This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to examine the intellectual basis of Salman Rushdie's politicised aesthetic in detail. It is worth noting from the outset, however, that one of the characteristic features of Rushdie's writing is its self-consciousness, and its willingness to incorporate an analysis of the cultural locations from which it is written. The result of this is that the criticisms which can be (and have been) made of Rushdie as a writer are frequently anticipated, if not entirely defused or ‘answered’, in his own writing – a fact that makes any simplistic judgements about his political locations difficult.