He Says He Doesn’t Regret Writing ‘The Satanic Verses’: “It’s One of My Best Books”
British writer of Indian origin Salman Rushdie has accused US President Donald Trump of “turning the Republican Party into a cult” that idolizes its leader, and has compared the president to a child.
“He’s like a very fat, very old child,” he asserted this Friday at the Metafuturo forum, organized by Atresmedia at CaixaForum Barcelona, in a conversation with journalist Sonsoles Ónega, entitled “The Revenge of Living (and Writing).”
Rushdie criticized Trump’s style of governing and warned of the global consequences it is having, for example, in the war in Ukraine: “It’s going to depend a lot on what Trump thinks,” he cautioned.
The author of ‘The Satanic Verses’ has stated that he does not regret writing it, despite the assassination attempt he suffered in 2022 when he was stabbed during a presentation in upstate New York, more than 30 years after Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against him following the book’s publication.
“What I regret is what happened, but I believe it’s one of my best books, and I’m proud to have written it,” Rushdie emphasized, adding that he is also proud that the novel survived the attacks it faced after publication, as some printers refused to print it, he explained.
CENSORSHIP AND SELF-CENSORSHIP
He asserted that censorship creates a problem, and warned that historically and today, “the most significant pressure from censorship comes from the right; conservative forces want to limit what is said.” He added that this is happening in the United States, with the banning of some books in schools.
He also maintained that he is concerned that young writers are self-censoring due to political correctness, and pointed out that “there is this view that it is acceptable to prevent certain types of discourse.” He believes this view comes from both progressive and conservative sides, and this, according to him, makes the work of writers more difficult.
“The solution is to not give a damn. And the only way to fight against problematic restrictions is to act as if they weren’t there, as if they didn’t exist. But I think it’s a difficult time,” Rushdie stated, adding that if he were a young writer, he would have these discourses in his head, although he believes he would find the strength to ignore them.
AI IS A “PLAGIARISM MACHINE”
Regarding the rise of Artificial Intelligence in the world of writing, Rushdie asserted that it poses no threat to creative writing because it is not original, and described it as a “massive plagiarism machine.”
However, he does consider AI dangerous in the creation of video images that are not real but appear to be, warning that the Trump administration “has begun publishing fake videos as if they were real.”
When asked about his opinion of the new mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, he joked that he has a biased view because he is a friend of his mother, adding that Mamdani ran a great campaign and positively noted the increased voter turnout among younger generations.
