Path: cmcl2!cmcl2.nyu.edu!grewals From: grewals@acf2.nyu.edu (Subir Grewal) Newsgroups: alt.religion.islam,soc.culture.pakistan,soc.culture.egyptian,soc.culture.arabic,soc.culture.maghreb,alt.culture.saudi,soc.culture.indian Subject: Re: Salman Rushdie's book belongs only to soc.culture.british and literature groups. Date: 11 Sep 1995 22:58:21 GMT Organization: New York University Lines: 65 Message-ID: <432eud$elc@cmcl2.NYU.EDU> References: <42tbnr$7i7@newsflash.concordia.ca> <42vh02$gqr@newsbf02.news.aol.com> <431d59$mjt@newsflash.concordia.ca> NNTP-Posting-Host: acf2.nyu.edu Follow-ups: soc.culture.pakistan,soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.egyptian,alt.religion.islam X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.2 PL2] Xref: cmcl2 alt.religion.islam:16401 soc.culture.pakistan:106007 soc.culture.egyptian:4549 soc.culture.arabic:48379 soc.culture.maghreb:8885 alt.culture.saudi:1232 soc.culture.indian:274267 [soc.culture.indian added to distribution, follow-ups directed to: soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.pakistan,soc.culture.egyptian,alt.religion.islam] : Ilyess Bdira (ilyess@ece.concordia.ca) wrote: : : you are Salman Rushdie, is saying that I am as ready to insult your religious : : icons and to slander your religion as he was. Of course Islam was instended to be devoid of icons. The more things change the more they remain the same. : : Yes there are Muslim fans who read his books, but there are many more : : Rushdie fans who never read his book. His books are decent, but still : : low-calibre. A high caliber writer would be Hemingway, Poe, etc.. : : that is my opinion. (sorry could not find British writers riight off my head).. As you yourself know very well, people often flock to those whose views they support. Unfortunately your self-delusion that people support Rushdie because he is "anti-Islam" is quite naiive to say the least. It is equally plausible that they support Rushdie because he has been unduly subjected to censorship the world over. : : That style of writing does not impress me at all (and I read a lot of short : : stories in three languages using that hallucinating style, did not like it : : in any language). About his book, I could not stand it.. Too long, you can only : : endure that kind of book if your mind is into that kind of hallucinations. Try Gabriel Garcias Marquez, Milan Kundera, Shashi Tharoor's "The great Indian story", to name only contemporary writers. If however you are impressed with age alone read Don Quixote by Cervantes, the precursor to all the fine work that Spanish culture has produced in the field of magical realism. : : writer's best critics are his readers. Rushdie WAS an unknown to most people, : : and he wrote the "verses", and no body noticed for more than 4 months...until : : somebody gave a copy to some Pakistani Mullahs or something like that... : : Probably somebody trying to market the book. The rest is history. Your facts are a little skewed. The whole hullabaloo arose when Khushwant Singh (on reading the book) suggested it might be interpreted as casting a derogatory light on the prophet. Some members of the muslim community in India acting on Khushwant Singh cricism (without reading the book themselves of course) raised a hue and cry about it. The Indian govt. promptly banned the book (very bad move) AND the rest is history. : : Of cou rse, as I said, the fatwah is a totally different matter. : : If I write any future replies, it would be in soc.culture... Well this belongs : : nowhere, so no more replies in any of the above newsgroups. Duh, you can always trim follow-ups. -- Subir Grewal grewals@acf2.nyu.edu Washington Square News on the WWWeb http://www.nyu.edu/pages/wsn/ ------------------------Standard disclaimer applies-------------------------- "By necessity, by proclivity, and by delight, we all quote. In fact, it is as difficult to appropriate the thoughts of others as it is to invent. (R. Emerson)" -- Quoted from a fortune cookie program (whose author claims, "Actually, stealing IS easier.") [to which I reply, "You think it's easy for me to misconstrue all these misquotations?!?"]