Grimus

Grimus by Salman Rushdie is his first novel — a wildly ambitious, formally experimental fantasy published in 1975, before Midnight’s Children made him famous. The story of Flapping Eagle, an immortal Native American, his journey to an island populated by exiles from all times and places, and the strange cosmic forces that govern their existence, Grimus draws on Sufi philosophy, science fiction, and allegorical fiction in ways that anticipate the vast imaginative synthesis of Rushdie’s later work. Less polished than his mature novels but fascinating for what it reveals about the development of his literary imagination, Grimus is essential for serious Rushdie readers and rewarding for anyone interested in the beginnings of careers that shaped contemporary literature. Published by Vintage.