Weekly Musings

  “Joseph Anton”, Rushdies’ documentary on his post Fatwa existence was a heavy read, quite different from his long fictional works that one is used to. The book written in 2012, over a decade after the writers’ move to the USA, seemed more like a closure of the traumatic Fatwa event. It is unlikely that Rushdie who lived a free life there, envisaged that the fatwa would be a danger ever. On August 12 2022, however, the fatwa very nearly succeeded when a US citizen of Lebanese parentage, 24 years old pounced on the author on a stage and (in Rushdies’ words) blotched an attempt at murder. Rushdie states that he had no intention of writing about the event or its impact and it was only with the prodding of well-wishers and Agents that he decided to write about it. This is not a documentary and again in his own words is a “love letter to his wife” number 5, Rachel Eliza Griffiths. The short work is fascinating in parts, when he discusses the role of miracles, his unwavering atheism...

  There are three blurbs on the paperback version of Brysons latest book and I have a comment on all three: The first from the Sunday Times finds the book “ brilliantly funny and gently insightful” . The book is far from being funny, and associating brilliancy with mirth is another conundrum. Bryson is perhaps a pioneer at a new genre of biographies that need to be brief for the publishers’ sake- limited to 40,000 words. He succeeds beyond words. As for insight , they come out ringing, not gently, but with a force of research that is awesome and yes, brilliantly highlighted. The last chapter for instance, is high-powered research thesis stuff, where Bryson takes on the claimants to Shakespeares’ name and concludes: “When we reflect upon the works of William Shakespeare it is of course an amazement to consider that one man could have produced such a sumptuous , wise, varied, thrilling, ever delighting body of work, but that is of course the hallmark of a genius. Only one man had...