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| Sir Salman Rushdie So much for the quiet life. This year Sir Salman Rushdie attempted to speak at the Jaipur Literature Festival in the face of a political firestorm and the threat of violence; brought his novel, Midnight's Children, to the big screen (due out late 2012); decided to "experiment" with Twitter (330,000 followers and rising); and, finally, wrote the book which his millions of fans have been waiting years for: Joseph Anton, the tale of his decade in hiding following a fatwa, which theTimes is already calling "the most significant literary memoir of the 21st century". |
And, GQ hopes, our Men Of The Year Inspiration award doesn't hurt either. "I'm delighted," says Rushdie, now 65. "After presenting an award last year [to U2], it's nice to be on the receiving end!"
"Thrillerish," is how he describes Joseph Anton. For a long time, Rushdie resisted the idea of revisiting his own experiences. But after the sale of his archive to Emory University in 2006, 150 boxes of unfiled papers were transformed into a master index, meaning the material was just an easy e-mail away.
Hating the sound of himself narrating, Rushdie decided to write in the third person. "I could just take one step to the left and look at myself as a character in the story," he says.
The book comes unadorned by index or photos. "I thought, 'Don't do that.' Just… here's a book. Read it."GQ strongly suggests you do.
Originally published in the October 2012 issue of British GQ.
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