Haroun and the Sea of Stories

Written by Salman Rushdie, this is a story that seems to appeal to all ages. The protagonist is Haroun Khalifa. He lives in a country called Alifbay, in a very sad city, so sad in fact that people have forgotten the real name of the city because of their overwhelming sadness: "There was once, in the country of Alifbay, a sad city, the saddest of cities, a city so ruinously sad that it had forgotten its name. It stood by a mournful sea full of glum fish, which were so miserable to eat that they made people belch with melancholy even though the skies were blue.

In the north of the sad city stood mighty factories in which (so I'm told) sadness was actually manufactured, packaged, and sent all over the world, which never seemed to get enough of it. Black smoke poured out of the chimneys of the sadness factories and hung over the city like bad news."

Rashid, father of Haroun, is unexpectedly, uncommonly happy, as compared to the rest of the city’s inhabitants. His job is to make up funny, cheerful stories that everybody loves. Because of the great number of stories he knows and because of the amazing style of his telling them, he is also called the "Ocean of Notions" or the "Shah of Blah."

One unfortunate day, Rashid simply loses his gift of telling brilliant stories. Trying desperately to save his father from this great misfortune, Haroun reaches earth’s second moon called Kahani, which is hidden to common people through a P2C2E - a "Process Too Complicated To Explain." The Ocean of the Streams of Story is to be found on this new moon, which is in fact the main source of stories for all storytellers who have made a previous subscription through the same P2C2E. The process manager is the Walrus, "Grand Comptroller of Ghup", which is a land where the sun never sleeps.

The dark and silent land of Chup, on the other side, is led by the evil and dictatorial figure of Khattam-Shud. This one is determined to pollute the Ocean of the Streams of Story, in order to put an end to all the storytelling in the world and establish an empire of bleak darkness and all-encompassing silence. So Haroun, his father and some other strange, funny characters like Iff, the Water Genie; Butt the Hoopoe; Mali, the Floating Gardener, set on an adventurous journey to save the magic Ocean.

Haroun and the Sea of Stories is in fact the very first book that Rushdie wrote and made public before his hiding from the Iranian authorities who wanted to execute Rushdie for his "Satanic Verses", considered "blasphemous against Islam." So the character of Khattam-Shud stands for the oppressive, fundamentalist mentalities that aimed against free expression and independent thought.

At first glance, "Haroun and the Sea of Stories" seems to be no more but a very intense, creative and humorous story, which appears in fact to be a modern version of the charming Arabian Nights. It is based on the common, classic tale pattern in which the main character travels through the world, reaching fantastic worlds, to save his own country or find a cure for one of his loved ones. On his way, he encounters all sorts of fantastic characters endowed with magic powers, who can help him succeed in his mission, and he has to face a supernatural evil character.

The sadness due to lack of freedom of speech, which is the central idea of the novel, is in parallel relation with the sadness of the country. In fact, the name of the country, "Alifbay" reminds of the Hindustani word "alphabet". Most of the names in the book come from the Hindustani language, and there is a relevant glossary at the end of the book. Sorrow caused one of the characters in this book, namely Rashid, to forget his name and lose his speaking skills. Rushdie was forced to "forget" his country, where he was no longer allowed to speak, and he also went under many fake names and identities to escape the Iranian authorities. He had to hide himself in plenty of "sad cities" after publishing his too good stories.