“If it hadn’t been for Henry and the viewers, I wouldn’t be sitting right here writing these phrases,” Rushdie says within the guide. “That Chautauqua morning I skilled each the worst and better of human nature, nearly concurrently.”
At first it was unclear whether or not he would survive.
“The gravity of his wounds was simply insane, like one thing out of a horror movie,” mentioned Andrew Wylie, who has represented the writer for many years. Rushdie remained within the hospital for almost two months. Even after returning house, he had vivid, horrific desires — concerning the blinding of the Duke of Gloucester in “King Lear,” concerning the opening sequence of the Luis Buñuel film “Un Chien Andalou,” by which a cloud drifting throughout the moon turns into a razor blade slicing a watch. He had medical appointments nearly day-after-day, completely different specialists for every affected physique half. “Everybody needed to log off on the varied restore jobs,” he mentioned.
Rushdie had been toying with an thought for a novel earlier than the assault. However “when, lastly, it felt just like the juice was starting to circulate once more, I went and opened up the file that I’d had, and it simply appeared ridiculous,” he mentioned. “It simply turned clear to me that till I handled this, I wouldn’t be capable to write the rest.”
“Knife” is a visceral, intimate guide, in distinction to an earlier memoir, “Joseph Anton,” a 2012 guide that was written within the third individual, in order that the central character existed on the identical degree because the supporting gamers.
“I needed it to learn like a novel,” Rushdie defined of the sooner guide. However “Knife” is completely different. “This isn’t novelistic. I imply, someone sticks a knife in you, that’s fairly private. Fairly first individual,” he mentioned.
