Writer Salman RushdieHe was stabbed to death by a Muslim fanatic last August. i can’t write right nowExcept that he has an almost paralyzed hand, something that prevents him from typing on the computer.
In his first interview since the attack, published in 20 pages by the weekly The New Yorker this Monday, Rushdie (75 years old) said that his creativity, which has not waned even after writing ‘The Satanic Verses’, has earned him a death sentence by the Iranian regime – now deeply affected.
I have what is called post traumatic stress disorder. I am having a very, very difficult time writing. I sit down to type and nothing happens. I write, but the combination of space and waste is what I write and delete the next day.“.
The feeling of sitting down and waiting for inspiration seems “depressing,” but thanks to the therapist she dealt with before the attack, it’s clear to her that she has no intention of “taking on the victim role.”
Rushdie’s last novel, ‘Victory City’, which was finished before the attack, goes on sale worldwide on Tuesday, and this time there will be no launch campaign for itself, but doesn’t rule out going to London soon for the premiere of a play Still pending and titled ‘Helen’ about the character of Helen of Troy.
The author has lost sight in one eye, as described by David Remnick, author of the lengthy article-interview, and the full-page photograph illustrating the article shows that he is wearing dark glasses to hide the affected eye, which is not without admiration. long scar running from top to bottom on one side of his face.
This more than ten stab wounds The attacker’s testimony rendered his left hand nearly useless as well, as his ulnar nerve was severely damaged and he lost sensation in both fingers and part of his palm. All this prevents him from typing, and he says he writes “slower” when it comes to doing it by hand.
He can’t write, but he hasn’t lost his eloquence.
not just After the attack, he lost 20 kg and lost one eye.and he has mobility problems in his left arm, but now he has a involuntary movement of the lip luckily that doesn’t prevent her from “speaking beautifully as always,” the author insists.
Rushdie set aside a project he had for a future novel that was simultaneously inspired by Franz Kafka and Thomas Mann, and although at first the attack was “uncomfortable” with the idea of writing it himself, he now does not prevail. comes out and thinks that this must be a story written in the first person singular.
As for his safety, Rushdie, who gave up almost everything after moving to New York nearly two decades ago, now He admits he’ll have to think about it.. For the time being and after the first six weeks of hospitalization, he lived confined to his own home, with the only exception being frequent visits to different doctors.
“I’ve had nightmares that tend to subside. I’m fine, I can get up and walk. When I say I’m fine, I mean there are parts of my body that need constant monitoring. It was a tremendous attack,” says the author.
The trial against the attacker Hadi Matar is expected to begin next year. He risks 25 years in prison for attempted second-degree murder, and also 7 more years for stabbing Henry Reese, another writer who tried to stop his attack on Rushdie (and possibly saved his life by doing so).