New Yorker Fiction Review #263: "The Old Man in the Piazza" by Salman Rushdie


Review of the short story from the Nov. 23, 2020 issue of The New Yorker...

My experience with the fiction of Salman Rushdie includes all of (now) two short stories in The New Yorker, the other one from way back in 2015 called "The Duniazat," which I loved little more than I loved "The Old Man in the Piazza." That said, this current effort met with my approval, which I am sure Salman Rushdie is relieved to hear.

Salman Rushdie seems to write in "fables" which -- unlike Aesop's fables (the only other fables I really know about (are there any others?)) -- are not readily translated into some easy, spoon-feedable meaning like "careful what you wish for!" or whatever. No, Salman Rushdie's fables are much more nuanced and encompass a much broader sweep of humanity. Furthermore, thankfully, they do not seem to put a value judgement or some kind of prescription on human behavior. Rather, like "The Old Man in the Piazza," they come from a high-off perch, and the wise, thoughtful gaze of someone who has studied the literature and history of the human race, and been around to experience about 75-odd years of it -- even been a major contributor to it -- and is offering his perspective. 

To try and encapsulate the "plot" of "The Old Man in the Piazza" would take too much time and be more confusing than it would be worth. There really is no plot anyway. It's a humorous fable, or even perhaps a myth, that could take place anywhere and describe the arc of linguistic-dialectic evolution of just about any society. It is not actually about an old man in a piazza, the way The Old Man and the Sea is actually about an old man and the sea. The story is anything but literal. 

If you're interested enough at this point, I would say, just read it. The meaning might not be apparent right away (or maybe it will), but Salman Rushdie has a way to make these kinds of fables contemporary and fun without making them cutesy or too tongue in cheek. 


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