“And I thought with surprise, he is equal to this”. Thus Martin Amis – himself dying of cancer – saluted Salman Rushdie for his recovery from the brutal knife attack that was initially feared to have killed him. The email exchange between two literary giants is one of the many inspiring moments of this extraordinary book.
At first, Rushdie didn’t want to write about the horrific attempt on his life at a literary event in Chautauqua, New York, on August 12, 2022: The 75-year-old novelist was stabbed 15 times by a 24-man knife in 27 seconds. Year old Islamist inadequate. Apparently, after living as a free man for 20 years, he had no desire to be defined once again by the fatwa issued by Ayatollah Khomeini in February 1989, which called for his death as a writer. I went. satanic verse,
But – then again – how could he not write about it? There was not just an elephant in the room, but “a very large mastodon, which was shaking its trunk and hissing and making quite a stink”.
Even more: “Writing would be my way of taking ownership of what has happened, of making it my own, of refusing to be a mere victim. I will respond to violence with art.” Language, so to speak, was its own “knife”.
This book is a gruesome account of a truly horrific experience. But it is also a love story, filled with the author’s love for his wife, the poet and novelist Rachel Eliza Griffiths, and the existence of “a wounded happiness”.
There is much in these pages on art, free expression, the nature of the imagination, and the notion of the miraculous. I hope that this, an obstacle brilliantly overcome, will help Rushdie write many more novels (the most recent, Vijay Nagarwas particularly good).
In the meantime, this is a must read.
streaming
Feud: Capote vs. Swan
Disney+
Ryan Murphy’s second season for Truman Capote fanatics like me Quarrel – First of all the long fight between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford is described – absolute nonsense. But no prior knowledge is required to enjoy this account of the author’s famous feud with the queens of Manhattan society: his so-called “swans.”
In its royal phase after the publication of in cold blood (1966), a best-selling “non-fiction novel” about a massacre in Kansas and its consequences, Capote (Tom Hollander) becomes known as the literary king of New York. He is surrounded by rich and beautiful women: Slim Keith (Diane Lane), CZ Guest (Chloë Sevigny), Lee Radziwill (Calista Flockhart), Joan Carson (Molly Ringwald) and – above all – Babe Pelly (Naomi Watts).
Disaster strikes when Capote breaks Omerta and publishes a quote from his upcoming novel prayers answered, in which the swans, although newly named, are clearly recognizable and their private lives are satirized. What follows is social ostracism and a tragic decline as Capote, drenched in drink and rattled by pills, seeks re-entry into the inner circle.
The ensemble cast is predictably excellent (Russell Tovey is very good as John O’Shea, Capote’s abusive manager and lover); But the series builds on Hollander’s epic performance that captures the writer’s oscillation between personal compassion and artistic cruelty. Many actors have played Capote, but none better.
Cinema
sometimes i think about dying
Selected Cinemas
Almost nothing happens on the set of Rachel Lambert’s film in a small Pacific Northwest town; But it does this very excellently. And don’t be intimidated by the morbid title: Fran (Daisy Ridley, fantastic), an office worker so withdrawn she’s practically invisible, actually daydreams about her own death. But she imagines these grim scenes as if passing the time rather than engaging in actual suicidal ideation.
When Robert (Dave Merheje), an extrovert and natural enthusiast, joins the staff, she is initially curious and then positively attracted to him. But their courtship isn’t linear or defined by false notes of epiphany.
If the film has an overarching message, it’s that the only way to come to terms with that reality is for people to reach out to each other, no matter how clumsy.
Book
red hollow
By Natalie Marlow
Baskerville Press
In his wonderful debut thriller last year, unnecessary street, Natalie Marlow essentially invented her own subgenre: “Midlands noir”. Now, in a sequel that’s every bit as good, William Garrett, the “Private Interrogation Agent”, is back, along with his partner Phil Hall – now a full-fledged detective.
As the action begins in February 1934, Phil’s institutionalized brother, Freddy, has a terrifying experience at his residential care home, Red Hollow Hall, where Dr. Henry Moon’s patients are haunted by supernatural visitations from a demon embedded in the estate’s folklore. Were. , Peyote, the cult of Aleister Crowley, and characters with names like Sammy the Mank: it’s irresistible.
Marlowe is a truly gifted writer, importing the tropes and character types of classic noir with great success into 1930s Birmingham and into Garrett – a shell-shocked Great War veteran – to quote Shakespeare and Blake. has created a gumshoe fit for many more adventures.