Abstract

I address the continuing concern with fear in Salman Rushdie’s children’s narratives, Haroun and the Sea of Stories (1990) and Luka and the Fire of Life (2010). Rushdie’s attempt to understand his deepening fears is rooted in the precariousness of filial relationships. This becomes the occasion for a philosophical acceptance of life’s processes and marks the growing maturity of both the father and the son. Placing the treatment of the theme in the tradition of storytelling, of the fairy tale, and the cautionary narrative, I highlight how the particular choice of writing for children is both a means of examining these fears and the identification of a safe house for creativity.

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