Bibliofile
Book on Bombay blasts becomes big; Pico Iyer on Islam and West; gratuitous advice for Uncle Rushdie.
The day that changed the world posed the mother-of-all writer’s blocks: what and how to write in a world of mindless violence. But Pico Iyer was lucky: he finished his post-9/11 book in the good old (relatively!) pre-9/11 days. Iyer’s new novel, Abandon (Knopf), is about the clash between Islam and the West. Travel writer Pico, born in Britain to Indian parents, saw it coming: "It isn’t hard to see violence erupting at the gap between the fast societies and the slow ones," he says.
Everything seems to be going wrong for Salman Rushdie. First, the love of his life, Padma Lakshmi, dumps him (or is it the other way round?). Then the project of his life, the Barbican production of Midnight’s Children, turns out to be a flop. And this despite the frills, including simulated sex on stage. But there is a ray of hope: a panel of leading writers and commentators, chaired by Alastair Niven, highlighted in London last week the significance and impact of Midnight’s Children. A timely reminder that Rushdie should go back to the only true love of his life: writing novels.