The Enchantress of Florence
April 30th 2009 06:02
The stranger reveals why all traces of his supposed mother was struck from the royal records and tells how her adventures led her to enchant the city of Florence, even as her unfolding tale captivates the citizens of Sikri.
As Akbar mulls over whether the young stranger’s tale is truth or fabrication, the exotic worlds in history are brought back to life. Salman Rushdie has injected a fascinating plot with his research* into life in renaissance Italy, the history of the Mughals and Ottoman Turks, including magic, witchcraft, folklore and sex. One can discover that the gardeners of the Ottoman Sultan were also his official executioners and meet grown men that believed in the love-inducing powers of mandrake roots with Qara Koz, and enter Akbar’s harem and be accorded the same privileges as the emperor with Mogor.
While this world of superstition, miracles and sorcery can be wonderfully surreal, the political intrigues and spies, the struggles over religion, the friendships and rivalries, the obligations to family and country are compellingly familiar. This is also a world where the fortunes of the weak are ever at the whim of the powerful; where a servant fallen from favour is married to a brothel; a stowaway child is forced to be a decoy in a sea battle; and where the mind of a slave is usurped to be a memory palace for the embellished exploits of a general.
Rushdie’s versions of historical figures and his own fictional characters are debauched, jealous creatures, petty and crass, but as with all humanity, the characters are also capable of great sacrifice, love, reasoning, humour and creativity.
Of particular interest is Queen Jodha, Akbar’s perfect wife and lover who is dreamed up by the emperor. Jodha is unlike any imaginary character I have come across as Rushdie briefly tells the tale from her perspective. More delightful still is that Jodha, the perfect queen, fails to understand or satisfy her maker.
It is at the introduction of Jodha that it becomes apparent that The Enchantress of Florence comes from a time “before the real and unreal were segregated for ever and doomed to live apart under different monarchs and separate legal systems”. This is a beautifully written tale that deftly blends history and fantasy, and it is ultimately an entertaining piece of fiction.
The Enchantress of Florence
by Salman Rushdie
Jonathan Cape 2008
* The novel includes a six-page bibliography.
** The main image on the front cover shows a girl in the act of receiving her lover in a Mughal Palace, and on the bottom left corner, attendants rescue a fallen man from an enraged elephant.
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