David Remnick Speaks to Salman Rushdie About Surviving the Fatwa

On the Media

WNYC Studios

Magazine, Newspapers, Media, 1st, Advertising, Social Sciences, Studios, Radio, Transparency, Tv, History, Science, News Commentary, Npr, Technology, Amendment, Newspaper, Wnyc, News, Journalism

4.6 • 8.7K Ratings

🗓️ 9 February 2023

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Thirty-four years ago, the Ayatollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran, issued a fatwa calling for the assassination of the novelist Salman Rushdie, whose book “The Satanic Verses” Khomeini declared blasphemous. It caused a worldwide uproar. Rushdie lived in hiding in London for a decade before moving to New York, where he began to let his guard down. “I had come to feel that it was a very long time ago and, and that the world moves on,” he tells David Remnick. “That’s what I had agreed with myself was the case. And then it wasn’t.” In August of last year, a man named Hadi Matar attacked Rushdie onstage before a public event, stabbing him about a dozen times. Rushdie barely survived. Now, in his first interview since the assassination attempt, Rushdie discusses the long shadow of the fatwa; his recovery from extensive injuries; and his writing. It was “just a piece of fortune, given what happened,” that Rushdie had finished work on a new novel, “Victory City,” weeks before the attack. The book is being published this week. “I’ve always thought that my books are more interesting than my life,” he remarks. “Unfortunately, the world appears to disagree.”

David Remnick’s Profile of Rushdie appears in the February 13th & 20th issue of The New Yorker.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, this midweek podcast proudly offers you something you can get somewhere else, but
0:09.0	we didn't want you to miss it.
0:10.9	David Remnick's in-depth interview with Salman Rushdie, the writer's first since a knife-wielding
0:17.0	fanatic attacked him on stage at a festival in New York in August 2022.
0:22.9	Sure, it's about the stabbing that maimed him and almost killed him, the impact of that,
0:28.8	but it's even more about what kind of life Rushdie has led, the choices he's made, and
0:34.8	how being under mortal threat for some 35 years clarifies the mind and influences how and
0:42.8	what you write.
0:44.2	First, David Remnick, editor of the New Yorker and host of the New Yorker Radio Hour.
0:50.6	34 years ago, the Iatola Chomeney, then the Supreme Leader of Iran, declared that a novel
0:56.8	called the Satanic Versus was a blasphemy.
1:00.2	He issued a ruling of Fatwa, ordering the assassination of its author, the Indian British novelist Salman
1:07.0	Rushdie.
1:08.3	After 10 years of fugitive life in London and then more than 20 years living freely in
1:13.4	unguarded in New York City, history caught up with Rushdie, and history came in the form
1:18.8	of a young man named Hadimatar, dressed in black, and wielding a knife.
1:24.3	Or attacked Rushdie on a stage in August, stabbing him repeatedly.
1:29.1	Rushdie barely survived.
1:32.1	First, I need to ask how you are.
1:36.8	Just how are you feeling?
1:38.0	You know, I mean better.
1:40.9	But considering what happened, I'm not so bad.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WNYC Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of WNYC Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.