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Martin Amis describes arguing with Prince Charles over Rushdie fatwa Martin Amis describes arguing with Prince Charles over Rushdie fatwa
(about 4 hours later)
Alison Flood
Martin Amis "had an argument" with Prince Charles over his refusal to support Salman Rushdie after a fatwa was issued against him, the author has said.Martin Amis "had an argument" with Prince Charles over his refusal to support Salman Rushdie after a fatwa was issued against him, the author has said.
Amis told the new issue of Vanity Fair that he argued with Charles "at a small dinner party" following the worldwide storm which ensued after publication of Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses in 1989. Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini had issued the fatwa against Rushdie, who was accused of "insulting" Islam in the novel, saying that every Muslim must "employ everything he has got" to kill him. Copies of the book were burned around the world, Rushdie's Norwegian publisher was shot, his Japanese editor murdered and his Italian translator stabbed, with hundreds of people dying in riots protesting the novel's publication. Amis told Vanity Fair he argued with Charles "at a small dinner party" following the worldwide storm that ensued after publication of Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses in 1989.
According to Amis, Prince Charles "said – very typically, it seems to me – 'I'm sorry, but if someone insults someone else's deepest convictions, well then,' blah blah blah …" said the novelist. "And I said that a novel doesn't set out to insult anyone. 'It sets out to give pleasure to its readers,' I told him. 'A novel is an essentially playful undertaking, and this is an exceedingly playful novel." Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issued the fatwa against Rushdie, who was accused of "insulting" Islam in the novel, saying that every Muslim must "employ everything he has got" to kill him.
Amis said that "the Prince took it on board, but I'd suppose the next night at a different party he would have said the same thing". Prince Charles was not alone in expressing criticism of The Satanic Verses; John le Carré wrote in the Guardian at the time that "nobody has a God-given right to insult a great world religion and be published with impunity", while Roald Dahl called Rushdie "a dangerous opportunist" who "must have been totally aware of the deep and violent feelings his book would stir up among devout Muslims". Copies of the book were burned around the world, Rushdie's Norwegian publisher was shot, his Japanese editor murdered and his Italian translator stabbed, with many people dying in riots protesting the novel's publication.
According to Amis, Prince Charles "said – very typically, it seems to me – 'I'm sorry, but if someone insults someone else's deepest convictions, well then,' blah blah blah" said the novelist. "And I said that a novel doesn't set out to insult anyone. 'It sets out to give pleasure to its readers,' I told him. 'A novel is an essentially playful undertaking, and this is an exceedingly playful novel."
Amis said that "the Prince took it on board, but I'd suppose the next night at a different party he would have said the same thing". Prince Charles was not alone in expressing criticism of The Satanic Verses; John le Carré wrote in the Guardian at the time that nobody had "a God-given right to insult a great world religion and be published with impunity", while Roald Dahl called Rushdie "a dangerous opportunist" who "must have been totally aware of the deep and violent feelings his book would stir up among devout Muslims".
Amis has written in the past about how his friend and fellow novelist "disappeared into the world of block caps. He had vanished into the front page" after the fatwa was issued, and headlines were reading: "EXECUTE RUSHDIE ORDERS THE AYATOLLAH".Amis has written in the past about how his friend and fellow novelist "disappeared into the world of block caps. He had vanished into the front page" after the fatwa was issued, and headlines were reading: "EXECUTE RUSHDIE ORDERS THE AYATOLLAH".
Vanity Fair, marking 25 years since the fatwa was issued, has asked a group of novelists about their memories of the time. Stephen King told the magazine that he intervened on Rushdie's behalf after an American book chain said it would not be stocking The Satanic Verses. "At the behest of two Viking editors, King called the chief of bookstore chain B Dalton and gave him an ultimatum: 'you don't sell The Satanic Verses, you don't sell Stephen King'. The store reversed course. "You can't let intimidation stop books," King now says, recalling the episode. "It's as basic as that. Books are life itself." Vanity Fair, marking 25 years since the fatwa was issued, has asked a group of novelists about their memories of the time.
Ian McEwan remembered a dinner party he held for the fugitive Rushdie at his Gloucestershire cottage, and "standing the next morning with Salman in the country kitchen, a grey English morning, and he was the lead item on the BBC – another Middle East figure saying he too would condemn him to death. It was a very sad moment –standing buttering toast and listening to that awful message on the radio." Stephen King told the magazine that, after a US book chain said it would not stock The Satanic Verses, he intervened on Rushdie's behalf. At the behest of two Viking editors, King called the chief of bookstore chain B Dalton and gave him an ultimatum: "you don't sell The Satanic Verses, you don't sell Stephen King." The store reversed course. "You can't let intimidation stop books," King said, recalling the episode. "It's as basic as that. Books are life itself."
Rushdie himself told Vanity Fair that "Ian was very upset. For me, there were threats like this every day, sometimes two or three times … I was shaken, I'm sure, but Ian is a loving man, and I think he was even more shaken than I was by the violence of the assault on his friend." Ian McEwan remembered a dinner party he held for the fugitive Rushdie at his Gloucestershire cottage, and "standing the next morning with Salman in the country kitchen, a grey English morning, and he was the lead item on the BBC – another Middle East figure saying he too would condemn him to death. It was a very sad moment – standing buttering toast and listening to that awful message on the radio."
Rushdie also recalled Graham Greene calling out to him during a lunch at London's Reform Club in 1989: "Rushdie! Come and sit here and tell me how you managed to make so much trouble! I never made nearly as much trouble as that!" Rushdie described Greene's salute as "oddly comforting" to the magazine. "England's most famous living author was making light of the fix he was in," as Vanity Fair puts it. Rushdie told Vanity Fair that "Ian was very upset. For me, there were threats like this every day, sometimes two or three times … I was shaken, I'm sure, but Ian is a loving man, and I think he was even more shaken than I was by the violence of the assault on his friend."
Rushdie also recalled Graham Greene calling out to him during a lunch at London's Reform Club in 1989: "Rushdie! Come and sit here and tell me how you managed to make so much trouble! I never made nearly as much trouble as that!" Rushdie described Greene's salute as "oddly comforting".
• This article was amended on 15 April to change "hundreds of people" dying to "many".