The British-American writer of Indian origin Salman Rushdie declared himself “happy” this Friday at a Frankfurt book fair marked by controversy and where the presence of the author of “The Satanic Verses” and “Midnight Children” is marked by the defense of freedom “To be back”. Expression. “It was a difficult year, but I am very happy to be back,” he said at a press conference at the German city’s trade fair two days before the German Book Trade Peace Prize was awarded.
Rushdie came to Frankfurt not only as a prize winner, but also to promote his new novel “Knife”, the title of which is already a clear allusion to the attack in 2022. “It’s a topic that touched me personally, it touches me.” “After what happened, I couldn’t write about anything else,” he captioned the title. Asked whether, up until the moment he suffered the attack, he had not forgotten the fatwa of the Iranian authorities calling on Muslims around the world to murder him – after the publication of The Satanic Verses – Rushdie replied that this Islamic edict had already come into force. “The attack surprised me because over the years everything seemed to have cooled down, but I had never forgotten the fatwa,” he said.
At the press conference, where he was separated from the audience by several tables and some kind of security barrier, Rushdie was asked about topics that were present at the fair – such as the situation in Gaza or the postponement of the delivery of an award for the Palestinian author Adamis Shibli – and on others relating to authors suffering persecution or to the general situation in the world. “There are two serious threats: religious fascism and the internal decay of many democracies. We have to fight against both,” he said. Regarding the latter, he regretted that in the United States “one of the major parties is abandoning democratic principles to devote itself to the cult of personality,” alluding to former President Donald Trump, and warned that in many parts of the world “small trumps .”
A moment from Salman Rushdie’s press conference at the Frankfurt Book Fair. KAI PFAFFENBACH (Portal)
Reflecting on the role that literature can play in this struggle, he warned against the danger of falling into overly doctrinaire or pamphleteous literature. “One of the great advantages of literature is that it has no immediate benefit. If it has any, it is because it creates beauty and invites thought. But I’m not interested in books that tell me what to think, but in books that make me think,” he said. He said he had no opinion of his own about the war in Gaza. “War is terrible. People are dying in war, I am horrified by Hamas’ attacks and I am horrified by Mr….’s reaction. [Benjamín] Netanyahu,” he said of the Palestinian terror group and the Israeli prime minister.
Rushdie, on the other hand, criticized the postponement of the awarding of the LiBeratur Prize to Adania Shibli, which was due to be presented at the Frankfurt fair, although he said he could not talk about her work because he did not know her. “If talk of a postponement is not a euphemism and it is not a matter of cancellation, then the prize should be awarded as quickly as possible. The best would be tomorrow,” he said. The postponement of the award given to Shibli by the Litprom organization was justified by the fact that the award-winning novel “A Marginal Detail” could give rise to anti-Israel propaganda after the Hamas attacks.
Rushdie acknowledged that it was difficult to be optimistic given the current crises, but said that was partly due to the job he chose. “Writing books is a form of optimism. It means dedicating years of your life to writing texts that you hope someone will read,” he said. Asked whether he was not afraid that young writers would not find publishers and would not dare to address certain topics due to various constraints, Rushdie recalled the case of The Satanic Verses, which were published around the world despite threats. “Well, I’m not a young writer anymore, I speak from a certain distance,” he joked. “But the Satanic Verses were published all over the world despite everything. As for the topics that young writers should or should not address, I think they should write about anyone without restrictions. The only condition is to do it well,” he said.
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