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The Enchantress Of Florence Analysis

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This study is posing a re-reading of The Enchantress of Florence, the fictional fantasy created by the most controversial and talked-about novelist of the present, Salman Rushdie. This work makes a clear suggestion that its author worked really hard to assume an in-depth knowledge about the past politics of both the hemispheres. The unusual inclusion of a bibliography at the end of the novel points towards this direction. Such a great span of effort necessitates the adoption of a different style too. Various themes and seemingly incomprehensible logics have to be made acceptable to the reader. So, the magical worlds of the fables as well as the luxurious settings of the ancient Mughal Empire are manipulated simultaneously to create an impression in the readers’ minds.
The usual monologic narrative techniques are inadequate to represent the fluctuating realities in this work. So, Rushdie turns to the experimental method of polyphony and this proves to be a great success. Polyphony, the term received originally from music, denotes a particular “type of musical texture, where a texture is, generally speaking, the way that melodic, rhythmic and harmonic aspects of a musical composition are combined to shape the overall sound …show more content…

Here, the use of polyphony extends to almost all the aspects of the work, including its plot, characterisation, setting and theme. The historical facts are represented with accuracy in this novel, but the occasional glimpses of fantasy add a magical touch to them. Thus, the novelist successfully transforms the usually indifferent themes like the ascension and fall of dynasties and local rebellions into the highlights of this work, using the magic wand of polyphony. The study of the voices in this work begins with the voice of history, oriental as well as occidental. Then, it will proceed to the analysis of the other voices like that of the narrator and the supernatural

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