Knife, Salman Rushdie, author and narrator
Written with the same awesome skill he has shown in all of his other writings, the 75-year-old Rushdie describes, in graphic detail, the attack on his person by a radical Muslim who had attempted to kill him. He was addressing the audience in the amphitheater of the Chatauqua Institution, on August 12th, 2022. This was a place where different ideas had always been freely discussed and peacefully tolerated, for 150 years, so it was totally unexpected when the would-be assassin jumped upon the stage and brutally wielded a knife in an attempt to murder him.
Gravely wounded, Rushdie could not really understand what had happened to him, or even fathom why, since it was so many years after the original fatwa had been issued, that demanded his assassination. In 1989, after the publication of the book “The Satanic Verses”, it had been announced by the radical Islamic leader, the Ayatollah Khomeini.
Struggling to understand the motive for the attack upon him, and to discover the kind of person who would do such a thing, was what prompted him to relive the experience through this book. What could be the reason that a homicidal maniac was sitting in jail and a brilliant author was fighting for his life? Rushdie and his love, Eliza, had just married after a 5-year courtship. Their future had looked so bright with happiness, and then this darkness fell upon them.
Rushdie reads this memoir of the incident with just the perfect amount of emotion. Having attended meetings at Chatauqua in the past, myself, I easily identified with his description of the area and the environment of the venue. It is a peaceful place, made more beautiful by its purpose as a place where different minds could come together to discuss disparate and often opposite ideas comfortably and without fear. Rushdie describes his feelings before the attack. We learn of his premonition and wish to cancel the engagement. It was his honor and sense of responsibility to fulfill his obligation that propelled him forward.
As I listened to him read his own story of doom, it felt like an out of body experience. The intensity of his despair and his myriad concerns, all combined to make it feel too real, as indeed, it was too real an experience. It is a terrible story to behold. Many of his injuries caused permanent damage to him. There were so many questions to answer after the attack. Why was their no security there? I imagine they never thought it was needed since it was designed to be a place for the free exchange of ideas, and also, nothing like this had ever happened before. Why did Salman Rushdie think he no longer needed security for protection? Do fatwas die of their own accord or do they continue until fulfilled? Rushdie’s thoughts about the attack and his response to it are mesmerizing. However, at times, for me, it was a bit too descriptive, but his analysis of the perpetrator, coupled with his philosophical explanations, kept capturing my attention.
I did find his occasional political remarks to be odd, since he kept denigrating the former President Trump, though he had nothing at all to do with the attack or the time it took place. The attack occurred under the leadership of President Biden, so I wondered why he did not question his leadership instead. What was the atmosphere in the country at the time of this attack that promoted this attempted murder? That was not addressed. Perhaps, it was just a convenient place to insert his own liberal political views. In the end, fortunately, Rushdie survived and was granted his wish to return home.