Book Review: Joseph Anton: A Memoir
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I very much enjoyed reading this book, on many levels. At its most basic, it’s a very detailed look at the story of the Iranian fatwa against Salman Rushdie, and all that it engendered in the world of literature, international relations and the life of the author. Having been too young to understand this event when it started, I appreciated the chance to learn that whole story - although there are surely shorter and less biased narratives I could have found.
At another level, it’s a look inside the mind of a novelist attempting to make sense of the world and to transform his lived experience into an art form. It just so happens that this particular novelist has a rather unusual set of lived experiences, so the story of that thought process is quite fascinating. Relatedly, it’s rather disarming to read his reflections on some of his most intimate relationships, ranging from reflections on four (!) different wives, to a wide range of his fellow writers and intellectuals, and finally to his two sons. I can only imagine what it takes to write with so much candor about such intimate details of one’s life. To be sure - he writes from a particular vantage point, and I’m certain that some of his characters would be glad to have the opportunity for a rebuttal given the chance. He is no saint, but he does appear to make the effort to be honest about his flaws.
At a different level, there are the more universal ideas that transcend this particular narrative. Setting aside the questions of freedom of expression which are obviously a major theme of the fatwa story, there is another theme which, unfortunately I think, does not get enough attention in this book: the concept of the secularized Muslim life. As someone who grew up alongside Muslims but did not share their faith, I think Rushdie comes by his appreciation for Muslim culture and theology, and his inspiration from those stories, quite honestly. In much the same way that a non-Christian in the Christian world can grow to appreciate the values and traditions of Christianity without actually being of the faith, so too (Rushdie claims) can a non-Muslim in the Muslim world become infused with a sort of secularized Muslim worldview. If we can filter out all the undercurrents of the fatwa story, I think that this idea is really what the fundamentalists were so violently opposed to: they did not want to make space for secularized Muslim culture, and Rushdie did. For anyone who believes that a more progressive Islam is possible and desirable, this concept is vitally important, I hope it gets more attention.
One final thought is that the “Bob Dole”-ization of this narrative is quite interesting, but also a little heartbreaking. Think about how much more difficult it would be to read this book, had it been written in the first person.