Salman Rushdie

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Sir Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie, November 2006
Born 19 June 1947 (1947-06-19) (age 60)
Bombay, Bombay Presidency, British India
Occupation Novelist, essayist
Nationality United Kingdom
Genres Magic Realism
Subjects Criticism, travel
Influences

Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (born June 19, 1947) is an Indian-British novelist and essayist. He first achieved fame with his second novel, Midnight's Children (1981), which won the Booker Prize. Much of his early fiction is set at least partly on the Indian subcontinent. His style is often classified as magical realism, while a dominant theme of his work is the story of the many connections, disruptions and migrations between the Eastern and Western world.

His fourth novel, The Satanic Verses (1988), led to protests from Muslims in several countries, some of which were violent. Faced with death threats and a fatwa (religious edict) issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Supreme Leader of Iran, which called for him to be killed, he spent nearly a decade largely underground, appearing in public only sporadically. In June 2007, he was appointed a Knight Bachelor for "services to literature",[1] which "thrilled and humbled" him.[2] In 2007, he began a five-year term as Distinguished Writer in Residence at Emory University.[3]

Contents

[edit] Personal life

The only son of Anis Ahmed Rushdie, a Cambridge University-educated lawyer turned businessman, and Negin Butt, a teacher, Rushdie was born in Mumbai (then called Bombay), India.[4][5] He was educated at Cathedral and John Connon School in Mumbai, Rugby School, and King's College, Cambridge, where he read history. He worked for two advertising agencies (Ogilvy & Mather and Ayer Barker) before becoming a full-time writer.[6]

Rushdie has been married four times. His first wife was Clarissa Luard, to whom he was married from 1976 to 1987 and with whom he has a son, Zafar. His second wife was the American novelist Marianne Wiggins; they were married in 1988 and divorced in 1993. His third wife, from 1997 to 2004, was Elizabeth West; they have a son, Milan. In 2004, he got married to the Indian actress and model Padma Lakshmi, the host of the American reality-television show Top Chef and that marriage ended on July 2, 2007 with Rushdie indicating that it was her desire to end the marriage.

In 1999, Rushdie had an operation to correct a tendon condition that was making it increasingly difficult for him to open his eyes. "If I hadn't had an operation, in a couple of years from now I wouldn't have been able to open my eyes at all," he said.[7]

[edit] Career

[edit] Major literary work

Salman Rushdie presenting his book Shalimar the Clown
Salman Rushdie presenting his book Shalimar the Clown

His first novel, Grimus (1975), a part-science fiction tale, was generally ignored by the public and literary critics. His next novel, Midnight's Children (1981), however, catapulted him to literary fame. It also significantly shaped the course that Indian writing in English would follow over the next decade. This work won the 1981 Booker Prize and, in 1993, was awarded the Booker of Bookers as the best novel to have received the prize during its first 25 years.[8] It still receives accolades for being Rushdie's best, most flowing and inspiring work.

After the success of Midnight's Children, about the birth of the modern nation of India, Rushdie wrote Shame (1983), in which he depicts the political turmoil in Pakistan, basing his characters on Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. Shame won France's Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger (Best Foreign Book) and was a close runner-up for the Booker Prize. Both these works of postcolonial literature are characterised by a style of magic realism and the immigrant outlook of which Rushdie is very conscious, as a member of the Indian diaspora.

In his later works, Rushdie turned towards the Western world. In the 1980s, he visited Nicaragua, the scene of Sandinista political experiments, and this experience was the basis for his next book, The Jaguar Smile (1987). In 1988, his most controversial work, The Satanic Verses was published (see section below). He followed this with The Moor's Last Sigh (1995), a family epic ranging over some 100 years of India's history. The Ground Beneath Her Feet (1999) presents an alternative history of modern rock music. The song of the same name by U2 is a setting of lyrics in the book, hence Rushdie is credited as the lyricist.

Many of Rushdie's post-1989 works have been critically acclaimed and commercially successful. His 2005 novel Shalimar the Clown received, in India, the prestigious Crossword Fiction Award, and was, in Britain, a finalist for the Whitbread Book Awards. It was shortlisted for the 2007 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.[9]

In his 2002 nonfiction collection Step Across This Line, he professes his admiration for the Italian writer Italo Calvino and the American writer Thomas Pynchon, among others. His early influences included James Joyce, Günter Grass, Jorge Luis Borges, Mikhail Bulgakov, and Lewis Carroll. Rushdie was also a personal friend of Angela Carter and praised her highly in the foreword for her collection "Burning your Boats."

