The novel “Shame” is a kind of prelude to the famous “Satanic Verses,” the book that forced Salman Rushdie for many years to live under threat of death and to hide. “Shame” also includes a mythological interpretation of reality and an allusion to events of recent history. The writer’s imagination runs wild—epochs, events, fates, people, beasts, gods, monsters all churn in it. This book is an epic phantasmagoria where a fairy tale, a black comedy, and high tragedy coexist.