It has been two years since the last attempt on Salman Rushdie’s life, and the years have proven to be healing for the British-American novelist.
Revered in the literary world, Rushdie is well-known for his works melding magic realism and historical fiction. The recipient of three Booker prizes, Rushdie had written three books before he released his most controversial book to date, The Satanic Verses.
Inspired by the life of Islamic prophet Muhammad, the book deals with themes of identity and religion, at times critical of Islam, with a title taken from the Quranic verses about three Meccan goddesses. Although lauded for its prose, its depiction of figures in Islam caused the book to be considered blasphemous. Its publication meant the start of a hate campaign against Rushdie, as he became the victim of frequent assassination attempts and death threats, which were only aggravated with the issuing of a fatwa calling for his death. A fatwa is a ruling on a point of Islamic law issued by a governing authority; in this case, Ruhollah Khomeini, the supreme leader of Iran. The harassment even affected authors connected to Rushdie, such as Japanese author Hitoshi Igarashi, whose attack resulted in his death.
The novelist lived as a fugitive in London under police protection for many years, before he settled in New York, where, on the 12th of August 2022, he was stabbed while delivering a lecture, causing the loss of sight in one eye and the use of one hand.
Despite this, the author lives his life uncowed. In an interview, he expressed the importance of normalcy when first settling in New York: “The only way I can stop that is to behave as if I’m not scared.” He continued to have a social and public life, even playing himself in an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, where he mocked the threats and promoted the upcoming production ‘Fatwa! The Musical’.
He has enjoyed his fair share of success since the attack. In 2015, he was named a Distinguished Writer in Residence at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute of New York University, and has published a memoir about his life since the controversy following The Satanic Verses.
Now 75, he seems to have truly left his tumultuous past behind. In his latest interview, he discusses his upcoming novel, Victory City, about a girl in a fantastical fourteenth-century southern India who becomes a vessel for a goddess. He describes feeling lucky and grateful, his uncowed attitude unbroken: “I (have) come to feel that it was a very long time ago, and that the world moves on.”
Words by Catarina Vicente
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