Salman Rushdie’s New Novel Examines US Politics Over Last Eight Years

A new novel by Salman Rushdie will focus on the last eight years of American politics, The Guardian reports. The book, titled The Golden House, will be Rushdie’s thirteenth novel. It will hit shelves in September from publisher Jonathan Cape.

The novel will tell the story of an American filmmaker, his family, and his journey into adulthood against the backdrop of the American political landscape from 2008 to the present. According to The Guardian, “Starting with the inauguration of Barack Obama in 2008, the book will include current and recent political and social events, including the rise of the ultra-conservative Tea Party; the Gamergate scandal, which saw the widespread online harassment of female gaming journalists framed as a debate about media ethics; the debate over identity politics; and, perhaps most urgently, [according to the publisher], ‘the insurgence of a ruthlessly ambitious, narcissistic, media-savvy villain sporting makeup and coloured hair.'”

Source: MSNBC

Source: MSNBC

Michal Shivit, director of publishing at Jonathan Cape, describes the novel as “a brilliant, heartbreaking, realist novel that is not only uncannily prescient but shows one of the world’s greatest storytellers working at the height of his powers.” She added that the work is “the ultimate novel about identity, truth, terror and lies [in] a new world order of alternate truths.”

Source: ABC

Source: ABC

Rushdie is far from the first writer to react to the upheaval in American politics that led to the rise of Donald Trump. British novelist Howard Jacobson’s novella Pussy was written in two months following the election and will be published in April, also by Jonathan Cape. Other authors, including John Green, Margaret Atwood, and J.K. Rowling, have used social media platforms to speak out against Trump throughout the election cycle and since he took office.

Perhaps the only silver lining of the Trump administration is its ability to turn more Americans into readers—dystopian novels such as George Orwell’s 1984 and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale have experienced a surge in popularity since Trump was inaugurated. The Golden House will likely join American reading lists come September.

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Featured image via NPR

h/t The Guardian