SUNY Profs respond to attack on Salman Rushdie

Aug. 13—PLATTSBURGH — Friday afternoon, Plattsburgh resident Dr. Susan Mody scrolled on her tablet for updates on author Salman Rushdie, 75, who was attacked earlier in the morning at a speaking event at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, NY.

"On August 12, 2022, at about 11 a.m., a male suspect ran up onto the stage and attacked Rushdie and an interviewer," according to the New York State Police Troop A Batavia webpage.

"Rushdie suffered an apparent stab wound to the neck, and was transported by helicopter to an area hospital. His condition is not yet known. The interviewer suffered a minor head injury. A State Trooper assigned to the event immediately took the suspect into custody. The Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office assisted at the scene."

Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old man of Fairview, NJ, was identified as the suspect, according to New York State Troop A Commander, Maj. Eugene J. Staniszewski, at a 5 p.m. press conference in Jamestown, NY.

Matar, jumped onto the stage and attacked Rushdie, stabbing him at least once in the neck and at least once in the abdomen, according to Staniszewski.

Matar was subdued by Chautauqua staff and audience members.

"Mr. Rushdie was provided medical treatment by a doctor that was in the audience until EMS arrived on scene," Staniszewski said.

"Mr. Rushdie was airlifted to a local trauma center and is still undergoing surgery."

Staniszewski said there was no indication of Matar's motive as of late Friday afternoon.

The State Police are working with the F.B.I. and the Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office on the investigation.

LITERARY SUPERSTAR

In 1981, the celebrated author won the Booker Prize and James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his second novel, "Midnight's Children."

His fourth novel, "The Satanic Verses," was a 1988 Booker Prize finalist and won the 1988 Whitbread Award for novel of the year.

However, controversy ensued. Muslims were outraged by the book, which resulted in Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Supreme Leader of Iran, issuing a 1989 fatwa calling for Rushdie's assassination with a bounty in the millions of dollars, according to media reports.

Consequently, there were several assassination attempts on his life before Friday's attack that shook the literary world.

IAAC

In November 2014, Mody went to hear Rushdie at the First Annual Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC) Literary Festival in New York City.

Aroon Shivdasani, IAAC founder and retired executive & artistic director, is an old friend of Mody's from Bombay.

Shivdasani organized the event featuring Rushdie and Dr. Akeel Bilgrami, Sidney Morgenbesser Professor of Philosophy, at Columbia University.

"I had gone into the city particularly to see that," Mody, a SUNY Plattsburgh chair of Gender & Women Studies emerita, said.

"He speaks as brilliantly as he writes. Another friend, someone I knew from Bombay, was the moderator. So there was kind of a conversation onstage between the two of them. So for me, it was quite a treat. I didn't know Salman except second-hand.

"When he was living in Bombay, he had been to the same school (Cathedral and John Connon School in Fort, South Bombay) that my husband went to. My husband (Navroz Mody) and some other friends had known him when he was a boy."

VOICE OF HIS GENERATION

When "Midnight's Children" was published by Jonathan Cape, it was momentous.

"I was in India at the time," Mody said.

"It was an incredible event for us. It was an incredible experience. He voiced for his generation that generation that was born at the moment of independence, so born into a so-called free India or at least an India free of British. Not really free, of course, because postcolonialism is never free of colonialism, right? It was a stupendous account."

Through the lens of Rushdie's protagonist, Saleem Sinai, everyone Mody knew within that educated English-speaking circle was reading India's history and transition from British colonial rule, independence, and partition.

"It remains one of the most brilliant pieces of writing that I have read," Mody said.

"I have subsequently read a good bit of his work, not all, and that remains my favorite."

Prior to hearing Rushdie speak, Mody had taken Plattsburgh State students to India that summer.

"For quite a long time (a decade), he was in hiding," she said.

"I have another friend in India, in Bombay. His name is Adil Jussawalla. He is a poet and a writer and also was a teacher. He was good friends with Salman. He had hosted Salman in Bombay for some event. This would have been in the earlier 2000s when he had come out of hiding. He had been out of hiding for quite a while."

CHAUTAUQUA ROCKED

On its website, the Chautauqua Institution posted:

"Statement on Today's Tragic Incident: We ask for your prayers for Salman Rushdie and Henry Reese, and patience as we fully focus on coordinating and cooperating with police officials following a tragic incident in the Amphitheater today. All institution programs are canceled for the remainder of the day. Please consult the New York State Police statement."

"What we experienced at Chautauqua today is an incident unlike anything in our nearly 150-year history," Michael E. Hill, the 18th president of Chautauqua Institution, said at Friday's press conference.

"We were founded to bring people together in community to learn, and in doing so, create solutions through action, to develop empathy, and to take on intractable problems. Today, now, we're called to take on fear and the worst of human traits: hate."

Reese, the moderator, was treated and released for a facial injury, according to Staniszewski.

Reese is the co-founder with Diane Samuels of City of Asylum, a residency program for exiled writers in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Founded in 2004, City Asylum's first writer, Huang Xiang, arrived in Pittsburgh that year, according to the nonprofit's website.

'DEEP IRONY'

"Salman had just been involved in providing resources for Ukrainian writers in exile," Mody said.

"He was talking about how safe a space New York City and New York, generally, (were) as a safe space for writers, for artists. Deep irony. Deep irony.

"It sounds to me, from what I read, that the security at Chautauqua was very relaxed. People are very relaxed now. They are not expecting or anticipating an attack. So far as I know, the fatwa was never rescinded. It was just Rushdie's own, I think, courage as a writer over the years that he became to come out more and more."

When Mody heard him speak, Rushdie spoke about those tense times under police protection with a great deal of humor.

"And I think a perspective that had been built over years," she said.

"He had become and he was someone who spoke out quite fearlessly as an artist. This is something I have always respected in his writing, whether you like what he says or not. I also found in 'Midnight's Children,' his style of writing, which has now widely provided inspiration for many other writers.

"His style was unique at the time. Some people call it magical realism, but it was a unique style."

On hearing about the attack on Rushdie, SUNY Plattsburgh Distinguished Professor emeritus, Dr. Alexis Levitin, a professor of English, remarked:

"I was shocked to hear the news. What happens to civilization when writers and thinkers are threatened with death for their ideas? We seem to be slipping rapidly towards catastrophe: social, economic, biological, meteorological, moral, and spiritual. Doom-laden times. God must be ashamed."

Email: rcaudell@pressrepublican.com

Twitter@RobinCaudell