InQ Episode 66: "Joseph Anton: A Memoir"

You are an author, minding your own business. One fine day you
decide to write a book about the birth of a religion and you pick
the one you know the most: Islam. From one day to the next the
whole Muslim world is after you, willing and ready to kill you.


This is what happened to Salman Rushdie after the publication of
his famous Satanic Verses in 1989.


Joseph Anton, a memoir is his recollection, under the pseudonym
Joseph Anton, of nine years of nightmare, nine years of fear,
nine years of wondering when this will all end. It’s the story of
a man dealing with forces much bigger than him. It’s the story of
a man dealing with every day life knowing a death threat is on
him. It’s the story of a man dealing with other people, trying to
live life as a normal human being. Most importantly, it’s a tale
about freedom of speech.


It does help to have read The Satanic Verses beforehand but even
without, Joseph Anton, a memoir is an amazing recollection of an
important piece of history from the point of view of the main
protagonist. And it’s written with the extraordinarily elegant
prose of Salman Rushdie, a very big plus


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