Salman Rushdie Is Not Who You Think He Is
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- Опубліковано 25 кві 2024
- Salman Rushdie’s 1988 novel, “The Satanic Verses (www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo...) ,” made him the target of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who denounced the book as blasphemous and issued a fatwa calling for his assassination. Rushdie spent years trying to escape the shadow the fatwa cast on him, and for some time, he thought he succeeded. But in 2022, an assailant attacked him onstage at a speaking engagement in western New York and nearly killed him.
“I think now I’ll never be able to escape it. No matter what I’ve already written or may now write, I’ll always be the guy who got knifed,” he writes in his new memoir, “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder (www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo...) .”
In this conversation, I asked Rushdie to reflect on his desire to escape the fatwa; the gap between the reputation of his novels and their actual merits; how his “shadow selves” became more real to millions than he was; how many of us in the internet age also have to contend with our many shadow selves; what Rushdie lives for now; and more.
Mentioned:
Midnight’s Children (www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo...) by Salman Rushdie
Book Recommendations:
Don Quixote (www.harpercollins.com/product...) by Miguel de Cervantes, translated by Edith Grossman
One Hundred Years of Solitude (www.google.com/books/edition/...) by Gabriel García Márquez
The Trial (www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7849) by Franz Kafka
The Castle (www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo...) by Franz Kafka
Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.
You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast (www.nytimes.com/column/ezra-k...) . Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-... (www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-...) .
This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Annie Galvin. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Isaac Jones. Our senior editor is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Rollin Hu, Kristin Lin and Aman Sahota. Original music by Isaac Jones. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. And special thanks to Sonia Herrero and Mrinalini Chakravorty.
Thank you for this interview. Thank you for sharing his humanity. I wish him continued, full recovery.
Mr.Rushdie is a great writer, his books are full of characters who have great pathos and inadvertent humor. I read Satanic Verses when all the controversy was swirling and as he said in this interview, found it not to be at all what it was represented to be. It seemed to be a great story that explained the mutability of the self when native ties to culture are disrupted. As an author he is thoughtful and thought provoking but I never found his work to be difficult or dark. Many of his characters are warm, wistful, and entertaining… which is what I look forward to in a book.
So sorry for what he endured but so glad he has come back to make us think again.
Great interview!! Thank you!!!
great and thoughtful Podcast...thank you Ezra...bb
Great interview!
Superb meeting of minds, that help me see my way through the morass. That's clarity, moral stance with perspective about the self and shadow.
Never forget all of the "journalists" and writers including those at the NYT/Penn America who signed a letter condemning Rushdie. A generational disgrace.
Islamic extremism has a strong hold on media influence. See what is being embraced today.
Did they? 😮
Point taken: the LeCarre and Carter anecdotes were particularly upsetting for myself. I find it better to focus on the courageous actions more than inaction or cowardice though. Reckon its unfair to aks anyone to volunteer for the duress imparted on Rushdie, and distancing oneself from it only emphasizes the heroism of the writer. That said, ima object to your characterization of said distancing as a generational disgrace. Itsa dickmove fo sho, but its not turning our media/collective backs on Rwanda or fronting on Iraq. Not trying to get overly semantic, but pumping quotations around ‘journalists’ seemingly editorializes all the way up and over the other side homie.
Which letter was this I can't find any info?
@@nickflynn666 bloody hell, i totally took for granted that nobody would manufacture such a demonstrable falsehood. Ran right through @nextinstitute7824’s stop sign (good lookin out) and responded under the presumption that it happened. Hope i didnt assist in bigupping a falsehood - way to be the diggingest dawg, and great handle too - bigup to you!🙏🏽
I haven't read Rushdie. Heard his style is difficult if you aren't a seasoned reader. Please suggest which book I may consider in fiction to introduce myself with his writing.
