Ghostly Thinking and Fictional Dwelling: Heidegger's Philosophy of Nature and Rushdie's The Satanic Verses

This article analyzes the connections between ghost fantasy and the meditation on dwelling in Salman Rushdie's 1988 novel The Satanic Verses, which explores migration and human intimacy with the natural environment. I argue that the novel helps clarify and develop Martin Heidegger's philosophy of nature, which associates thinking and dwelling with the ghostly. As a communicative device, fictionality plays an important role in both writers' exploration of the rootless condition of modern society, influencing their understanding of essence, truth, and value. I contend that a conversation between Heidegger and Rushdie discloses how contemporary literary fiction can contribute to a dynamic interpretation of the human-nature relationship, which embraces mystery and challenges mechanistic theoretical frameworks.