Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses

Vassilena Parashkevova (University of Surrey)

Ed. by John Thieme, University of East Anglia
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 10.3.5: South Asian Diasporic Literature and Culture, 1800-present.
Vol. editors: Claire Gallien (Université Paul Valéry Montpellier 3), Pavan Kumar Malreddy (J W Goethe University of Frankfurt), Delphine Munos (Université de Liège), Muneeza Shamsie (Independent Scholar - Asia), Niaz Zaman (Independent University Bangladesh)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1988

Places

India (Country of Origin)
United Kingdom (Publication/ performance)

Genres and Modes

Allegory
Novel

Resources

On 14^th February 1989, Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini pronounced a fatwa(death sentence) on Salman Rushdie's life because of the alleged blasphemous representation of Islam and the life of Mohammed in his novel, The Satanic Verses. Subsequently, Rushdie was forced to go into hiding until the fatwa was revoked in September 1998. Many other events have since been included in the so-called “Rushdie Affair”: the demand of the British Union of Muslim Organizations for criminal prosecution of Rushdie; India's ban of the book; its ritual burnings in Bolton and Bradford; and the murder of its Japanese translator. Such extreme, prejudicial responses, no doubt involving many who have not read the book, have t…

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2559 words

Citation: Parashkevova, Vassilena. "The Satanic Verses". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 November 2005 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7647, accessed 22 November 2024.]

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