Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder  

by Salmon Rushdie

In 1989 Salmon Rushdie wrote  Satanic Verses in which comments about Mohamed were considered blasphemous by the Ayatollah in Tehran, who placed a “Fatwah” death sentence on Rushdie which required him to go underground greatly aided by the British Secret Service. During this period it was unsafe for Rushdie to appear in public but he remained active and continued to write. He also helped form an organization “City of Asylum Pittsburgh Project” to support writers who were under threat for writing literature that was considered inappropriate by various powerful, usually religious, organizations or individuals. He also was very happily married to Rachel Eliza Griffith, an artist and his third wife.

He was scheduled to speak at a conference in Chautauqua, New York, on August 12 2022, celebrating the success of this organization, and 33 years after his Fatwah. As he approached the podium to speak, a 24-year old man, who did not know Rushie nor had read Satanic Verses, charged out of the audience and stabbed him 15 times in 27 seconds.  What followed is presented in a 210-page, very detailed, and very personal account that covers his resuscitation, surgery, intensive care, rehabilitation program, and eventual return to his home in New York City. He details his struggles, fears, insights, interpersonal relationships, and the details of how he struggles but seem to overcome even the loss of one eye.  He is told by his publisher very early in his recovery that “you will eventually write about all this.” He does not identify his assailant but refers to him only as “A.” One chapter is an interesting imaginary interview between Rushdie and A, where he tries to understand how a person can be convinced to throw away his own life in an attempt to murder someone whom he does not know and whose book he has not read, in order to fulfill a Fatwa.

The question raised by our book club: “ What kind of man writes a book like this”?

Rushdie see his recovery as a “second chance” and also observes that “art will outlive the artist.”

Our book club had varied opinions about this book and its author. He made numerous references to his own work and a litany of references to the works of others. Some felt these were to contrast the importance of his own life in comparison to the unimportant person who almost took it. Others felt it was just excessive self-promotion. Most considered Knife to be a very unique read.

Fred G. Davis