I own, and
first read, my first American edition of Rushdie’s novel, Satanic Verses (Viking
1989), that resulted in the Ayatollah Khomeini issuing a fatwa ordering Muslims
to kill him.
I have dyslexia,
but as a result I am a fast reader (another story.) I easily read a novel (300 – 400 pages) in
ten days, if I can stay awake an hour each night before falling to sleep; but,
not Rushdie’s.
As with poetry,
a Rushdie novel requires me to slow down and laboriously, but lovingly, read
word for word.
His new
novel is titled Quichotte, a parallel to Cervantes Don Quixote, another
favorite of mine that I have read many times, but taking place in today’s America.
It is
difficult to explain the prose of Rushdie that so fascinates me; so, if you
have never read Rushdie, I offer his first sentence as an example of his unique
writing style.
“There
once lived, at a series of temporary addresses across the United States of
America, a traveling man of Indian origin, advancing years, and retreating
mental powers, who, on account of his love for mindless television, had spent
far too much of his life in the yellow light of tawdry motel rooms watching an
excess of it, and had suffered a peculiar form of brain damage as a results.”
His next
sentence, to the best of my computation, is one-hundred and seventy-four words
and nineteen lines long.
If you
belong to a reading group, this would be an excellent book for study and discussion;
if you enjoy reading writers with an unusual cadence and stories with many
facets, I urge you to take a look at Quichotte.
If you have
not read Cervantes Don Quixote – at least check out the musical or the audio
book: this is, of all times, a time to tilt at windmills.
the Ol'Buzzard
Interesting.
ReplyDeleteI heard Salman Rushdie interviewed on CBC radio about his latest novel and it sounded good. I must blush with shame and confess that I've never read "The Satanic Verses" -- but it's been on my reading list since 1989, so that's 30 years. OMG! I must get around to it one of these days.
ReplyDeleteHe writes like good writers used to write. Hemingway would have hated his style.
I am giving serious thought to actually buying Rushdie's latest. I know it's never going to show up at the local library.
ReplyDelete