Knife by Salman Rushdie

Fanatics never give up. They may change their mind and use the previous murderous energy for hoperfully better aims, but if they don´t you better take them seriously. They will take all the time in the world to achieve their goal. Goal which in most cases involves destruction and crime. 

Salman Rushdie is one of the best storytellers of our times - the late Paul Auster was another. I regularly review his new books on the blog and there are still some of them I haven´t yet time to do it. The Satanic Verses upsided down his and other people in his entourage lives. Showed him the limits of human empathy and the treachery of political promisses. In the biographical Joseph Anton he describes very well his disappointments and harassments of a life on the run. On the run against the fanatics.

He moves to the US, leaving the compromise-friendly UK, and kept writing beautiful books. He started to enjoy the simple things in life, like going to a restaurant, meeting friends in the open, taking part to literary events. This is where he was on August 12th, 2022. While taking part at a literary discussion organised at Chautauqua Institute, New York, a 24-year old fanatic stabbed him multiple times, in a religiously motivated attack that almost claimed his life. Rushdie was able to recover and wrote an account of his time fighting for his life, and the afterwards: Knife. Meditation after an Attempted Murder - I had access to the book in the German translation by Bernhard Robben. 

The book alternates detailed notes about what and how the attack took place, the medical procedures he underwent - among others, he lost one eye - and meditations, although short, about life´s ends and ovec. Especially love, which is relatively a new topic compared to previous writings - fictional or not. His multi-talented wife Rachel Eliza Griffiths, a writer, poet and visual artist, gave him the strength and the love to survive. Such energies help you jump in fire, and as someone who went through a life threatening medical emergency, I know how important guardian angels are to stay alive. 

Maybe some may expect from Knife - whose cover itself deserves the highest praise - a deep conversation about philosophy of life and death and other fluffy intermezzi people who never had the experience of being a survivor assume it comes into question in such situations. But being a survivor is the greatest story one has to tell. A story that will survive fanatics, I am more than sure about.

Rating: 4 stars