The Hindu : Front Page : Rushdie made a knight

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 17, 2007
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Rushdie made a knight

Hasan Suroor

Salman Rushdie

LONDON: Move over Mr. Rushdie. Welcome Sir Salman. Novelist Salman Rushdie has joined the grand legion of the knights of the non-existent British empire after being awarded knighthood by the Queen for his "services" to literature.

He is the first writer from the Indian subcontinent in the post-colonial era to be given Britain's highest honour. The event coincides with the 60th anniversary of Indian Independence and his own upcoming 60th birthday. He said he was "humbled" by the gesture. "I am thrilled and humbled to receive this great honour, and am very grateful that my work has been recognised in this way," the author said in a statement.

Sir Salman, who has had a somewhat tense relationship with the British establishment, moved to New York a few years ago after denouncing the London literary scene. British critics returned the "compliment" when they savaged Fury, the first novel he wrote after moving to America. But lately relations have been on the mend and his latest book Shalimar the Clown won near-unanimous critical acclaim here.

The knighthood is seen as a further confirmation that they have finally buried the hatchet.

"The announcement signals a belated endorsement by the British establishment, 18 years after the author was forced to go into hiding for 10 years after The Satanic Verses was condemned as blasphemy by Iran's late spiritual leader [Ayotallah Khomeini]," The Guardian said.

Critics recalled that Sir Salman was largely shunned by many of his own peers as fundamentalist Muslims burnt copies of The Satanic Verses on the streets and he faced assassination threats following the Iranian fatwa in 1989. The knighthood, they said, signalled an acknowledgement that Britain was less than generous to him when he was going through the darkest phase of his life.

Literary career

Mumbai-born Sir Salman is best known for his second novel, Midnight's Children: it won the Booker Prize in 1981, and the Booker of Bookers in 1993. But it was The Satanic Verses, published in 1988, which turned his world upside down. Muslims around the world protested his portrayal of the Prophet and Iran imposed the fatwa on him. India was among the first countries to ban the novel under pressure. Sir Salman remains a strong critic of Islamic "totalitarianism" and has called for fundamental reforms in Islam to bring it in tune with the demands of the modern world.

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