''Luka and the Fire of Life'' is a novel by
Salman Rushdie
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Wes ...
. It was published by
Jonathan Cape
Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960.
Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the publishing house in 1921. They established a reputation ...
(UK) and
Random House
Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...
(US) in 2010. It is the sequel to ''
Haroun and the Sea of Stories''. Rushdie has said "he turned to the world of video games for inspiration" and that "he wrote the book for his 13-year-old son".
Summary
The book opens with protagonist Luka and his father Rashid walking home from Luka's school in the fictional city of Kahani in the land of Alifbay. They pass the Great Rings of Fire circus, where, upon seeing the pitiful state of the animals, Luka yells: "May your animals stop obeying your commands and your rings of fire eat up your stupid tent". (Rushdie 6) Later that day, the animals revolt and the rings of fire consume the tents; and Dog and Bear (a bear and a dog respectively), two animals from the circus, become Luka's faithful pets. (Rushdie 4) One month afterward, Rashid enters a coma, attributed to a curse placed by antagonist 'Captain Aag'. Thereafter, Luka travels through the 'World of Magic' imagined by his father, guided by a phantom-like creature nicknamed 'Nobodaddy', representing Rashid's imminent death. Bear is identified as Barak of the it-Barak (a set of immortal dog-men), turned into a dog by a Chinese curse; and Dog as the monarch of a northern land, transformed by an
ogre. All four seek the eponymous 'Fire of Life' to revive Rashid. At the River of Time, which they must follow to find the Fire, they are attacked by the Old Man of the River, who kills Luka. Once revived, Luka realizes that this world will revive him continually until he achieves his purpose, or exceeds his chances of doing so. Luka eventually bests the Old Man in a game of riddles. The protagonists then find a boat but are soon capsized and thereafter carried upriver by the Elephant Ducks: "a pair of absurd creatures with duck-like bodies and large elephant heads" (Rushdie 66).
Later, the group stops at the Respectorate of I, a city ruled by rats insisting on
cultural relativism
Cultural relativism is the idea that a person's beliefs and practices should be understood based on that person's own culture. Proponents of cultural relativism also tend to argue that the norms and values of one culture should not be evaluated ...
. In leaving this city, Luka accidentally insults the Respectorate's national song but is rescued by the Insultana of Ott (Rushdie 78), whom Luka identifies by his mother's name of Soraya. Accompanied by her, Luka and his companions ride her
flying carpet through the Mists of Time and the Great Stagnation. The elephant birds help through the Trillion and One Forking Paths, where the true River of Time is disguised among duplicates. Afterward, they are temporarily detained by the Great Rings of Fire, which Dog and Bear identify as the handiwork of Captain Aag. When Bear and Dog disable this, Aag appears beside Nuthog, a shape-changer in the form of a
dragon
A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...
, but the latter betrays Aag when Soraya frees Nuthog's three sisters. Accompanied by these, the protagonist eludes the gods of various mythologies to obtain the Fire of Life. Trickster-spirit 'Coyote' thereafter distracts the gods while Luka captures the Fire of Life and later persuades the gods to permit his possession thereof. Returning to the human world, they are joined by
Prometheus, who assists them past the Mists of Time. They are then captured in the cloud fortress of Baddal-Garh, now under the control of the antagonist 'Aalim' and Nobodaddy, who has betrayed Luka to complete his task of killing Rashid. Prometheus then hurls Nobodaddy into
outer space
Outer space, commonly shortened to space, is the expanse that exists beyond Earth and its atmosphere and between celestial bodies. Outer space is not completely empty—it is a near-perfect vacuum containing a low density of particles, pred ...
. When the Aalim cause everyone but Luka, Dog, Bear, and Prometheus to collapse in pain, Luka curses the Aalim and the gods destroy the fortress. Luka and his companions continue toward Rashid, the gods defending them from the deadly 'Rain Cats'. Luka revives Rashid, and Bear, challenged by Nobodaddy, sacrifices his own immortality for Rashid's life. The story concludes with the Fire's concealment by Luka's mother, after a celebration by the family.
Characters
* Luka Khalifa, the protagonist of the book, is a twelve-year-old left-handed boy, who goes on a quest to save his dying father. He shows courage throughout the book and has the ability to curse his enemies, such as cursing Captain Aag, which causes his animals to revolt and his tents to burn down.
* Bear, the singing dog, a chocolate Labrador. Identified as Barak of the It-Barak, the immortals changed into dogs by a Chinese curse. Along with Dog he is Luka's faithful protector and pet. Eventually, he sacrifices his immortality to destroy Nobodaddy.
* Dog, the dancing bear, is a mortal bear and Luka's constant companion.
* Nobodaddy is a phantom brought into being to consume Rashid Khalifa. He joins Luka initially to steal the Fire of Life; but betrays him to the Aalim and is thrown into space by Prometheus. He later consumes the immortality of Bear, in exchange for Rashid's life.
* Soraya is the Insultana of Ott, a girl with green eyes and red hair, who assists Luka through the World of Magic, as upon the
flying carpet ''Resham'' of
King Solomon
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
. Although cantankerous, she often shows a sisterly affection to Luka.
* The Aalim, the Ultimate Guardians of the Fire, who rule over the World of Magic and appear as cloaked, faceless figures whose mere voices cause agonising pain to magical beings. In the end, Luka leads the revolt that topples them from power.
* Captain Aag, the owner of the Great Rings of Fire circus, identified as "Menetius... once the Titan of Rage" (Rushdie 123). Antagonist throughout the story, he is often associated with flames and anger. He curses Luka's father, Rashid, to sleep forever.
* Prometheus, the brother of Aag, subjected to torment by the Aalim. Upon release, he helps Luka leave the World of Magic to save his father.
* Coyote, a figure of Native American legend, who distracts the Gods to help give Luka his chance to steal the Fire.
* Haroun Khalifa, Luka's older brother and protagonist of ''
Haroun and the Sea of Stories''. He is often kind to Luka.
* Rashid Khalifa, Luka's father who is cursed by Captain Aag to go to sleep forever.
* Soraya Khalifa, Luka's mother.
* Ratshit, classmate of Luka.
Reception
Although intended for young adult readers, Rushdie's novel, according to the ''School Library Journal'', "appeals to all ages". The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'' criticised the book, calling it "a hodgepodge of what Mr. Rushdie hopes are clever references to mythology, folklore and popular culture" and adding that it is an "assembly-line story welded together from parts of this and that".
The novel inspired a university animation competition in 2010. ''Design Week'' explained: "Sir Salman Rushdie’s new children’s novel, ''Luka and the Fire of Life'', will be brought to life through the animations of four Kingston University students. Rushdie was part of a judging panel which invited ten students from the faculty of art, design and architecture to present ideas for the book". The successful animations were to appear on YouTube and the Random House website.
[Tom Banks]
"A Novel Project"
''Design Week'' Blog, 29 November 2010. Retrieved 26 March 2012.
References
Bibliography
Rushdie, Salman. ''Luka and the Fire of Life.'' New York: Random House, 2010. Print.
External links
''Luka and the Fire of Life'' on Google Books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luka And The Fire Of Life
Novels by Salman Rushdie
2010 British novels
Children's fantasy novels
British children's novels
Metafictional novels
British magic realism novels
Jonathan Cape books
2010 children's books
Indian diaspora in fiction