Salman Rushdie is a Bombay born Moslem who migrated to the United Kingdom and made a name as a writer of fiction.
Rushdie perhaps would have lived a uncontroversial life if he had kept to the basics of writing good books.
But I suspect as an emigrant to the British isle he was consumed with a burning desire to come in the limelight as quickly as possible and hence his choice of controversial topics and characters.
The Satanic Verses probably thus falls into the category of a book by means of which Rushdie expected to shock the western world and make his mark as a great writer.
The story is nothing out of the ordinary and Rushdie writes in his inimitable style and stories within stories of his characters make up the book.
The book generated a fair amount of controversy with the Islamic people up in arms against him.
A fatwa was also issued and Rushdie had to go into hiding.
But I feel all this could have been avoided.
A great writer cannot take the plea that it is his artistic freedom.
Thus Rushdie laid himself open to the charge of trying to write what the western world wanted to read and hear.
This was his perception and may not have been entirely correct.
Rushdie has yet not been able to explain how or why he has used the names of the prophets wives in a brothel in his book.
What was his aim? literary creativity does not give a writer a license to hurt the sentiments of any group or society.
The greats of English literature like Dickens, Hardy and Scott did nothing like this.
Yet Rushdie did the unthinkable.
The results have been disastrous as a lot many people have met an ignoble end while Rushdie with cover from British security has survived.
I for one do not condone any fatwa that was issued against Rushdie but I also feel by needlessly mentioning the prophets wives in a work of fiction Rushdie transgressed the boundary of the license of a writer of fiction.
Rushdie is a great writer.
His books like Midnight Children are well received and have good reviews.
So frankly I feel he waded into an uncalled for controversy.
His greatness as a writer would not have diminished if he had avoided all those name associated with the Prophet.
But than there are always ifs and buts and that makes life so wonderful
Rushdie perhaps would have lived a uncontroversial life if he had kept to the basics of writing good books.
But I suspect as an emigrant to the British isle he was consumed with a burning desire to come in the limelight as quickly as possible and hence his choice of controversial topics and characters.
The Satanic Verses probably thus falls into the category of a book by means of which Rushdie expected to shock the western world and make his mark as a great writer.
The story is nothing out of the ordinary and Rushdie writes in his inimitable style and stories within stories of his characters make up the book.
The book generated a fair amount of controversy with the Islamic people up in arms against him.
A fatwa was also issued and Rushdie had to go into hiding.
But I feel all this could have been avoided.
A great writer cannot take the plea that it is his artistic freedom.
Thus Rushdie laid himself open to the charge of trying to write what the western world wanted to read and hear.
This was his perception and may not have been entirely correct.
Rushdie has yet not been able to explain how or why he has used the names of the prophets wives in a brothel in his book.
What was his aim? literary creativity does not give a writer a license to hurt the sentiments of any group or society.
The greats of English literature like Dickens, Hardy and Scott did nothing like this.
Yet Rushdie did the unthinkable.
The results have been disastrous as a lot many people have met an ignoble end while Rushdie with cover from British security has survived.
I for one do not condone any fatwa that was issued against Rushdie but I also feel by needlessly mentioning the prophets wives in a work of fiction Rushdie transgressed the boundary of the license of a writer of fiction.
Rushdie is a great writer.
His books like Midnight Children are well received and have good reviews.
So frankly I feel he waded into an uncalled for controversy.
His greatness as a writer would not have diminished if he had avoided all those name associated with the Prophet.
But than there are always ifs and buts and that makes life so wonderful