The Enchanting Tale of Salman Rushdie

Sneak Peek at Salman Rushdie Salman Rushdie is a world renowned novelist and proud recipient of two prestigious booker prizes, one best of the booker and one booker of bookers. His novels are usually a combination of historical fiction, and magical realism, spinning vivid tales rich in the imagination. In addition to novels, Rushdie has published a fair amount of essays and other non-fiction.

Chapter 1 The Start of Salman Rushdie

Once upon a time... June 19, 1947 to be precise In a city called Mumbai, a part of the larger subcontinent known as India, a writer was born. This little writer was to be named Salman Rushdie. As this little writer grew up, his beloved parents Anis and Negin Rushdie, filled his head with wondrous tales, full of exquisite princesses of Arabia, and murderous tyrants overthrown. As a child Salman was always happy, full of joy and bursting with creativity, but as all parents do Anis and Negin wanted what was best for their child, and so when the little writer grew into a teenage writer, they decided that what was best for him, was to have him shipped him off to Rugby School, a British private school where he could earn a future.

Moving to England on his own wasn’t as hard as most of us would think. Salman was nervous about being in a new country by himself, but he was glad to finally leave his alcoholic father and submissive mother. However this gladness quickly turned into bitter resentment

This unfortunate combination resulted in his high school years being unpleasant and far from joyous You see dear reader, Salman made the three most unforgivable mistakes a boy going to an English boarding school in the 60’s could make, 1) he was a foreigner, 2) he was too clever and 3) he was not athletic.

Chapter 2 Growing Up

Adult life was the Start of something new... Like his father before him Salman also attended Cambridge University, however unlike his father, Salman refused to major in economics, choosing instead to master in history. After a brief incident with an English Literature Professor Anis Rushdie (Salman's Dad) decided history was an acceptable career path. Contrary to the dreaded Rugby School, Salman grew to enjoy Cambridge and the delightful people in it. He realized that there were nicer people in England and places where racism did not exist.

Just like every other young adult Salman wanted to enjoy life, especially life outside his native country. He did not take life seriously and had no real profession in mind. After a brief career as an actor he worked as a free-lance advertising copywriter. Although it paid the bills, it was not the life Salman had envisioned for himself.

Salman always wanted to be a writer and considering the fact that you are here listening to this presentation he was obviously quite successful. His books are an integral part of him and interweave themselves into his life. The only real way to measure Salman’s growth is through his books.

Chapter 3 The Brilliant books that behaved themselves and decided not to cause pandemonium.

Salman Published his first book Grimus In 1975 It is the story of Flapping Eagle, a Native American who is given the gift of immortality and goes on a journey to find the meaning of life, despite receiving positive feedback it did not become popular. Salman continued writing and his next book became a phenomenon. Grimus

Midnight’s Children... Midnight’s Children released in It became an International Sensation and his greatest success, it won a booker prize and went on to win a best of the booker as well as a booker of bookers. Furthermore it was Salman’s claim to fame, gone was the little boy, bullied and misunderstood. The book pertains to India’s transition from British Rule into Independence through the protagonist who was born at the moment of India’s independence.

He also wrote...

Published in 1983

Published in 1987

Published in 1990

Published in 1995

Published in 1999

Published in 2001

Published in 2005

Published in 2008

Luka and the Fire of Life Luka and the fire of life was released in 2010 and won a booker prize it encompasses various themes on the quest for a healing elixir.

Published in 2012

Chapter 4 A Book that Birthed Chaos

Before we continue my dear listener you must understand that the majority of his books are loaded with controversies, and target religion and politics. Salman Rushdie is quite fond of controversies.

The Satanic Verses The Satanic verses took the world by a storm and demonstrated the political impact of a book. To some extent these events are true. However it is startling to discover that The Satanic Verses was written before these events could occur. The Satanic Verses opens with the survival of two Indian men who fall out of the sky after their plane to England is blown up in midair by terrorists. These two characters then gain divine and demonic powers while another character in the novel is a writer sentenced to death by a religious leader.

The Satanic verses angered quite a few Muslims who deemed it blasphemous (it was quite blasphemous) some of them were very powerful especially Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who was so offended and insulted he issued a fatwa (kill order) against Rushdie. Rushdie went into hiding and was under the protection of her majesty and British security guards. Many countries banned The Satanic verses in support of the Muslim leaders..This sparked international debate about how the freedom of speech doesn’t really exist. Salman had many supporters willing to read the book and fight for intellectual freedom.

Rushdie pointed out "It's very simple in this country, If you don't want to read a book, you don't have to read it. It's very hard to be offended by The Satanic Verses - it requires a long period of intense reading. It's a quarter of a million words.“ Iran rebutted this by reminding him given the first chance they would gladly kill him.

To most westerners a threat based on religion is not taken seriously, but that is because the majority of the western populace separates politics from religion. In the middle east politics and religion remain intertwined. In reality Rushdie’s book was not the reason for global uproar, it was as always-politics. The Iranian government simply wanted to demonstrate to the Saudi government the power they exerted globally over Islam. To be quite honest Iran does exert a lot of power, their power extended all the way into Britain where copies were burned and bookstores trashed, the British Muslims went as far as to send their own death threats. Salman was merely a pawn in Iran’s political game and unfairly suffered 9 years in hiding for it. The severity of the threat was such that the religious fanatic Mustafa Mahmoud Mazeh accidentally blew himself up in hotel room while creating bomb intended to kill Rushdie.

Rushdie was not allowed to travel often and when he did it was surrounded by round the clock armed bodyguards. Even his once beloved British Airways abandoned him saying he was a threat to safety. The fatwa had taken everything from him. Those nine years were terrible for Salman he was forced to live in almost isolation. To top it off the British media enjoyed mocking him while he was in hiding and he could not deny their allegations lest the Iranians find him.

