Schema Disruption in the Re-writing of History: Salman Rushdie's East, West

Abstract

Salman RusMie is well-known for his spectacular new versions of history, both Indian and world history. As he re-writes the events, exploring the contentious fault-lines of cultural debate, he uses an approach that involves inserting the innovative or unexpected into the familiar. In this study, we show how the familiar schema of KINGSHIP is dismpted by its interrelation with other schemata like SALESMANSHIP, LOVE and CHIVALRY, in the stop "Christopher Columbus and Queen Isabella of Spain Consummate Their Relationship (Santa Fé, AD 1492)'' in RusMie's 1995 collection of short stories, "East, West". Through application of Guy Cook's theory which is based upon a combination of discourse analysis, schema theory and literary theory, we can point to the instances in the text where the norms contained in the schemata, which encapsulate the reader's expectations once t h q have been triggered, are questioned by discourse deviation and schema refreshment. Here, Christopher Columbus is presented as a salesman tying to sell his product, or a medieval knight fighting for his lady. The formal discourse of the narration and of the concept of chivalry is also dismpted by an informal discourse proper to travelling salesmen. Thus the historic and momentous meets the quotidian.