Salman Rushdie, Quichotte

Catherine Pesso-Miquel (Université Lyon II)

Ed. by Cristina Sandru, The Literary Encyclopedia
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 10.3.5: South Asian Diasporic Literature and Culture, 1800-present.
Vol. editors: Claire Gallien (Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3), Pavan Kumar Malreddy (J W Goethe University of Frankfurt), Delphine Munos (Université de Liège), Muneeza Shamsie (Independent Scholar - Asia), Niaz Zaman (Independent University Bangladesh)

Dates

First circulation or publication Aug 2019

Places

United States (Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

Summary

The eponymous character in the novel is an American of Indian origin, in his seventies, called Ismail Smile, who works as a sales executive for his cousin, the owner of Smile Pharmaceuticals Inc. He spends his days on the road, selling opioid pain-management drugs, and his nights in tawdry motels where he absorbs overdoses of junk television and becomes besotted with a beautiful talk show host of Indian origin, forty-years his junior, called Miss Salma R. When his cousin fires him, it affects him little, as he is now intent only on meeting the object of his love. Under the pseudonym of “Quichotte”, he leaves Arizona and starts off on a quest leading to New York City, where Salma R resides. T…

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3080 words

Citation: Pesso-Miquel, Catherine. "Quichotte". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 11 May 2020 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=38992, accessed 22 November 2024.]

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