Salman Rushdie is one of the most widely discussed of contemporary writers; also, one whose work has provoked disagreement and controversy--not least in the far-reaching 'Rushdie affair.' This study seeks to provide a balanced view by approaching Rushdie's fiction in terms of its dual responsibility to the 'found' world of historical circumstance and the 'made' world of the imagination. The novels are seen as characteristic texts for our times, negotiating between different (often conflicting) cultures, dissonant discourses, heterogeneous literary conventions, incommensurable conceptions of truth. The new edition considers the shifts in perspective observable in Rushdie's more recent fiction, adjustments to this creative negotiation which reflect changes in the author's understanding of the world in the new millennium.