Salman Rushdie, one of the most popular authors in the world today, made a virtual appearance at the Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest on Wednesday with poet and writer Tishani Doshi, wherein he announced that his next project is about the 2022 attack that left him with loss of sight in one eye. “I just think that until I have dealt with that, I can’t do anything else,” he said pointing toward his half-tinted spectacles with a smile.
Salman Rushdie was stabbed in the torso and neck several times at the Chautauqua Institution, New York, on August 12 last year, following which he has reportedly abstained from physically promoting his recently published book, Victory City.
Based in 14th-century India and inspired by the empire of Vijayanagara in Hampi, Victory City narrates the story of protagonist Pampa Kampana, who brings an entire empire into existence with her magical powers. Apart from this new addition, Rushdie’s other books like The Moor’s Last Sigh, The Enchantress of Florence and others, portray strong female characters. “I think having three sisters is the secret to it,” he said.
“One of the things that I haven’t written about in any great depth is South India. My family is from the North and my knowledge of the South was not great. But over the years, it has improved… I have been there more times now than earlier in my writing life, so, I feel confident writing about it,” said Rushdie as he revisited his trip to Hampi for the audience. “I just had enough of America… at least for a while,” he added.
The 76-year-old writer also recalled that the one setting he has used sparingly is England, where he had lived for a long time (except for The Satanic Verses, which was based in 1980s London). The highly controversial book fictionalised parts of Prophet Muhammad’s life and had its fair share of controversy. The then leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, found the book blasphemous and issued a religious edict, fatwa, urging people to kill the author. Following the death threats, Rushdie was forced to go into hiding for years.
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“I do feel that all good literature, in whatever form, is about trying to approach the truth. To say something truthful about us, about human nature, why do we do the things we do… that’s the kind of truth the novels have always dealt with and if it doesn’t deal with that, it’s no good,” Rushdie said while talking about realism in novels. “Don’t believe in anything, except that it’s all true,” he highlighted.
Giving advice to aspiring writers, Salman Rushdie quoted the ending of Tom Stoppard’s play Travesties, saying, “If you can’t be a revolutionary, you might as well be an artist. If you can’t be an artist, you might as well be a revolutionary.” The Tata Literature Live! The Mumbai LitFest’s 14th edition continues on till October 29 with both online and offline sessions with an exciting line-up of authors and novelists including Luke Coutinho and Sudha Murthy, among others.
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