In Salman Rushdie’s latest book, his first since the 2022 stabbing incident that left him hospitalized and blind in one eye, the author swiftly delves into the harrowing memories of what could have been his final day.
Clocking in at just over 200 pages, “Knife” stands as a concise addition to Rushdie’s body of work, renowned for its exuberance and expansiveness among contemporary novelists. This memoir marks his return to introspection after nearly a decade since “Joseph Anton,” his 2012 reflection on surviving the fatwa issued by Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini over “The Satanic Verses.”
Initially forced into seclusion, Rushdie eventually emerged, embracing a life of travel, social interactions, and unfettered creativity as depicted in recent novels like “Quichotte” and “Victory City.”
Reflecting on the events of 2022 in “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder,” Rushdie muses on the eerie timing of the attack, which he describes as a resurgence of a past threat he had deemed long resolved. August 11, 2022, he dubs his “last innocent evening.”
Despite the brutal descriptions of the assault, “Knife” resonates with the familiar spirit found in Rushdie’s other works. The book’s opening chapter pays tribute to the heroism of Henry Reese, the moderator at the Chautauqua Institution event, whose swift action thwarted the assailant’s intentions.
Yet, if bravery encompasses resilience and humor in the face of trauma, “Knife” emerges as a testament to Rushdie’s journey from the depths of his ordeal to reclaiming the stage thirteen months later, achieving a state of “wounded happiness.”
