Who is Salman Rushdie, the writer who faced a death sentence for his literature

Salman Rushdie He is one of the most important authors in the English language in recent decades. Outside of his language, he achieved unwanted fame with Ayatollah Ruhollah Komeini’s death sentence in February 1989. Before that, he was already celebrated as a relevant novelist.

Born in Mumbai in 1947, he grew up in India until 1961, when he came to England. He studied at Cambridge and in 1968 he graduated in History. He specialized in Islamic subjectsa very expensive subject for someone who had grown up as a Muslim.

In 1975 his first novel appeared, Grimus. But was the publication of his next work, children of midnightthe one that catapulted him to fame, in 1981. Written in a register similar to that of magical realism, it was a success and earned him the Booker Prize, the main literary award in the United Kingdom. Two years later he appeared Shame.

After a five-year literary silence, Rushdie reappeared in 1988 with the satanic versesthe book that changed his life. The novel is built around the figure of a false Mohammed and was interpreted as questioning Islam, which was repeatedly questioned by the author. A part of the Muslim world reacted with virulence. In Rushdie’s native country it was banned.

The most serious referral occurred on February 14, 1989, when Komeini launched Rushdie’s death sentence and promised Paradise for whoever murdered the writer. The incentive was three million dollars, a number that grew over the years.

The author had to live in hiding ever since, while the UK broke off relations with Iran. In July 1991, Hitoshi Igarashi, the translator of the book into Japanese, was assassinated.. In the middle, the Viking publishing house denied to publish Rushdie’s next book, Harun and the sea of ​​stories.

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In July 1993 there was an attack that killed 37 people in Turkey. Apparently, the target was the translator of the satanic verses to turkish. In October, there was an attack on the Norwegian translator. In 1998 there was a rapprochement between Tehran and Londonand the Iranians promised not to promote the writer’s assassination, although Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei claimed responsibility for Komeini’s decree in 2005.

Rushdie stayed in hiding until 2002, and has since tried to lead a normal life. Iran protested when Queen Elizabeth II decorated him in 2007. In 2012 he gave testimony of his years hidden in the book joseph anton. A decade later, he suffered the assault that reconnects him with the satanic verses.

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