think it deserves all the plaudits and controversy that it has gotten. I simply could not get into the story that much and think that it ultimately does not accomplish its goal of blending the mystical with the realistic.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for mystery and otherness in literature--heck, I have made a living writing about things that are beyond our grasp--but I just think that the myths of Judeo-Islamo-Christianity (in other words, The Bible) are incompatible with the realistic forms and expectations of modern readers like me. What's the point of having Saladin grow horns if they just disappear without any consequences? Does it really matter--and can it not be unavoidably interpreted as an insult--if Gibreel's divine visions are diagnosed as schizophrenia? I guess I'm saying that "magical realism" bugs me.

I suppose I identified with Mirza Saeed the most--the rational husband who followed his wife and their village to the Arabian sea being promised it would part for them--but I hated the fact that Rushdie kills him in the end with a vision of Ayesha taking his soul to heaven (or wherever). Just seems like a cop out to me because, honestly, many of the problems in the world are caused by people who take sacred texts literally and not as what I believe they are, inspirational stories to guide our lives. When it is all said and done, I'm not sure what value I got out of this novel in terms of inspiration or guidance.

I am, however, getting inspired by Tom Raworth's Tottering State. This books offers a glimpse into the life-long risk taking of a poet who is at extreme odds with the poetic tradition of his native England. Over the course of the book, you can see his styles, forms, and preferences change and develop. None of them, however, could properly be called "English poetry." In fact, it seems as if Raworth is bound and determined to write the opposite of English poetry, as defined by the mainstream that holds up the likes of WH Auden and Geoffrey Hill as heroes. Raworth eschews being "deep" and "expressive" and instead offers us quirky details and gemlike objects to ponder or dismiss as we will. He invites us to make meaning out of his work rather than stuffily shoving it down our throats by labeling it "proper English verse" and all that. Because of his experimentation and risk-taking, I think he is one of the best poets in the UK today.