As time continued the Rushdie affair became a battle of societal views. The British government with Margaret Thatcher leading the way was annoyed with Rushdie and allowed him minimal freedom and consistently reminded him what a burden he was. This unreasonable behaviour hindered progress in resolving the issue. With the changing of Prime Ministers, a change in the wind hit the Rushdie Affair, Tony Blair gave Rushdie much more freedom and after Rushdie’s apology to Islam was not accepted, people began to understand the severity of the situation.

Simply speaking The Satanic Verses did not actually offend Islam directly. Much of Islam decided to take it personally and created a ruckus. This ruckus was senseless considering the fact that most of the anti Rushdie supporters did not really know what the book dealt with and were fighting simply because they were told too. These actions are the primary flaw with sheep like mentality, it results in a molehill becoming a mountain.

It is really depressing to realize that it took the world nine years to realize their stupidity in censoring literature. The purpose of literature is to question, Rushdie is not the first person who had to fight for his freedom of speech. Our society is a place where we preach about freedom of speech yet if something does not conform to our thoughts it is wrong. Rushdie changed this into I will write what I want to write and I don't really care what you think. He has set an example to others about writing without fear. The fatwa did not prevent him from writing he has continued to publish successful stories.

Chapter 5 Cause and effect

When an unsuspecting tragedy occurs it changes our perspective on life. It changes our values and rewrites who we are. Being an author not only does it change who you are but it changes how you write and what you write about. After the fatwa was lifted Salman's style of writing changed

He began to cherish life through his books and embrace freedom. In Luka and the Fire of Life we begin to see just how important life is, Luka enters a new dimension simply to save one life.

At the same time his writing also became more cynical and depressing not in the sense that his stories were depressing, but the way his characters saw things. His characters became pessimistic optimists. This does not mean his quality of writing diminished but quite the opposite. Like wine with age he has only improved.

Chapter 6 The family that shaped him

Anis Rushdie Anis Rushdie Salman’s dad played an interesting role in Salman’s life his first gift to his son was the last name Rushdie, that was not his original last name but he changed it to represent the new life he created for his family. Although Anis initially did not support a career in writing, he was always secretly Salman’s biggest fan. It is sad to think that Salman didn’t know this until Anis was on his death bed.

Negin Rushdie Negin Rushdie Salman’s mom plays more of a behind the scenes role, it was she who once an atheist returned to Islam and went home to Pakistan. Although Salman himself remains an atheist he admires her unwavering faith. She loved him and supported him all his life and continues to do so today.

The three sisters Salman was the only boy in the family among three sisters and growing up in a different country from them distanced them. Nevertheless they’ve supported Salman throughout everything, sometimes going against their own husbands to do so.

Chapter 7 The Many Wives in Rushdie’s Time Alive

Clarissa Luard Clarissa was Salman’s first wife, and their marriage lasted the longest. He married her in 1976 and they were divorced in She was a sweet-tempered stubborn woman who loved Salman even after their divorce. Clarissa and Salman had one son Zafar who they both loved dearly. Sadly in 1999 Clarissa lost the battle to cancer and passed away. Salman was there for her till the end.

Marianne Wiggins (a.k.a the wicked witch) Marianne Wiggins is Salman’s second wife. He married her in 1988 and she divorced him in She is also a novelist and this lead to her jealousy over Salman’s success. After the divorce Marianne was still bitter and spent her time spoiling Rushdie’s reputation through the British media.

Elizabeth West Salman married Elizabeth 1997, and he loved dearly. They had one son Milan, unfortunately their marriage did not work out and they were divorced in 2004.

Padma Lakshmi In 2004 Salman made another mistake he married Padma Lakshmi an Indian-American model, actress and host of top chef From the start it was clear the pair was mismatched, not only in looks but also personality wise and it came as no surprise when their marriage ended in 2004

After going through four failed marriages Salman has decided to longer marry, he still remains open to a relationship but marriage is out of the question.

Chapter 8 The man behind the droopy eyes is...

Freakishly Intelligent

Witty

Sarcastic

And slightly Insane

He’s basically your everyday jerk but he’s a pretty brilliant jerk so it is somehow justified.

Chapter 9 Society is foolish and must categorize its citizens based on their beliefs and so because you are society and you must know these are they

Religion played a huge role in Salman’s life but not in the way you may think. He was born a Muslim but as said by Salman “God, Satan, Paradise, and Hell all vanished one day in my fifteenth year, when I quite abruptly lost my faith. … and afterwards, to prove my new-found atheism, I bought myself a rather tasteless ham sandwich, and so partook for the first time of the forbidden flesh of the swine. No thunderbolt arrived to strike me down. … From that day to this I have thought of myself as a wholly secular person”

Salman moves around a lot and so instead of participating in politics he creates politics as we discovered through the Satanic Verses. Salman does however believe in separation from church and state and tighter gun control laws.

Salman has additionally expressed his irritation with the veil worn by Islamic women saying “I think the battle against the veil has been a long and continuing battle against the limitation of women.”

Chapter 10 The author that lives

Rushdie now lives in the United States, where he works as a professor at Emory University, in addition to writing new novels.

If you have not already come to the conclusion that Salman Rushdie is an interesting man here are some details to enlighten you.

In 1999, Rushdie had an operation to correct ptosis, a tendon condition that causes drooping eyelids and that, according to him, 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."

On June Salman was knighted for his services to British literature by the queen. Technically we should be calling him sir Salman Rushdie.

Well my dear listeners it appears we have reached the end of this tale, i hope it amused you, or at least did not bore you, farewell for now.

The End.