 | |
| Author | Salman Rushdie |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Literary Fiction/ Science Fiction & Fantasy |
| Publisher | Random House |
Publication date | 7 February 2023 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 352 |
| ISBN | 9780593243398 |
| OCLC | 1317339930 |
| Preceded by | Quichotte |
Victory City is a novel by Salman Rushdie published in February 2023. It is Rushdie's fifteenth novel.
Ahead of publication, it was announced that due to the attack on Rushdie in 2022, he would not be promoting the novel in public, though he did publish several tweets and speak to The New Yorker and WNYC Studios about it. [1] The novel was finished before Rushdie was attacked. [2] [3] [4] The writer's 15th novel was commemorated with a virtual launch hosted by Margaret Atwood and Neil Gaiman. [5]
Victory City is framed as a fictional translation of an epic originally written in Sanskrit. [1] The focaliser and protagonist is Pampa Kampana, partly inspired by the historical, fourteenth-century princess-poet Gangadevi, who is given (or cursed with) a 247-year lifespan. Through her magical powers, she wills into existence the empire Bisnaga, and its capital city of the same name, inspired largely by the historical fourteenth- to sixteenth-century Empire of Vijayanagara, and rules it as what one review calls "a sort of feminist utopia", variously as a minister, regent, and queen consort, for over two hundred years. Covering multiple generations, her reign includes having affairs with Portuguese adventurers and turning people into animals with her spells. Eventually, Bisnaga is brought down by political intrigue, competing neighbours, and religious bigotry. [6]
At age nine, Pampa Kampana's mother and all the women of her village self-immolate following their husbands' death in battle. Following the tragedy a goddess, also called Pampa Kampana, enters Pampa’s body granting supernatural abilities such as foresight and sorcery along with a prolonged life span. Soon after, she takes refuge in a cave with a holy man and is later visited by the brothers Hukka and Bukka Sangama, cowherds turned soldiers, who were on the run after escaping slavery.
Pampa gives the brothers a bag of seeds, and instructs them to sow these at the site of her old village. The brothers do so and soon a "miracle city" full of lavish palaces and temples along with people sprouts from the earth. Hukka and Bukka crown themselves the first kings of the city and Pampa arrives to whisper memories into the people born from her seeds. Pampa married them each in turn, though her true love was a Portuguese horse trader who gives the magic city its name, Bisnaga.
Pampa first bears three girls and later sons. During the reign of her second husband, Bukka, she requests that her daughters have the right to the throne, going against the norm of male heirs being the sole inheritors. As an avid advocate for gender equality Pampa views this change as necessary to upholding the values of the kingdom. This request is met with much conflict but eventually Bukka agrees and later sends their sons into exile for their insolence.
Some years later, following the death of Bukka, the sons return to Bisnaga and seize control of the kingdom with the help of their uncles. Pampa and her three daughters are forced to flee into a magical forest where they shelter for several decades. The three daughters eventually grow in separate directions and Pampa returns to Bisnaga. With the passing of time she has been relegated to legend and is free to move about the city freely. Eventually, through the assistance of friends, she makes her way into the inner circle of the latest monarch, Krishnadevaraya, of the city and becomes his advisor.
Following a string of wars and unfortunate deaths, the latest king goes mad and Pampa, caught in one of his rages, is forcefully blinded with an iron-rod. The residents of the city become outraged at this betrayal and turn against their king. Pampa once again takes up refuge with a holy man and finally beginning to feel her age, lives out her days confined in her room.
The kingdom degrades into its final stages following Krishnadevaraya's death, and after the final monarch's death in battle Bisnaga is ransacked and destroyed. The novel ends with Pampa burying her written history in a pot and waiting for the Goddess to release her so that she may die.
According to Book Marks, the book received "positive" reviews based on thirty-three critic reviews with twenty-one being "rave" and six being "positive" and two being "mixed" and four being "pan". [7] On Bookmarks May/June 2023 issue, a magazine that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received a 
(4.0 out of 5) based on critic reviews with a critical summary saying, "Personal experiences aside, the novel is both action packed and introspective, a "triumphant scream against censorship as well as a celebration of language, storytelling, and otherness" (Boston Globe)". [8] [9]
The Harvard Crimson Review hailed the book as a masterclass in foreshadowing and character development, further adding that "Victory City is a bold confrontation of religion, history and tradition interwoven with a contemporary critique of our world." [10]
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Western civilizations, typically set on the Indian subcontinent. Rushdie's second novel, Midnight's Children (1981), won the Booker Prize in 1981 and was deemed to be "the best novel of all winners" on two occasions, marking the 25th and the 40th anniversary of the prize.
The Vijayanagara Empire was a late medieval Hindu empire that ruled much of southern India. It was established in 1336 by the brothers Harihara I and Bukka Raya I of the Sangama dynasty, members of a pastoralist cowherd community that claimed Yadava lineage.
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BukkaRaya I was an emperor of the Vijayanagara Empire from the Sangama Dynasty. He was a son of Bhavana Sangama, claimed by Harihara II to be of Yadava lineage. The first Bahmani-Vijayanagar War occurred during the reign of Bukka Raya I, in which he was besieged, and sued for peace.
Harihara I, also called Hakka and Vira Harihara I, was the founder of the Vijayanagara Empire, in present-day Karnataka, India, which he ruled from 1336 to 1356 CE. He and his successors formed the Sangama dynasty, the first of four dynasties to rule the empire. He was the eldest son of Bhavana Sangama.
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