_________________________________________________________________ Re: 'The Moor's Last Sigh': views _________________________________________________________________ * To: Prentiss Riddle * Subject: Re: 'The Moor's Last Sigh': views * From: Subir Grewal * Date: Fri, 8 Mar 1996 17:05:30 -0500 (EST) * Cc: balaji@TCS.COM, SASIALIT@RICEVM1.RICE.EDU * In-Reply-To: <199603082120.PAA24661@brazos.is.rice.edu> _________________________________________________________________ On Fri, 8 Mar 1996, Prentiss Riddle wrote: > or invent. For example, Wallia is offended by Aurora Zogoiby's > peculiar use of verbs like "killofy" or "proceedofy"; he doesn't notice > that her language is an imagined family idiosyncrasy, not meant to be > standard Indian English at all (and particularly enjoyable to me as a > member of a family with some not entirely unparallel idiosyncrasies). I haven't read this review but like so many other instances in Rushdie, I was shocked to read *-ofy because we'd thought we owned the damn construct. This particular form is something my friends and I are quite familiar with, and it's always wonderful when Rushdie comes up with somehting you _know_ instinctively. > As for Wallia's claim that no one really reads or enjoys Rushdie -- > well, I for one just finished the book and for the most part enjoyed > it. I wasn't entirely satisfied with the arc of the plot, which seemed > to me to lack forward motion and in particular a satisfying resolution > in the final section. But although I'm lukewarm about the book's > progress toward its destination, I certainly enjoyed the ride, > particularly the opening "melodrama" and the continual polyglot > wordplay that Wallia disparages. Ditto, Rushdie's linguistic acrobatics are most enjoyable. Resolution is not big on the list of things I desire, but then again you never know till you get to the end (ha?) I've added a series of photographs of Bombay and Cochin to the site as well. Some of them will be quite familiar to readers of the Moor's Last Sigh. http://www.nyu.edu/pages/wsn/subir/rushdie/bom_images.html is something I particularly enjoyed putting together. Subir Blue Ribbon Education officer, comp.advocacy@NYU http://www.nyu.edu/pages/advocacy/ PGP Key fingerprint = C5 92 27 76 A0 E4 8B A0 65 A8 ED 05 11 DF A3 3A ---------------My Opinions 0.93b; bugs >> grewals@acf2.nyu.edu-------------- Fine day to work off excess energy. Steal something heavy.