Knife,
by Salman Rushdie. Memoir
In 1989, acclaimed author Salman Rushdie was sentenced to a Fatwa by Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini –a death sentence executed by any pious Muslim, for writing a novel called ‘The Satanic Verses’, deemed to be contemptuous and scornful of Islam. For the next several years, Rushdie was kept under 24 hour surveillance and reluctantly lived the life of a recluse, a fugitive who never knew when and where death would strike – until, finally, he became tired of living his life in the shadows; he needed to feel the sun again, travel as he pleased, and socialise with his friends and loved ones: to hell with Fatwas – he’d take the risk and live his life as he wanted to, in freedom.
Until
August, 2022, Salman Rushdie did just that.
Life was good; he’d fallen in
love (and it was reciprocal!); his new novel was about to be published, and
he’d agreed to give a lecture at Lake Chautauqua, upstate New York on the importance
of keeping overseas writers from harm, those in danger from fanatics from their
places of origin. What an irony for, as
he was introduced on stage a black-clad figure rushed towards him brandishing a
knife – a knife that inflicted numerous serious wounds before his assailant was
overpowered and prevented from continuing.
Rushdie was taken by helicopter to hospital, and not expected to
survive.
‘Knife’
is Rushdie’s personal account of his ordeal;
his grievous injuries – he has lost the sight of his right eye, and his
left hand which he lifted in defence as the assailant rushed towards him has
permanent damage to the tendons, not to mention numerous cuts and scarring on
his body – are testament to an iron determination not to be a soon-to-be-
forgotten victim of religious bigotry
and fanaticism, but to survive and still live his best life. He pays grateful tribute to his family,
friends and loving wife, all of whom never left his side – once they’d got
there; one of his sons had the misfortune
to have a fear of flying, so had to come by sea from the UK, much to his
chagrin, but he did it! Meantime, the
would-be assassin had pleaded not guilty to all charges, despite a packed
auditorium of witnesses.
Which
prompts the victim to imagine several conversations with his would-be killer,
none of which persuades a change of heart or mind: Rushdie is evil and must be removed from the
earth. Okay then!
But
not yet. Salman Rushdie has produced from
awful personal experience a darkly
humorous, irrefutable treatise on religious tolerance, his own atheism and his
unshakeable conviction that though knives are lethal, the Pen is always
Mightier than the Sword. FIVE STARS.
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