Translation, Migration and Diaspora in Salman Rushdie's Fiction

The essay takes into account Rushdie's theoretical and fictional reflections on migration, starting from his pronouncements in the early Eighties (to be found in the collection "Imaginary Homelands"), arguing how migrant narration becomes a fiction of individuation and self-definition. in his work. Rushdie's original ideas on this matter are used to show how, in his fiction, migration always implies metamorphosis: and metamorphosis involves the risk of losing one's identity. Whilst the migrant does not recognize him/herself in his/her new image, the people around him/her do not accept his/her otherness. Therefore s/he is compelled to look at his/her reality throough a continuous oscillation between reality and dream. A large section of the essay is devoted to the meaning of the term "translation" and its being used by Rushdie as a synonym of "metaphor", which leads to the idea of the migrant as a "translated man" and "metaphorical being".