Salman Rushdie - the paradox of Satanic Verses
Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2012 5:37 am
I was filling out my profile information on this forum and the question about favorite books reminded me of "The Moor's Last Sigh". This was the first Salman Rushdie book I ever read and it made me completely fall in love with the way he writes and the world he creates.
I soon proceded to obsessively read more or less everything he ever wrote (as one does when they find a writer they really like :-3 )
Half way trough my obsessive reading spree I found out that a fatwa was issued against him for writing "Satanic Verses". This, of course, piqued my interest and I rushed to the library to get a copy.
To my great surprise - I was disappointed. I absolutely loved all his other books, but the "Satanic Verses" was hard to follow, confusing, and generally felt unfinished and undone somehow.
This has kind of bugged me ever since I read it: Why would such an amazing writer put his life at stake to publish a book that... well isn't nearly as good as his other works?
My theories are that he either didn't expect things to escalate as much as they did, or that the "Satanic Verses" is actually, in other people's opinion better then I perceived it to be.
I don't get very heated about religious issues which are what made him a target for religious extremists, I just observed it as a literary work and found it less then amazing.
So I was wondering, if there are any Salman Rushdi fans here, what is your opinion on the "Satanic Verses"? Or any of his other books for that matter
I soon proceded to obsessively read more or less everything he ever wrote (as one does when they find a writer they really like :-3 )
Half way trough my obsessive reading spree I found out that a fatwa was issued against him for writing "Satanic Verses". This, of course, piqued my interest and I rushed to the library to get a copy.
To my great surprise - I was disappointed. I absolutely loved all his other books, but the "Satanic Verses" was hard to follow, confusing, and generally felt unfinished and undone somehow.
This has kind of bugged me ever since I read it: Why would such an amazing writer put his life at stake to publish a book that... well isn't nearly as good as his other works?
My theories are that he either didn't expect things to escalate as much as they did, or that the "Satanic Verses" is actually, in other people's opinion better then I perceived it to be.
I don't get very heated about religious issues which are what made him a target for religious extremists, I just observed it as a literary work and found it less then amazing.
So I was wondering, if there are any Salman Rushdi fans here, what is your opinion on the "Satanic Verses"? Or any of his other books for that matter