Rushdie Affair Revisited

Anna Maria Tomczak

The University of Bialystok, Poland

Abstract

The article discusses the controversy surrounding the 1988 publication of Salman Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses from today’s perspective, drawing on the writer’s memoir Joseph Anton. It provides an overview of Rushdie’s career, a brief resumé of the events that followed the Ayatollah Khomeini’s edict calling for the murder of the novelist, as well as a critical assessment of Rushdie’s latest book. Published in September 2012, the memoir fails to shed any new light on the debate concerning freedom of expression and a writer’s social responsibilities. It mostly focuses on the singular plight of a novelist forced to live in hiding. The opportunity to bring out some important links between politics, literature and history, which Rushdie’s autobiographical account might have provided, seems to have been wasted.

Keywords:

Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses, fatwa, Joseph Anton, memoir, novel, Khomeini