On the fringes of schizophrenia: Salman Rushdie's Midnight's children

This thesis examines the multivalent use of schizophrenia as a literary trope in Salman Rushdie' s Midnights Children in two ways: through descriptions of character embodiment and psychology and through the paradoxical relationship between magical realism and magical thinking. Rushdie's exterior illustrations and interior representations of schizophrenia are explored using theories of embodiment and disability typologies of representation in showing the prevalence and purpose (as well as the unintended effects) of representations of schizophrenia in this text. Key words: schizophrenia embodiment magical realism magical thinking unintended effects disability typologie