[edit] Other activities

Rushdie has quietly mentored younger Indian (and ethnic-Indian) writers, influenced an entire generation of Indo-Anglian writers, and is an influential writer in postcolonial literature in general.[10] He has received many plaudits for his writings, including the European Union's Aristeion Prize for Literature, the Premio Grinzane Cavour (Italy), and the Writer of the Year Award in Germany. He is also a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres. Rushdie was the President of PEN American Center from 2004 to 2006.

He opposes the British government's introduction of the Racial and Religious Hatred Act, something he writes about in his contribution to Free Expression Is No Offence, a collection of essays by several writers, published by Penguin in November 2005. Rushdie is a self-described atheist, and a distinguished supporter of the British Humanist Association.

Salman Rushdie having a discussion with Emory University students
Salman Rushdie having a discussion with Emory University students

In 2006, Rushdie joined the Emory University faculty as Distinguished Writer in Residence for one month a year for the next five years.[11] Though he enjoys writing, Salman Rushdie says that he would have become an actor if his writing career had not been successful. Even from early childhood, he dreamed of appearing in Hollywood movies (which he would later realize in his frequent cameo appearances).

Rushdie also engages in more popular forms of public discourse. For example, he had a cameo appearance in the film Bridget Jones's Diary based on the book of the same name, which is itself full of literary in-jokes. On May 12, 2006, Rushdie was a guest host on The Charlie Rose Show, where he interviewed Indo-Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta, whose work has also faced violent protests, about her 2005 film, Water. He also appears in the role of Helen Hunt's obstetrician-gynecologist in the film adaptation (Hunt's directorial debut) of Elinor Lipman's novel Then She Found Me.

[edit] The Satanic Verses, the fatwa and other critiques

Further information: The Satanic Verses controversy

The publication of The Satanic Verses in September 1988 caused immediate controversy in the Islamic world because of what was perceived as an irreverent depiction of the prophet Muhammad. The title refers to a Muslim tradition that is related in the book. According to it, Muhammad (Mahound in the book) added verses (sura) to the Qur'an accepting three goddesses that used to be worshipped in Mecca as divine beings. According to the legend, Muhammad later revoked the verses, saying the devil tempted him to utter these lines to appease the Meccans (hence the "Satanic" verses). However, the narrator reveals to the reader that these disputed verses were actually from the mouth of the Archangel Gibreel. The book was banned in many countries with large Muslim communities.

On February 14, 1989, a fatwa requiring Rushdie's execution was proclaimed on Radio Tehran by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the spiritual leader of Iran at the time, calling the book "blasphemous against Islam" (chapter IV of the book depicts the character of an Imam in exile who returns to incite revolt from the people of his country with no regard for their safety). A bounty was offered for Rushdie's death, and he was thus forced to live under police protection for years afterward. On March 7, 1989, the United Kingdom and Iran broke diplomatic relations over the Rushdie controversy.

The publication of the book and the fatwa sparked violence around the world, with bookstores being firebombed. Muslim communities in several nations in the West held public rallies in which copies of the book were burned. Several people associated with translating or publishing the book were attacked, seriously injured, and even killed.[12] Many more people died in riots in Third World countries.

On September 24, 1998, as a precondition to the restoration of diplomatic relations with Britain, the Iranian government, then headed by Mohammad Khatami, gave a public commitment that it would "neither support nor hinder assassination operations on Rushdie."[13][14]

Hardliners in Iran have, however, continued to reaffirm the death sentence.[15] In early 2005, Khomeini's fatwa was reaffirmed by Iran's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in a message to Muslim pilgrims making the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.[16] Additionally, the Revolutionary Guards have declared that the death sentence on him is still valid.[17] Iran has rejected requests to withdraw the fatwa on the basis that only the person who issued it may withdraw it,[16] and the person who issued it is dead.

