History, Locations and Contexts - An Overview
|
|
|
|
| Midnight's Children is a massive work in terms of the number
of years it covers, the historical events that are dealt with and the
geographical space it traverses.
However, it is a BIG mistake to assume that Midnight's Children
can be described as simply an epic historical novel. The narrator
Saleem Sinai uses historical events in his narrative - but not
always accurately - he gets several important dates "wrong" and his
version of events is often significantly different from
"official" or more generally believed versions.
The book cannot therefore be treated as an 'real' history
of India - despite is encyclopaedic nature.
It is useful when reading to have some "official" knowledge of India's history, religions and geography. This section is designed to help you find some versions of the major "real world" elements referred to in the book so that you can compare them to Saleem's versions.
|