ARTISTIC ‘FURY’ IN THE INFORMATION AGE

Abstract

This article illustrates how a contemporary novel engages with the idea of the disappearance of the real and Baudrillard's fourth order of simulacra, the fractal. Salman Rushdie's Fury (2001) depicts the sense of dislocation experienced by individuals living within the culture gap produced by the disorienting speed of technological change. The defining location of the tale is the world of information, a recuperation of an infinity of recycled narratives which have replaced spontaneity. The novel's nostalgia, not so much for realism as for the real emotion expressed in its title, is a surgical strike against this universe of simulacra while also being complicit with it, as its post-realist aesthetics suggest. Its ‘fury’ conceit is a performative gesture towards filling the void and its metatextual awareness an ironic judgement on the American Dream, fuelled by the flows of fast capitalism. Thanks to an enlightened self-consciousness, it shows how literature can provide a corrective to the immanence of the information order from within, by revealing its dangers and gesturing towards another dimension.

Keywords:

• Baudrillard
• fractal
• information age
• Rushdie
• simulacra