Story as a Mode of Human Survival and Expression

Throughout all 38 essays in the collection, the author considers story as a mode of human survival and expression. Over the course of these essays, Rushdie repeatedly re-contextualizes this thematic notion in a range of forms and styles, thus revealing the multivalent nature of story itself, and its multiplicity of spiritual and political possibilities. He introduces these ideas in his opening essay, “Wonder Tales,” in which he considers the inception of story and the importance of imagination in young and old minds alike. The essay begins with the lines: “Before there were books, there were stories. At first the stories weren’t written down. Sometimes they were even sung. Children were born, and before they could speak, their parents sang them songs . . . As the children grew older, they asked for stories almost as often as they asked for food” (3). Adopting the...