London: Author Salman Rushdie has said he considers himself “lucky” in his first interview since being stabbed in New York.
Speaking to The New Yorker magazine, Rushdie said that his “main overwhelming feeling is gratitude” that he was not more seriously injured during the incident, which required emergency treatment and was hospitalized for six weeks. Had to stay
“Big injuries heal, essentially. I have feeling in my thumb and index finger and the lower half of my palm. I’ve been doing a lot of hand therapy, and I’m told I’m doing great.
“I’m able to get up and move around. When I say I’m fine, I mean there are parts of my body that need constant checkups. It was a massive assault.”
The Indian-born British American author was attacked on stage at a talk at the Chautauqua Institution on 12 August by 24-year-old Hadi Matar, who is believed to have been inspired by a fatwa issued by the late Iranian Supreme Court to attack Rushdie Was inspired. Ruhollah Khomeini for his book “The Satanic Verses”.
Rushdie, who spent several years in hiding after the fatwa was issued, was stabbed multiple times in the neck and torso by Matar, blinded in one eye and losing the use of one arm.
Matar has been charged with attempted second-degree murder and attempted second-degree assault, both of which he denies.
Rushdie said he only blamed his assailant for the attack and held no grudge against anyone else, despite the lack of adequate security measures at the disputed site.
“I don’t know what I think of him, because I don’t know him,” Rushdie said of Matar, who has admitted that he has not read “The Satanic Verses” in its entirety.
“I saw his silly interview in the New York Post. Any fool would do. I know the trial is far away. It might not happen until the end of next year. I think I’ll find out a little more about him.” .
Rushdie continued: “I’ve tried very hard over the years to avoid recrimination and bitterness. I think it’s not a good look. One of the ways I deal with this whole thing is to look forward Let us not look backwards, what happened yesterday, what will happen tomorrow is more important than what happened yesterday.
“I’ve always tried very hard not to play the victim. Then you’re sitting there saying, ‘Somebody put a knife on me! Poor me’… that’s what I think sometimes.”
However, he admitted that writing became difficult after the attack. “There’s such a thing as PTSD, you know,” he said.
“I’ve found it very, very difficult to write. I sit down to write, and nothing happens. I write, but it’s a combination of emptiness and junk, stuff that I write and that I put away the next day. I Haven’t really come out of that woods yet.
Rushdie was speaking ahead of the publication of his latest novel, “Victory City,” which he had completed before that fateful day at the Chautauqua Institution.
He said the future of his writing career is unclear after the attack.
He said, “I’m telling you the truth, I’m not thinking about the long term.” “I’m thinking about step by step. I just think, ‘Until you fall.’
However, he suggested that he might write a sequel to his memoir “Joseph Anton”, which would almost certainly address the attack.