âAt a quarter to eleven on August 12, 2022, on a sunny Friday morning in upstate New York, I was attacked and almost killed by a young man with a knife,â begins Salman Rushdieâs new memoir.
The book, titled Knife, reflects on the attack at the Chautauqua Institution, where the writer was stabbed on stage shortly before giving a talk. It is the first book the Indian-born British-American author has written since the attack, which left him unable to see from his right eye.
Here are 10 things weâve learned about the attack and Rushdieâs recovery from Knife.
1. He thought he would die
As Rushdie was being introduced on stage at Chautauqua, he saw a âsquat missileâ running towards him. His first thought was: âSo itâs you. Here you are.â Soon followed another thought: âWhy now? Really? Itâs been so long.â The alleged attacker, Hadi Matar, then stabbed him around 10 times. âWhy didnât I fight? Why didnât I run? I just stood there like a piñata and let him smash me,â writes Rushdie.
He remembers lying in a pool of blood and thinking that he was dying. âIt didnât feel dramatic, or particularly awful. It just felt probable ⦠matter-of-factâ. There was ânothing supernaturalâ about the experience; it was âintensely physicalâ. He felt a âprofound lonelinessâ at the idea that he would die far from loved ones, surrounded by strangers.
2. His wife was told he wasnât going to make it
Rushdieâs wife, the poet and novelist Rachel Eliza Griffiths, was told of the attack over the phone by the writer Safiya Sinclair. Griffiths, as well as Rushdieâs sons in London, had very little reliable information: rumours swirled that Rushdie was dead, had been punched but not killed, had got to his feet and left the stage and was OK. Somebody called Eliza Griffiths â she canât remember who â to tell her Rushdie wasnât going to make it. She spoke to Rushdieâs literary agents, Andrew Wylie and Jin Auh, who found a plane to take her to Rushdie. âIt would cost over $20,000. Never mind,â writes Rushdie.
3. He was buoyed by worldwide support in hospital
When Rushdie regained consciousness, he saw visions of majestic palaces built out of alphabets. He opened his left eye, and realised he was on a ventilator, which âwas like having an armadilloâs tail pushed down your throatâ.
While in hospital, he became aware of a âworldwide avalanche of horror, support and admirationâ. Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron, and Boris Johnson â the last of whom had once written an article saying that Rushdie didnât deserve his knighthood â all spoke out. âIndia, the country of my birth and my deepest inspiration, on that day found no words,â he writes.
4. He had dreamed about being attacked days before
Two days before Rushdie flew to Chautauqua, he had a dream about being attacked by a gladiator wielding a spear in a Roman ampitheatre. Though Rushdie doesnât believe in premonitions, the dream felt like one â particularly as the Chautauqua venue was also an ampitheatre. âI donât want to go,â he told his wife. Yet he felt ticket-holders were depending on him. He was also due to be paid âgenerouslyâ, which would help pay for a new air-conditioning system for his home.
5. He wasnât sure he wanted to write about the stabbing
Following the attack, Wylie was Rushdieâs first visitor other than family. Rushdie told him that he didnât know if he could write again. Wylie said that he shouldnât think about doing anything for a year, except getting better: âBut eventually youâll write about this, of course,â he added. Rushdie said that he wasnât sure he wanted to. âYouâll write about it,â said Wylie.
6. He sees his novels as âforeshadowingâ the attack
The novel that would become Shalimar the Clown, published in 2005, was inspired by an image that Rushdie couldnât get out of his mind: a dead man on the ground with his killer stood over him holding a knife. He now sees this as a âforeshadowingâ. The opening lines of The Satanic Verses â the book that led to him being issued a fatwa in 1989 by Iranâs then-leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini â also âreturned to hauntâ him: ââTo be born again,â sang Gibreel Farishta tumbling from the heavens, âfirst you have to dieâ.â
7. He has suffered PTSD in the form of nightmares
Since the attack, Rushdie has suffered with vivid nightmares. He dreamed of the blinding of the Earl of Gloucester by the Duke of Cornwall in King Lear; he dreamed of a scene that resembled Théodore Géricaultâs painting The Raft of the Medusa, but the people on the raft were surrealists â Salvador DalÃ, Luis Buñuel, René Magritte â and were fighting, trying to gouge out one anotherâs eyes.
8. He had a prostate cancer scare shortly after the attack
During an outpatient appointment, a doctor suggested a prostate exam, as Rushdie hadnât had one for a while. The urologist discovered a âsmall bumpâ on the prostate, and ordered an MRI scan. âI was at a loss for words. Really? After I narrowly survived a murder attempt, now I had to face the prospect of cancer?â writes Rushdie. After two MRI scans, it was determined that Rushdie did not have cancer â the bump had been caused by a UTI.
9. He revisited the Chautauqua Institution
Just over a year after the attack, Rushdie revisited the Chautauqua Institution stage with Eliza Griffiths. âAs we stood there in the stillness I realised that a burden had lifted from me somehow, and the best word I could find for what I was feeling was lightness,â writes Rushdie.
He also visited the jail where Matar is held in custody. Standing in front of it, picturing Matar in his prison uniform, he felt âfoolishly happyâ and wanted, âabsurdlyâ, to dance. He had also felt the urge to meet Matar, a plan to which Eliza was âstrongly opposedâ.
10. He doesnât believe in miracles, but saw his survival as miraculous
Soon after the attack, Eliza Griffiths told Rushdie that many people were saying âsome greater forceâ protected him. âThe reality of my books â oh, call it magical realism if you must â is now the actual reality in which Iâm living,â Rushdie reflected. âMaybe my books had been building that bridge for decades, and now the miraculous could cross it. The magic had become realism. Maybe my books saved my life.â But he quickly adds: âI sounded delirious even to myself.â