७ फेब्रुवारी, २०२३

"Over the years, Rushdie’s friends have marvelled at his ability to write amid the fury unleashed on him."

"Martin Amis has said that, if he were in his shoes, 'I would, by now, be a tearful and tranquilized three-hundred-pounder, with no eyelashes or nostril hairs.' And yet 'Victory City' is Rushdie’s sixteenth book since the fatwa.... During the pandemic, Rushdie... was already toying with an idea for another novel. He’d reread Thomas Mann’s 'The Magic Mountain' and Franz Kafka’s 'The Castle,' novels that deploy a naturalistic language to evoke strange, hermetic worlds—an alpine sanatorium, a remote provincial bureaucracy. Rushdie thought about using a similar approach to create a peculiar imaginary college as his setting. He started keeping notes...."


"He has lost more than forty pounds since the stabbing. The right lens of his eyeglasses is blacked over. The attack left him blind in that eye.... He speaks as fluently as ever, but his lower lip droops on one side. The ulnar nerve in his left hand was badly damaged.... I asked how his spirits were. 'Well, you know, I’ve been better,' he said dryly. 'But, considering what happened, I’m not so bad. As you can see, the big injuries are healed, essentially. I have feeling in my thumb and index finger and in the bottom half of the palm. I’m doing a lot of hand therapy, and I’m told that I’m doing very well.... There have been nightmares—not exactly the incident, but just frightening. Those seem to be diminishing. I’m fine. I’m able to get up and walk around.... It’s great to be back... It’s someplace which is not a hospital.... I’ve found it very, very difficult to write. I sit down to write, and nothing happens. I write, but it’s a combination of blankness and junk, stuff that I write and that I delete the next day. I’m not out of that forest yet, really.... I’ve simply never allowed myself to use the phrase  'writer’s block.' Everybody has a moment when there’s nothing in your head.... I’ve always tried very hard not to adopt the role of a victim... Then you’re just sitting there saying, Somebody stuck a knife in me! Poor me... Which I do sometimes think."

१८ टिप्पण्या:

Kate म्हणाले...

Dear God. His mind has a lot to process. He'll have a tsunami of creativity when he's done.

Temujin म्हणाले...

Truly a remarkable man, and writer. The attack on him was an abomination. A hand reaching out from the 5th century to strike him down. Craziness running rampant in our civilization. Seems to be everywhere these days.

I look forward to the point where his head is pouring out the words he wants and the new book takes shape.

hawkeyedjb म्हणाले...

Devoted followers of Islam have spent decades hunting this man, and will canonize the believer who finally strikes him down. What a religion.

BUMBLE BEE म्हणाले...

Dare I say... God is on His side?

Fandor म्हणाले...

President George W. Bush called Islam "...a religion of peace."
Uh-huh.

rcocean म्हणाले...

He lost 40 lbs? How is that possible?

After all he's under medical care and presumably recieving nurishment via an IV or other means.

Interesting.

Anthony म्हणाले...

Guessing Sam Smith isn't looking over his shoulder today. . . . .

Sebastian म्हणाले...

"Everybody has a moment when there’s nothing in your head"

He should try the Althouse approach, riffing off the flow of events and the passing scene.

I've heard Rushdie speak. He's better that way.

guitar joe म्हणाले...

"He lost 40 lbs? How is that possible?" Depression. Completely understandable.

He's a genius. The fact that so many people, including John La Carre, did not stand up for free speech years ago when he was attacked for the Satanic Verses, tells you everything you need to know about the multi-cultural mindset. I think Bill Maher is off-base about religion, but at least he doesn't exclude Islam.

BUMBLE BEE म्हणाले...

Many more years Salman, tell it on the mountain!
Was a meme going years ago to the tune of Moon Shadow.

I'm being followed by Ayatollah
Khomeini Khomeini...

Robert Cook म्हणाले...

"Craziness running rampant in our civilization. Seems to be everywhere these days."

That's because civilization does not erase craziness and never has. It is part of who we are. Also, what seems "craziness" to many is a "righteous cause" to others, and vice versa.

Amexpat म्हणाले...

That's because civilization does not erase craziness and never has. It is part of who we are.

Agree. Crazy people will always find some cause to join to express and justify their malevolence. Doesn't have to be religious, plenty of crazies have done horrible things for extreme leftist or rightist causes or some non sensical conspiracy theory.

Michael म्हणाले...

Great writer but an absolute jerk. Asshole extreme.

FullMoon म्हणाले...

He and Larry David had enough guts to mock the Fatwa on Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Made it seem attractive rather than dangerous.

Quick search reveals no attack on anybody involved in production of the series.

And yet, most "rebels" , celebrities, politicians, you tubers, tik tokers, etc. continue to tread lightly.

FullMoon म्हणाले...

He lost 40 lbs? How is that possible?
One simple trick Drs don't want you to know.

Aggie म्हणाले...

You don't have to be religious to admire this man's courage.

Nancy Reyes म्हणाले...

He was attacked during a Chautauqua lecture that didn't have decent security because the ones sponsoring the lecture say they welcomed everyone.
Sort of better dead than impolite... except in this case it was Rushdie who almost died.

Narr म्हणाले...

"You don't have to be religious to admire this man's courage."

What is this supposed to mean?