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Haroun and the Sea of Stories (ISBN 0613495632) is a 1990 novel by Salman Rushdie. It was Rushdie's first novel after The Satanic Verses. It is a phantasmagorical story set in a city so old and ruinous that it has forgotten its name.
Haroun and the Sea of Stories is an allegory for several problems existing in society today, especially in India and the Indian subcontinent. It looks at these problems from the viewpoint of the preteen protagonist Haroun.
In 2002, the novel was produced as an audiobook, read by Zia Mohyeddin.
Plot
Haroun's father is the famed storyteller Rashid Khalifa, the Shah of Blah, but his wife tires of his imagination and elopes with Mr. Sengupta, a dull and dreary clerical drone. This leaves Rashid heartbroken, and unable to continue his profession of storytelling. Thus Haroun embarks on a mystical journey to Kahani, a hidden moon of the Earth, in a quest to restore his father's gift of the gab.
On Kahani, stories are everywhere, even floating in the sea (which gives the book its title). However, the evil Khattam-Shud (meaning "The End", "completely finished") is attempting to poison the sea of stories and render the inhabitants of Kahani silent by plugging the spring of stories (where all stories come from). Haroun, along with various interesting characters such as Iff the water-genie, Butt the mechanical hoopoe, P2C2E (Process Too Complicated To Explain) House and a pair of rhyming fish, set out to stop Khattam-Shud, thus saving Rashid, Kahani, and the stories of the world.
Themes and motifs
The novel uses Hindustani extensively for the names of characters and places. There are several not-so-subtle criticisms of the Kashmir dispute and means of handling the situation, and a general refusal to accept hierarchical or patriarchal setups of authority. The novel can also be seen as a critique of censorship.
Adaptations in other media
- A play, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, based on the book was adpated for the stage by Tim Supple and David Tushingham. It had its stage premiere in 1998 at the Royal National Theatre in London.
- An opera, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, based on the book was composed by Charles Wuorinen with libretto by James Fenton. It had its stage premiere in 2004 at the New York City Opera.
- In May 2006, it came to light that Kaavya Viswanathan may have plagarized passages from Haroun and the Sea of Stories in her novel How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild and Got a Life.
Harun und das Meer der Geschichten | Hárún és a Mesék Tengere
"Haroun and the Sea of Stories"