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Salman Rushdie at the Book Passage. Photos by Kieran Ridge and Hiromi Oda.

Out of Hiding

Salman Rushdie speaks in Marin

By Caitlin Prendiville
Special to AsianWeek

The Book Passage in Corte Madera is crammed with more than 200 people, eagerly awaiting the arrival of controversial Indian British author, Salman Rushdie. Behind the reserved seats, the people crowd in the doorway, crouch on the aisles and peer in through the windows to catch a glimpse of the writer.

The audience cheers and applauds as Rushdie is introduced. His warm smile soothes the crowd, washing away any anxiety surrounding the man who had been in hiding for most of the 1990s. After Rushdie published The Satanic Verses in 1988, the Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, condemning Rushdie to death for alleged blasphemous references to the prophet, Mohammed. But the threat has passed — it seems that Islamic militants have bigger fish to fry these days — and there were no signs of bodyguards at the reading.

“In all of India, China, Africa and much of the southern American continent, those who had the leisure and wallet for fashion — or more simply, in the poorer latitudes, for the mere acquisition of things — would have killed for the street merchandise of Manhattan, and also for the cast-off clothing and soft furnishing to be found in the opulent thrift stores ... America insulted the rest of the planet, thought Malik in his old-fashioned way, by treating such bounty with the shoulder-shrugging casualness of the inequitably wealthy.”

The Book Passage audience nods in agreement as the sun glints off shiny new SUVs and luxury sports cars parked outside. Was it this contradiction between materialism and new-age spiritualism that drove Marin native John Walker Lindh to Afghanistan?

In Rushdie’s pre-Sept. 11, New York, “stores, dealerships, galleries struggled to satisfy the sky-rocketing demand for ever more recherché produce: limited-edition olive oils, $300 corkscrews, customized Humvees, the latest anti-virus software, escort services featuring contortionists and twins, video installations, outsider art, featherlight shawls made from the chin-fluff of extinct mountain goats …The future was a casino, and everyone was gambling, and everyone expected to win.”

Rushdie explains that many people’s reaction to Fury is a nostalgic one. “Fury is like a flashback to the world of Sept. 10.” Rushdie’s novel may evoke nostalgia in some, but for others it offers a clear premonition that some kind of backlash against the excesses of Western culture is bound to come. He clearly predicts a confrontation between the two opposing worlds, as a result of our “frontier times,” by which he means our scary world of rapid globalization of technology and culture.

As an Indian immigrant to the West — in his case England — and in converting to and then leaving the Muslim faith, Rushdie has had a deep life-long involvement in negotiating between cultures. In his most recent book, Step Across This Line, he stands between Western culture and fundamentalist Islam, offering insights and criticisms of both. Discussing the book, he compares American fundamentalism with Pakistani fundamentalism.

The audience’s reaction to one of Rushdie’s many pithy remarks.

Another topic in the book is the last American presidential election. When asked for his thoughts on the election controversy, Rushdie says that what frightened him was that most of America seemed to ignore it.

“If it had happened in France or England, there would have been violence on the streets.” He pauses and grins. “Not that violence on the streets is a good thing.”

In Rushdie’s 1980 novel Midnight’s Children, the protagonist, Saleem Sinai, possesses the power to smell trouble and bears the burden of being the messenger of bad news — on a grand historical scale. At the Book Passage, Rushdie jokes that it’s a bad fate to be a character in one of his novels. It seems, though, that Rushdie and Sinai possess the same kind of dangerous talent.

Rushdie’s willingness to criticize forces on all sides of the argument has made him numerous friends and foes in every corner of the world. When asked for his views on censorship, he says: “I’m obstinate. When people try to tell me what to say, it just makes me want to do the opposite.”

Rushdie finishes and thanks the crowd, and the atmosphere of the room dramatically switches from politely hushed to cafeteria level chatter as everyone stands and excitedly flutters to the book-signing line.

As I leave I applaud Rushdie’s amazing integrity, but worry about the future of America.

Salman Rushdie appeared as part of the ongoing Writer’s Series at The Book Passage: 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera, CA Tel: 415-927-0960. www.bookpassage.com.

Caitlin Prendiville is the editor of The Student Voice at The Marin School in Mill Valley, Calif.