Figures from the American literary world, such as writers Paul Auster and Gay Talese, gathered Friday for a reading of the work of Salman Rushdie, in support of the author seriously injured in a knife attack last week.
A dozen well-known writers, including people close to Mr. Rushdie, spoke on the steps of the majestic Manhattan Public Library. The author was invited to follow the event online, from his hospital room.
On August 12, Salman Rushdie, who wrote The Satanic Verseswas about to speak at a conference in upstate New York when a man burst onto the stage and stabbed him multiple times, in the neck and abdomen.
Evacuated by helicopter to a hospital, he had to be briefly placed on a ventilator before his condition improved.
Writer and journalist Gay Talese, wearing his signature fedora hat, read an excerpt from the novel ‘The Golden House’, while Irish author Colum McCann recited a passage from the essay Out of Kansaspublished by Salman Rushdie in the New Yorker magazine in 1992.
Mr. Rushdie “has always risen to the occasion,” Mr. McCann said. “I think he will have something profound to say,” once he recovers, he continued.
“Anti-Creation”
The American AM Homes – some of whose books, such as “The End of Alice”, have created controversy – read extracts from the text On Censorship (On Censorship in French).
“No writer really wants to talk about censorship,” she ranted. “Writers want to talk about creation, and censorship is anti-creation. »
Salman Rushdie set part of the Islamic world ablaze with the publication of satanic verses in 1988, leading Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini to issue a fatwa calling for his assassination.
The author had been forced to live in hiding and under police protection, going from hiding place to hiding place.
Hari Kunzru, British novelist and journalist, recited the beginning of this book which radically transformed the life of Salman Rushdie.
“Salman once wrote that the role of a writer is to name the unspeakable, to show the impostors, to take sides, to start debates, to shape the world and keep it from falling asleep,” he said. “That’s why we are here. »
“Hero”
Arrested immediately after the incident, Mr Rushdie’s attacker, Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old Lebanese American, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault on Thursday in a first appearance after being charged by a grand jury.
“Not even a blade through the throat could silence the voice of Salman Rushdie,” said Suzanne Nossel, president of the association for the defense of writers around the world, PEN America, who initiated the rally, on Friday.
Before reading a text in turn, British author Tina Brown spoke directly to Salman Rushdie: “You never asked to play the role of a hero,” she said.
“You just wanted to write,” Ms. Brown continued. “But the tenacity with which you defended freedom of expression made you a hero, and you paid a heavy price. »
For writer and historian Amanda Foreman, Friday’s mobilization “shows that people are not afraid”.
“We are all ready to stand up for what we believe in,” she told AFP.
Salman Rushdie, born in 1947 in India into a family of non-practicing Muslim intellectuals, had lived in New York for twenty years and became an American citizen in 2016.
Despite the threat, he had appeared more and more frequently in public, often without visible protection, while continuing to champion satire and irreverence in his books.
In an interview given to the German magazine Stern a few days before the attack on Friday, he said he was “optimistic” and said: “Since I live in the United States, I no longer have any problems […] My life is back to normal. »