Reading mixed reception: the case of 'The Satanic Verses'.

In this article, the authors highlight questions of meaning in the public sphere raised in a cautionary way by publication of and responses to Salman Rushdie’s 1988 novel 'The Satanic Verses'. Especially pronounced in the controversy surrounding the novel were wider issues concerning how social institutions should comprehend divergent responses to texts made by different cultural groups within a multicultural society, as well as by different readerships in an increasingly globalised media environment. While obviously less incendiary in cases other than that of 'The Satanic Verses', corresponding questions may be asked about many novels, films, exhibitions and cultural artefacts. The article relates disputes concerned with 'mixed reception' to approaches in literary and cultural study developed to investigate general issues of meaning and value.