Rushdie and my overview of Brit Lit

Yes, I have been reading, even though I haven't posted in awhile. I've been too busy reading to stop to post! Over the weekend, I did a lot of background reading in order to solidify my overview of the period of British literature from 1789 to the present. It's quite a bit of ground to cover, I don't mind saying. If you want to fill in the rather broad strokes I made in class, I suggest reading the preface and introductions to the three volumes of the Norton anthology.

As for Satanic Verses, I'm through the first part of the book. Finally! It's taken me awhile to get into the book (try 2 years!), but now I think I'm finally hooked in the flow of it. I think my major motivation problem has been the lack of plot and the focus on character development in the first 4 chapters of the novel. Not that I don't like character, it's just that I need conflict to make me interested in narrative (I don't have that problem with poetry, by the way). The book has finally gotten around to explaining how the airplane blows up, but now I'm wondering where it's going to go from here. How is Rushdie going to sustain the plot for another 400-odd pages?

My favorite parts of the books so far are 1) the discussion of art by the narrator and characters and 2) the anxiety Chamcha has over being Indian. This issue of national/ethnic/natal identity is central not just to postcolonial literature but all postmodern lit. I must say, however, that this issue of "Indianness" seemed fresher 20 years ago than it does now. Now, it seems that everyone is from somewhere else and that exile is the norm, not the exception. The exception, perhaps, lies in America, where everyone seems to feel that they belong and that their identity is based merely on being from somewhere else but calling oneself "American." But I digress to America, and I want to stay in Britain.

That reminds me of a question that occurred to me yesterday: Why do you think Amis chooses to set the beginning of Time's Arrow in America and not England (or even Argentina where many Nazi war-criminals emigrated)?

Any thoughts?