ARTFEED — Contemporary Art Intelligence

Salman Rushdie's 'Fury' Examines Modern Schizophrenia and Violence

opinion-review · 2026-04-23

In a review published in artpress, Olivier Renault analyzes Salman Rushdie's novel 'Fury' (Furie), exploring its themes of rage, possession, and societal breakdown. The novel is set in early third-millennium New York, a city of opulence that 'insults' the world. Rushdie weaves together serial killers, religious barbarism, corporate schizophrenia, and pedophilia, depicting lives where individuals no longer own their existence or bodies. Renault highlights the double war in the novel: history against amnesia, and numbers against words. The review emphasizes the loss of the language of the heart and the crushing of dreams in a nation founded on the right to dream. Rushdie's work is praised for its intelligence and sensitivity, capturing the music of Eros and the laments of broken lives amid technological noise.

Key facts

  • Salman Rushdie's novel 'Fury' is reviewed by Olivier Renault in artpress.
  • The novel is set in early third-millennium New York.
  • Themes include serial killers, religious barbarism, corporate schizophrenia, and pedophilia.
  • Rushdie explores the loss of the language of the heart and the crushing of dreams.
  • The review describes a double war: history against amnesia, and numbers against words.
  • New York's opulence is described as insulting the world.
  • The novel depicts individuals who no longer own their existence or bodies.
  • Rushdie's work is praised for its intelligence and sensitivity.

Entities

Artists

  • Salman Rushdie
  • Olivier Renault

Institutions

  • artpress

Locations

  • New York

Sources