Rushdie tragedy
IT IS shocking to learn of the extent of the injuries suffered by Sir Salman Rushdie, 75, who was repeatedly stabbed by a 24-year-old man on August 12 in New York.
According to his literary agent, Andrew Wylie, “(His wounds) were profound, but he’s (also) lost the sight of one eye … He had three serious wounds in his neck. One hand is incapacitated because the nerves in his arm were cut. And he has about 15 more wounds in his chest and torso. So, it was a brutal attack.”
Wylie, who was speaking at the Frankfurt Book Fair, added: “The principal danger he faced so many years after the fatwa was imposed is from a random person coming out of nowhere and attacking (him). So, you can’t protect against that because it’s totally unexpected and illogical. It was like John Lennon’s murder.”
That Rushdie survived is a miracle but for a writer to lose an eye compounds the tragedy. One hopes his voice has not been silenced.
Views in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the newspaper