Hanif Kureishi, The Black Album

Bart Moore-Gilbert (Goldsmiths College, University of London)
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In

The Black Album

(1995), his second novel, Hanif Kureishi revisits territory familiar from his film-script,

My Beautiful Laundrette

, and his first novel,

The Buddha of Suburbia

. It is another

bildungsroman

, following the affective and cultural-political development of a young British-Asian who has moved to London from Kent for further education. Like

Laundrette

, it examines the 'state of the nation' during the Thatcher years, focusing particularly on relations between the races and the predicament of British youth. More specifically, it engages with the controversies surrounding the imposition of the

fatwa

on Salman Rushdie in 1989. Like

The Buddha

,

The Black Album

is much preoccupied by popular culture, and pop music more specifically. Indeed, the novel takes its title from an album by…

927 words

Citation: Moore-Gilbert, Bart. "The Black Album". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 June 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=1448, accessed 29 March 2024.]

1448 The Black Album 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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