Salman Rushdie has reported that he still receives a "sort of Valentine's card" from Iran each year on February 14 letting him know the country has not forgotten the vow to kill him.

He was also quoted as saying, "It's reached the point where it's a piece of rhetoric rather than a real threat."[18] Despite the threats on Rushdie, he has publicly said that his family has never been threatened and that his mother (who lived in Pakistan during the later years of her life) even received outpourings of support.[19]

[edit] The Archbishop of Canterbury's famous words

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Robert Runcie, said in the first official statement by the Church of England "Only the utterly insensitive can fail to see that the publication of Salman Rushdie's book has deeply offended Muslims both here and throughout the world". He also went on to state, "I understand their feelings and I firmly believe that offence to religious beliefs of Islam or any other faith is quite as wrong an offence as to the religious beliefs of Christians."

[edit] The failed assassination attempt and Hezbollah's comments

On August 3, 1989, while Mustafa Mahmoud Mazeh was priming a book bomb loaded with RDX explosives in a hotel in Paddington, Central London, the bomb exploded prematurely, taking out two floors of the hotel and killing Mazeh. A previously unknown Lebanese group, the Organisation of the Mujahidin of Islam, said he died preparing an attack "on the apostate Rushdie". There is a shrine in Tehran's Behesht-e Zahra cemetery for Mustafa Mahmoud Mazeh that says he was "Martyred in London, August 3, 1989. The first martyr to die on a mission to kill Salman Rushdie." Mazeh's mother was invited to relocate to Iran, and the Islamic World Movement of Martyrs' Commemoration built his shrine in the cemetery that holds thousands of Iranian soldiers slain in the Iran-Iraq War.[13] During the 2006 Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah declared that "If there had been a Muslim to carry out Imam Khomeini's fatwa against the renegade Salman Rushdie, this rabble who insult our Prophet Mohammed in Denmark, Norway and France would not have dared to do so. I am sure there are millions of Muslims who are ready to give their lives to defend our prophet's honour and we have to be ready to do anything for that."[20] James Phillips of the Heritage Foundation testified before the United States Congress that a "March 1989" (sic) explosion in Britain was a Hezbollah attempt to assassinate Rushdie which failed when a bomb exploded prematurely, killing a terrorist in London.[21]

[edit] International Guerrillas

In 1990, a Pakistani film was released in which Rushdie was depicted as plotting, soon after his publication of The Satanic Verses, to cause the downfall of Pakistan by opening a chain of casinos and discos in the country. The film was popular with Pakistani audiences, and it "presents Rushdie as a Rambo-like figure pursued by four Pakistani guerrillas"[22]. The British Board of Film Classification refused to allow it a certificate, as "it was felt that the portrayal of Rushdie might qualify as criminal libel, causing a breach of the peace as opposed to merely tarnishing his reputation."[23] This move effectively banned the film in Britain outright. However, two months later, Rushdie himself wrote to the board, saying that while he thought the film "a distorted, incompetent piece of trash", he would not sue if it was released.[23] He later said, "If that film had been banned, it would have become the hottest video in town: everyone would have seen it".[23] While the film was a massive hit in Pakistan, it went virtually unnoticed in the West.[23] He has said that there was one legitimately funny part of the movie, his character torturing a Pakistani fighter by reading from his book The Satanic Verses.

[edit] Knighthood

Main article: Knighthood of Salman Rushdie

Rushdie was awarded a knighthood for services to literature in the Queen's Birthday Honours on June 16, 2007. He remarked, "I am thrilled and humbled to receive this great honour, and am very grateful that my work has been recognised in this way."[24] In response to his knighthood, many nations with Muslim majorities protested. Parliamentarians of several of these countries condemned the action, and Iran and Pakistan called in their British envoys to protest formally. Mass demonstrations against Rushdie's knighthood took place in Pakistan and Malaysia. Several called publicly for his death.

According to a July 2007 report by the BBC, Al-Qaeda have also condemned the Rushdie honour. The Al-Qaeda deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri is quoted as saying in an audio recording that Britain's award for Indian-born Rushdie was "an insult to Islam", and it was planning "a very precise response."[25]

[edit] Religious and political beliefs

Rushdie was raised a Muslim but is considered an apostate by some more conservative Muslims. In 1990 he issued a statement in which he claimed he had renewed his Muslim faith, had repudiated the attacks on Islam in his novel and was committed to working for better understanding of the religion across the world. Later he claimed that he pretended to “embrace Islam” in the hope that it would reduce the threat of Muslims acting on the fatwa to kill him. [26]

His books often focus on the role of religion in society and conflicts between faiths and between the religious and those of no faith.

