Salman Rushdie's memoir 'Knife' recounts his attack and recovery

In a vivid recounting of the harrowing events of 2022, Salman Rushdie shares the details of the attack he suffered and its lingering effects on his health and perspective on life.

Rushdie vividly recounts the details of the attack, including how the assailant suddenly sprinted onto the stage and stabbed him repeatedly.

Rushdie describes seeing a man rise from the audience, rush towards him on stage, and begin attacking him with a knife. Initially, he did not see the knife and thought he had only been hit, but the sight of blood made him realize he was being stabbed. He has tried to count his wounds multiple times but keeps losing track, estimating at least 12, possibly 13, or 14 stab wounds.

Despite the severity of the attack, Rushdie acknowledges that he was also "very lucky" in several ways, including the proximity of a trauma hospital and the fact that the assailant did not know how to effectively kill with a knife.

Rushdie explains that he was fortunate to have a trauma hospital nearby in Pennsylvania, reachable by helicopter, and how sunny weather allowed for his swift aerial transport, which likely saved his life. He notes a surgeon's remarks about his luck post-attack, stating that his assailant lacked the knowledge to kill someone effectively with a knife. This lack of skill led to haphazard stabbing rather than fatal precision.

Rushdie's recovery has involved a long, difficult process, including the permanent loss of vision in one eye and lack of feeling in two fingers on his left hand.

Rushdie details his re ...

In Salman Rushdie's new memoir, he expresses great affection and gratitude for his wife, Eliza, referring to her as the "clear hero" throughout his journey of recovery.

Rushdie speaks with great affection and gratitude for his wife, Eliza, who he describes as a "clear hero" of his story.

Rushdie's recount of his first meeting with Eliza is filled with dramatic irony, as he narrates a comically foreshadowing incident. He was so entranced by her presence that he walked into a glass door, resulting in his glasses cutting his nose—a mishap that left him concerned he might pass out from the bleeding. Despite the initial accident, their connection is evidently profound and Eliza's role in Rushdie's life becomes a mainstay in his narrative.

Rushdie recounts how he first met Eliza in a comically foreshadowing incident, where he walked into a glass door while distracted by her presence.

Eliza's steadfast support is poignantly illustrated by Rushdie's insistence on not facing his challenges alone, especially when revisiting the site of his stabbing. He recalls a specific moment during this visit, articulating a palpable sense of relief as if a heavy weight had been physically lifted from his shoulders.

Eliza's unwavering support and presence were crucial during Rushdie's recovery, including accompanying him on his difficult return to the attack site.

Mary Louise Kelly, referring to Eliza's accompaniment during this significant event, emphasizes her support. For Eliza, having never seen the location, it ...

Rushdie's brush with death has led him to question his longstanding skepticism about the supernatural and miraculous.

Salman Rushdie reflects on his near-death experience, which he feels underscores his belief in the absence of the supernatural. He describes that while he was lying on the ground, on the brink of death, there were no "choirs of angels" or "tunnel of light"; it was just "somebody physically lying on the ground, bleeding to death." This absence of a spiritual encounter during such a critical moment reaffirmed his skepticism regarding the supernatural.

Rushdie notes that his near-death experience lacked any "choirs of angels" or "tunnel of light," simply a man bleeding to death, which reinforced his lack of belief in the supernatural.

Yet Rushdie also recognizes a paradox between his disbelief in miracles and the content of his books, which are replete with magical and surreal elements. He muses that perhaps through his novels, he has allowed the miraculous to leap from fiction into reality.

However, Rushdie acknowledges that his own fictional works have long explored the realm of the magical and surreal, suggesting a dissonance between his writing and his personal beliefs.

Rushdie suggests that the "craziness of the world" requires a more surreal, rather than strictly realistic, approach to capturing it in his writing.

Explaining his literary choices, Rushdie suggests that traditional realism is insufficient to capture the true nature of an increasingly insane world. With daily news underscoring the world's surreal nature, R ...

After the fatwa and the subsequent attack, Salman Rushdie expresses his frustration with being defined by these events rather than his work as a novelist, a career to which he has devoted the majority of his life.

Rushdie's commitment to his literary career despite overshadowing events

Salman Rushdie urges readers to engage with his extensive body of work, which extends far beyond "The Satanic Verses" and the attack associated with it. He recommends more recent novels like "Victory City," suggesting it and others such as "Midnight's Children" and "Haroun and the Sea of Stories," as better starting points to understand his literature. This diversity of work, Rushdie implies, provides a more comprehensive view into his career and talents as a writer.

Despite the overshadowing nature of the fatwa and the attack, Rushdie considers some of his novels to be quite good and believes that they deserve more attention. However, he recognizes that this notoriety might be what he is best known for, although it has introduced his writing to new readers—a situation he notes he would have preferred to come about under different circumstances.

Reclaiming identity through memoir and personal res ...