Enabling spaces and the architecture of hybridity in Salman Rushdie’s The Enchantress of Florence

Abstract

This article analyses how Rushdie represents the relationship between cultural hybridity and the spaces that enable such hybridity to flourish. One of its central arguments is that elements of Mughal architecture and Mughal aesthetics, in particular those exemplified by the palace complex at Fatehpur Sikri, are mirrored in the narrative style and structure of the novel The Enchantress of Florence. It contextualizes Rushdie’s representations of the Mughal ruler Akbar and his reign in nationalist historiography in order to show how these spatial models provide Rushdie with a means of exploring a form of hybridity which is distinct from the unruly hybridity he has championed in earlier novels. Its final section explores the gendered aspects of spatial design in The Enchantress of Florence, in particular the creation of an enabling space by the female protagonist Qara Köz.