The Unwavering Resolve of Salman Rushdie

Image Credit: Rachel Eliza

It is difficult to write an introduction to the Indian-born British-American Salman Rushdie without first acknowledging his recent attack and the dark clouds of unceasing political controversy, threat, and denunciation that have seeped through Rushdie’s writing career. From the moment when Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa ordering the execution of the author of The Satanic Verses, Rushdie’s fourth novel, Rushdie was no longer a mere storyteller – he became the story.

Rushdie became the divisive character at the centre of the narrative; the novelist turned protagonist who was forced to spend a decade living a fugitive existence under police protection. However, in a plot twist in 2000, Rushdie decided he would refuse to live in a permanent state of fear and so he settled in New York, where he lived a free, unguarded life, writing, teaching, socialising, and travelling, unafraid and unperturbed by the constant interest in his own life and its very fragility.

The painter Eric Fischl stopped by their table and said, “Shouldn’t we all be afraid and leave the restaurant?” “Well, I’m having dinner,” Rushdie replied. “You can do what you like.”

Over the years, Rushdie continued to write prolifically amid the vitriol, with his latest release, Victory City, being his sixteenth book released since the fatwa. Rushdie’s often challenging style, in which he often blends fact and fiction, magical realism and satirical social commentary, is – like Rushdie himself – unafraid of complexity yet surprisingly playful.

Undoubtedly a literary titan, Rushdie has been honoured and celebrated as an author throughout his career; he received a Knighthood, became a Fellow of the British Royal Society of Literature, and his works have been awarded a whole host of literary awards. Perhaps most importantly, Rushdie’s epic tale of Bombay and the rise of post-colonial India, Midnight’s Children, not only won the Booker Prize in 1981, but the Best of the Booker in 2008.

And so, especially for those who have heard the story of Rushdie himself, but perhaps haven’t gotten to know the stories he has created, we have collated a selection of reviews over the following pages to inspire your journey through the literature that exists behind the news story.