Rushdie advocates the application of higher criticism, pioneered during the late 19th century. Rushdie calls for a reform in Islam[27] in a guest opinion piece printed in The Washington Post and The Times in mid-August 2005. Excerpts from his speech:

“ What is needed is a move beyond tradition, nothing less than a reform movement to bring the core concepts of Islam into the modern age, a Muslim Reformation to combat not only the jihadist ideologues but also the dusty, stifling seminaries of the traditionalists, throwing open the windows to let in much-needed fresh air. (...) It is high time, for starters, that Muslims were able to study the revelation of their religion as an event inside history, not supernaturally above it. (...) Broad-mindedness is related to tolerance; open-mindedness is the sibling of peace. ”

Rushdie supported the 1999 NATO bombing of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to stop the ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, leading the leftist Tariq Ali to label Rushdie and other "warrior writers" as "the belligerati'".[28] He was supportive of the US-led campaign to remove the Taliban in Afghanistan which began in 2001, but was a vocal critic of the 2003 war in Iraq. He has stated that while there was a moral imperative to free Iraq from Saddam Hussein's dictatorship, US unilateral military intervention was unjustifiable. [29]

In the wake of the 'Danish Cartoons Affair' in March 2006 - which many considered to be an echo of the death threats and fatwa which had followed the publication of Rushdie's Satanic Verses in 1989 [30] - Rushdie signed the manifesto 'Together Facing the New Totalitarianism' Manifesto, a statement warning of the dangers of religious extremism. The Manifesto was published in the left-leaning French weekly Charlie Hebdo in March 2006.

In 2006, Rushdie stated that he supported comments by the Leader of the House of Commons, Jack Straw, criticising the wearing of the niqab (a veil that covers all of the face except the eyes). Rushdie stated that his three sisters would never wear the veil. He said, "I think the battle against the veil has been a long and continuing battle against the limitation of women, so in that sense I'm completely on [Straw's] side."[31]

Rushdie continues to come under fire from much of the British academic establishment for his political views. The Marxist critic Terry Eagleton, a former admirer of Rushdie's work, attacked him for his position on Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq, saying he "cheered on the Pentagon's criminal ventures in Iraq and Afghanistan". [32] Eagleton later apologized for his error. [33]

