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Salman Rushdie (India/USA), photographed April 26, 2007, New York, New York.
Salman Rushdie (India/USA), photographed April 26, 2007, New York, New York.

Sir Salman Rushdie to lecture at Otterbein University

The Vernon L. Pack Distinguished Lecture Series is bringing world-renowned novelist Salman Rushdie to Otterbein. Rushdie has won the Booker Prize and has also been knighted. The significance of his visit to campus has to do with his history with controversy regarding issues such as free speech.

Rushdie has been a major literary figure across the world for over four decades. His fourth novel, “The Satanic Verses“, was one of the most controversial novels of its time. The novel’s controversial depictions of Islam caused Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah Khomeini to issue a fatwa in 1989 which called for Rushdie’s execution. Because of the fatwa, Rushdie spent the next decade living hidden in England under the alias Joseph Anton.

“The fatwa against him made him infamous; you know, everyone in the ’90s knew about this. It was a pretty remarkable moment to think about the question of literary censorship and what it means to write something that might put your life at stake,” associate professor and director of film studies Karen Steigman said.

Iranian officials lifted the fatwa temporarily, but it was issued again in 2012 in response to a YouTube video called “Innocence of Muslims”. The video wrongly depicted Muhammad, according to militant Islamic views. The current Islamic Ayatollah, Hassan Sanei, said the film would have never been made if Rushdie had been executed under Khomeini’s order. Rushdie responded to the latest fatwa by dismissing it as nothing more than talk, and he continues to promote his memoir of living under a fatwa.

Geoff Barstow, professor in the Department of Religion and Philosophy said why Rushdie’s visit is significant.

Rushdie stands at the crux of one of the great issues of our time…these Euro-American ideals of free speech, the right of expression, what do we do when those run into other cultures that don’t prize those values the same way that Euro-American culture does? How do we approach that interaction? And so, by going to this talk and having what is fundamentally a very rare opportunity to listen to someone of Sir Salman’s stature, it’s a way for us to engage with that debate in a way that’s not just theoretical but grounded in a real person’s real life, real experiences and real difficulties. I think it’s a way to put our fingers on really one of the touchstone issues of the day.”

As a precursor to Rushdie’s visit, scholar Pranav Jani will be visiting campus to give a lecture titled “What’s the Use of Stories that Aren’t Even True?” Jani published the novel “Decentering Rushdie: Cosmopolitanism and the Indian Novel in English” in 2010.

Jani said the title of his upcoming lecture comes from a phrase in Rushdie’s novel, “Haroun and the Sea of Stories,” which is about the importance of fiction, creativity and free speech.

“I’m kind of using that as a point to talk about what are the different aspects of storytelling, how storytelling can open up the possibility of taking different points of view and actually approaching an idea from different sides to increase critical thinking and the importance of the humanities,” Jani said.

Jani’s lecture will take place Tuesday, April 8 in Towers Hall 122 at 3:00 p.m.

On Thursday, April 10 at 7:30 in Cowan Hall, Rushdie will give his lecture titled “Public Events, Private Lives: Literature and Politics in the Modern World.” Free tickets for students are available in Cowan Hall. The event is also open to alumni and the general public. A book signing and reception will follow the lecture.

Director of marketing and communications Jenny Hill said, “He touches on so many different disciplines that he should be able to appeal to a wide variety of students.”

Hill is a member of the advising committee that helped make Rushdie’s visit to campus possible. She encourages all students to take advantage of the opportunity to hear him speak, as students from all areas of study can relate to what he has to say.


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