I utterly utterly enjoyed both the Satanic verses and Midnight's Children, some of the best novels I've ever read. I consided them pageturners, but I'm indeed an avid reader. However, books are also in sync with the times, and, when I was reading Midnight's Children again, it was not as mind-blowing. Hope this helps 😊
Midnight Children
I'm not an avid reader, particularly not of fiction, but jumped straight in with Satanic Verses. Took me a minute to realise I had to appreciate the novel in a different way than I would a non-fiction book, but was fantastic once I'd got the flow
@@trytwicelikemice3190 do you feel the book per se is offending and/or was meant to offend Muslims ?
@@nextinstitute7824 thank you. Midnight children I heard the style is complex …will it be a good start ?
❤❤❤Look at the 1920s maybe, short story by The Japanese magical realist, Abe Kobo. I forgot the title, but basically the main character’s business card becomes “more real” than the character.
Ahhh, Kobo Abe's short stories are truly something else. I remember being forced to read through one of his novellas, then ended up binging everything I could find. I wish I had discovered them in my teens, definitely would've made me look at life in a different way. edit: Fun fact, but Hideo Kojima's Death Stranding was inspired by one of Abe's stories, "The man who turned into a stick"
How genius Salman Rushdie is !!!.... The world needs to know it all. GOD bless him !!!..
Brilliant. Thank you.
This form suits him so much better than the late night chat shows. Best podcast I've heard in a while, loved it!
That was an awsome interview. Thanks.
I feel fortunate that at least, I have read two of the authors recommended. Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Kafka.
I wasn't born in the USA but in this difficult times, I think democracy will survive because of all the intellectuals that fight for freedom everyday. Blessings.
Fantastic conversation between two great writers, a cant miss. The shadow self/public person exploration shreds, the weaponization of shamelessness - bloody hell, even Rushdie’s book noms were rad (dig that he went straight classics;). 👏🏽🙏🏽
the only thing I think Mr. Rushdie got it wrong is that the mullahs did not use the book as a political tool, he only responded to the calls from many Muslims to get him killed. in the end, he was attacked by someone from US not Iran. I admire his courage to face his own culture, I wish we could do the same with our own societies that are not perfect.
I’m surprised at Rushdie’s confusion over motivation. It might not be accurate but it’s easy to imagine a religiously motivated attack by a man with little otherwise of meaning in his life.
❤❤❤❤What about dealing with the choice of the book’s title 😮?
That’s a good point because if you don’t read the book that is what you’re left with. A book with Islamic characters called the satanic Verses. Not an excuse but a call to nuance in book titling for those who only look at covers and are fundamentally unhinged.
I’ve only read Shalimar the Clown. One of the most enjoyable and soulful books I’ve ever read 😊.
And obviously we don't want to talk about the elephant in the room
Yes indeed. This is why we listen to Ezra.
A four book rebel.
Yes I agree with Rushdie recommendations, and I’ll have to buy the new translation of Don Quixote
That was breat Ezra, thanks.
Who do you think I think he is?
The attacker was the LITERAL "videogamer in his mother's basement" !?!?
I had this experience until I read the biography of Elon Musk by Walter Issacson. I had nothing but impressions from the press, the biography was a full fleshed portrait.
🧡🧡🧡
❤❤❤Go look at the choreography of the fight with the German sniper in the tower room in 😊the movie, Saving Private Ryan
I still think Rushdie should have tried to meet his attacker. Creating his character for him is a bit like what the Islamists have been doing to him.
Haha, well, I seem to remember that the shadow Rushdie was kind of a womanizer at the time.
Humans like to laugh but we do not respect humor. We turn away from it almost immediately in favor of anger over the subjects of political humor. A position of anger achieves much different results from that of humor. The funnyman writing this no longer expresses humor as a style of expression. It is now little more than an expression of my disgust for humans.
❤❤❤No, I believe there’s a spooky power about the book title…..and who has discussed this matter?
Jimmy Carter 😂
Klein's devotion to identity politics wrecked his credibility. No clue why the Times keeps him around.
The fuck are you on about?
@@trytwicelikemice3190 He's an unprincipled mediocrity, beholden to woke illiberal ideology. And a classic overachiever.