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Awards

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ The UK Honours System - Queen's birthday list 2007. Ceremonial Secretariat, Cabinet Office (2007). Retrieved on 2007-06-28.
  2. ^ Rushdie title 'may spark attacks' 18 June 2007
  3. ^ Salman Rushdie to Teach and Place His Archive at Emory University. Emory University. Retrieved on 2007-07-10.
  4. ^ "Literary Encyclopedia: Salman Rushdie", Literary Encyclopedia. Retrieved on 20 January, 2008
  5. ^ "Salman Rushdie (1947-)", c. 2003, Retrieved on 20 January, 2008
  6. ^ "Salman Rushdie biography", 2004, British Counsel, Retrieved 20 January 2008.
  7. ^ "Rushdie: New book out from under shadow of fatwa", CNN, April 15, 1999. Retrieved on April 21, 2007.
  8. ^ Previous winners - 1981. The Booker Prize Foundation (2007). Retrieved on 2007-04-05.
  9. ^ The 2007 Shortlist. Dublin City Public Libraries/International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award (2007). Retrieved on 2007-04-05.
  10. ^ Rushdie's postcolonial influence
  11. ^ Salman Rushdie to Teach and Place His Archive at Emory University. Emory University Office of Media Relations. Retrieved on 2006-12-06.
  12. ^ See Hitoshi Igarashi, Ettore Capriolo, William Nygaard
  13. ^ a b Anthony Loyd. "Tomb of the unknown assassin reveals mission to kill Rushdie", The Times, June 8, 2005. 
  14. ^ 26 December 1990: Iranian leader upholds Rushdie fatwa. BBC News: On This Day. Retrieved on 2006-10-10.
  15. ^ Rubin, Michael (1 September 2006). Can Iran Be Trusted?. The Middle East Forum: Promoting American Interests. Retrieved on 2006-10-10.
  16. ^ a b Webster, Philip, Ben Hoyle and Ramita Navai (January 20, 2005). Ayatollah revives the death fatwa on Salman Rushdie. The Times. Retrieved on 2006-10-10.
  17. ^ Iran adamant over Rushdie fatwa. BBC News (12 February 2005). Retrieved on 2006-10-10.
  18. ^ Rushdie's term. Retrieved on 2007-02-15.
  19. ^ Cronenberg meets Rushdie.
  20. ^ "Hezbollah: Rushdie death would stop Prophet insults", AFP, Feb. 2, 2006. 
  21. ^ James Phillips (2007-06-20). Hezbollah’s Terrorist Threat to the European Union - Testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Europe.
  22. ^ Joseph Bernard Tamney (2002). The Resilience of Conservative Religion: The Case of Popular, Conservative Protestant Congregations. Cambridge, UK: The Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge. 
  23. ^ a b c d International Guerrillas and Criminal Libel. Screenonline. Retrieved on 2008-02-07.
  24. ^ June 15th 2007 Rushdie knighted in honours list. BBC News. Retrieved on 2007-06-16.
  25. ^ July 10th 2007 Al-Qaeda condemns Rushdie honour. BBC News. Retrieved on 2007-07-10.
  26. ^ Rushdie: I was deranged when I embraced Islam | TimesOnline
  27. ^ Muslims unite! A new Reformation will bring your faith into the modern era August 11, 2005
  28. ^ Michael Mandel, How America Gets Away With Murder, Pluto Press, 2004, p60
  29. ^ Letters, Salman Rushdie: No fondness for the Pentagon's politics | World news | The Guardian
  30. ^ StandWithUs.com - Dangerous Hypocricy: World Reactions to the Danish Cartoons
  31. ^ Wagner, Thomas (10 October 2006). Blair, Rushdie support former British foreign secretary who ignited veil debate. SignOnSanDiego.com. Retrieved on 2006-10-10.
  32. ^ The ageing punk of lit crit still knows how to spit - Times Online
  33. ^ Amis returns fire in Islam row | News | guardian.co.uk Books

[edit] External links

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[edit] Interviews

v • d • e
Works by Salman Rushdie
Novels:
Short story collections:
Non-fiction:
The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey  · Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism, 1981 - 1991  · Homeless by Choice  · Step Across This Line: Collected Nonfiction 1992 - 2002
v • d • e
Man Booker Prize for Fiction
1969–1980

P. H. Newby (1969) Bernice Rubens (1970) · V. S. Naipaul (1971) · John Berger (1972) · James Gordon Farrell (1973) · Nadine Gordimer / Stanley Middleton (1974) · Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (1975) · David Storey (1976) · Paul Scott (1977) · Iris Murdoch (1978) · Penelope Fitzgerald (1979) · William Golding (1980)
1981–2000

Salman Rushdie (1981) · Thomas Keneally (1982) · John Maxwell Coetzee (1983) · Anita Brookner (1984) · Keri Hulme (1985) · Kingsley Amis (1986) · Penelope Lively (1987) · Peter Carey (1988) · Kazuo Ishiguro (1989) · A. S. Byatt (1990) · Ben Okri (1991) · Michael Ondaatje / Barry Unsworth (1992) · Roddy Doyle (1993) · James Kelman (1994) · Pat Barker (1995) · Graham Swift (1996) · Arundhati Roy (1997) · Ian McEwan (1998) · John Maxwell Coetzee (1999) · Margaret Atwood (2000)
2001–present

Peter Carey (2001) · Yann Martel (2002) · DBC Pierre (2003) · Alan Hollinghurst (2004) · John Banville (2005) · Kiran Desai (2006) · Anne Enright (2007)
Persondata
NAME Rushdie, Ahmed Salman
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Rushdie, Ahmed Salman; سلمان رشدی (Urdu)
SHORT DESCRIPTION British-Indian novelist and author
DATE OF BIRTH June 19, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Mumbai, India
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH