But Rushdie's relationship with English as a writer, even as a critic of the former British Empire, is far more complex. In Salman Rushdie's text "English is an Indian literary language," Rushdie states that the output of literature in English by Indian writers is more interesting and vital than those produced in India's native languages. Through creativity and dialogue with the oppressor, a great literature has been generated. India's original languages were vast in number but parochial. Ironically, English has proved to be a unifying force for Indians, even if one of the unifying ideologies for Indian writers in English is their attempt to create a new, national literature that is distinct from the British.

This phenomenon is not new, of course. Great Irish writers also used the English language that was imposed upon them to create great works of literature. Even if the ideology that resulted in the imposition...
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