Salman Rushdie's gripping take on being stabbed

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There are, writes Sir Salman Rushdie, "three important characters" in "Knife", a new memoir of his near-fatal stabbing in August 2022 and his arduous recovery. The first two are predictable: the author and his blade-wielding assailant. The third character turns this chronicle of violence into a surprisingly tender and redemptive story.

Sir Salman was about to speak at a festival in upstate New York when a black-clad man charged the stage. His first thought was: "So it's you. Here you are." It was 33 years since Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran had called for his death because of the alleged blasphemy of his novel, "The Satanic Verses". It was more than 20 since he moved to America after years of police protection in Britain. Now the half-expected, still-astonishing assassin was upon him. "I raise my left hand in self-defence. He plunges the knife into it."

This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline "The knife and the heart"

From the April 20th 2024 edition

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