In Rushdie’s vision, the city of Vijayanagar — the name means Victory City — is a place of magic and miracles that owes its existence to its creator, the poet Kampana, who blesses seeds and gives them to the cowherd brothers. If they planted them in a particular spot, she told them, a city would rise instantly from the ground. When her prophecy comes true, she breathes life into the city by whispering stories into people’s ears, imbuing the new place with history. Kampana envisions a society founded on the principles of religious tolerance and equality among the sexes, but is driven into exile, and eventually sees her empire conquered.
Early reviews of the novel have been largely admiring. Kirkus praised it as “a grand entertainment, in a tale with many strands, by an ascended master of modern legends.” A critic writing in The Times of London called it “one of Rushdie’s most joyful” books, noting that “the sheer pleasure he took in writing it bounces off the page.” A review by The Times is upcoming.
Erica Wagner, an author and critic who moderated an event in Rushdie’s honor that will air on Feb. 9 to mark the publication of the book, said the novel is “a testament to the power of storytelling and the power of words and narrative, for good and ill.”
Some of Rushdie’s friends lamented that Rushdie — who is famously gregarious and extroverted and relishes the limelight — has been forced into isolation at what should be a celebratory moment.
Margaret Atwood, who took part in the panel about “Victory City” along with Wagner and the author Neil Gaiman, said she felt an obligation to speak about Rushdie’s latest work, given that he was not in a position to appear publicly himself.
“You have to, as it were, foil the attempt to shut him down,” Atwood said.
“He’s been through so much, being in hiding for all those years, feeling under threat of death,” she added. “He is, above all, a story teller.”
