Canadian writers, editors and literary figures doubled down on the right to freedom of thought and expression on Saturday, a day after an attack on award-winning author Salman Rushdie left him hospitalized and on a ventilator.
Rushdie, whose 1988 novel “The Satanic Verses” received death threats from Iran’s leaders in the 1980s, was stabbed in the neck and abdomen on Friday by a man who came onstage as the author was about to give a lecture in western New York.
Louise Dennys, executive vice president and publisher of Penguin Random House Canada, has published and edited Rushdie’s writings for more than 30 years. She condemned the attack on his old friend and colleague as “cowardly” and “reprehensible in every way”.
“He is without a doubt one of the greatest defenders of freedom of thought and expression and debate and discussion in the world today,” Dennys said in a telephone interview. “I am hopeful that he will recover. He is a great warrior and fighter, and I hope that he is fighting back.”
A native of India who has since lived in Britain and the United States, Rushdie is known for his surreal and satirical prose style. Many Muslims considered “The Satanic Verses” to be blasphemous for its dream sequence based on the life of the Prophet Muhammad, among other objections. The book had already been banned and burned in India, Pakistan and elsewhere before Iran’s Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, in 1989 calling for Rushdie’s death.
Investigators were working to determine if the attacker, born a decade after the publication of “The Satanic Verses,” acted alone. Police said the motive for Friday’s attack was unclear.
After the publication of “The Satanic Verses”, often violent protests broke out throughout the Muslim world against Rushdie. At least 45 people were killed in riots over the book, including 12 people in Rushdie’s hometown of Mumbai. In 1991, a Japanese translator of the book was stabbed to death and an Italian translator survived a knife attack. In 1993, the book’s Norwegian publisher was shot three times and survived.
Death threats drove Rushdie into hiding under a British government protection programme, though he cautiously resumed public appearances after nine years in seclusion, keeping his open criticism of religious extremism in general.
“We all depend on storytelling, the power and imagination of writers. He came out of hiding from him because he realized that he wanted to play a role in the world we live in, defending those rights,” Dennys said.
“He could not be silenced by fear, and I think that point is something he will continue to make if, as we all hope, he survives,” he said.
Dennys said the attack is already having the opposite effect of its purported intentions given the outpouring of support from the international literary community, as well as activists and government officials, who cited Rushdie’s courage for his defense of free speech against despite the risks to their own safety.
“It brought everyone together to realize how precious and fragile our freedoms are and how important it is to speak up for them,” Dennys said.
The President of PEN Canadaan organization that defends the authors’ freedom of expression, condemned the “savage attack” against his “friend and colleague” Rushdie, who is a member.
Canadian writer John Ralston Saul, who has known Rushdie since the 1990s, said the author was always aware someone might attack him, but chose to live in public to speak out against those who try to silence free speech and debate. .
“(Rushdie’s) work and whole life are a reminder of what the life of the public writer is really like,” he said. “This would be the worst possible time to give in or show any sense that we need to be more careful with our words. We’re not really writers if we give in to that kind of threat.”
Rushdie’s alleged attacker, Hadi Matar, was arrested after the attack at the Chautauqua Institution, a nonprofit education and retirement center. Matar’s attorney pleaded not guilty Saturday in a New York court to charges of attempted murder and assault.
After the attack, some veteran visitors to the center questioned why there wasn’t tighter security for the event, given the threats against Rushdie and a bounty on his head that offered more than $3 million to anyone who killed him.
Saul, who spoke at the Chautauqua Institution years before Rushdie’s attack, said he has an “open tradition” of debate, free expression and fighting violence that dates back more than 100 years.
“It’s one of the freest places to tap into our belief in freedom,” he said.
Director of the Toronto International Festival of Authors Roland Gulliver he tweeted on saturday that literary festivals and book events are “spaces for expression, to tell your stories in friendship, safety and respect.”
“Seeing this broken so violently is incredibly shocking,” he wrote.
Expressions of sympathy also came from the political realm, with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemning the attack as a “cowardly blow against free speech.”
“No one should be threatened or harmed based on what they have written,” read a statement. posted on Trudeau’s official Twitter account. “I wish you a speedy recovery”.
Rushdie, 75, suffered liver damage, severed nerves in his arm and is likely to lose an eye as a result of the attack, Rushdie’s agent Andrew Wylie said Friday night.
A doctor who witnessed the attack and was among those rushing to help described Rushdie’s injuries as “serious but recoverable”.
With Associated Press archives. This report from The Canadian Press was first published on August 13, 2022.