Salman Rushdie on Being Violently Attacked and the Love That Healed Him

>> SALMAN, YOU -- YOU TALK ABOUT THE A, THE ASSAILANT, YOU DON'T USE HIS NAME.

AND I FOUND IT REALLY INTERESTING, IN THE BOOK, AND IN YOUR LIFE, YOU GRAPPLED WITH WHETHER, AT SOME POINT, I MEAN, QUITE EARLY ON, BEFORE YOU EVEN RECOVERED, YOU WERE GRAPPLING WITH WHETHER YOU SHOULD GO TO SEE HIM, CONFRONT HIM, TALK TO HIM, UNDERSTAND HIS MOTIVATION.

>> YEAH.

I MEAN, I -- THAT WAS MY FIRST THOUGHT WAS, A KIND OF JOURNALISTIC IMPULSE TO GO AND SIT IN A ROOM WITH HIM AND SAY, OKAY, TELL ME WHY YOU DID IT.

AND FIRST OF ALL, IT SEEMED VERY IMPROBABLE THAT HIS LEGAL REPRESENTATION WOULD AGREE TO THAT.

ELIZA WAS VERY AGAINST IT.

AND THEN, YOU KNOW, I READ THIS STORY OF SAMUEL BECKETT, WHO WAS ALSO STABBED IN PARIS, IN A STREET BY A PIMP, AND HE ACTUALLY DID GO TO THE COURT AND ASK THE MAN, WHY DID YOU DO IT?

AND ALL THE MAN SAID WAS, I DON'T KNOW, SIR, I'M SORRY.

AND I THOUGHT, WELL, THAT DOESN'T GET YOU VERY FAR, DOES IT?

THAT DOESN'T EXPLAIN ANYTHING.

AND I THOUGHT, MAYBE IF I DID MEET THIS GUY, I WOULD GET SOME BANALITY OF THAT KIND.

I DIDN'T THINK I WOULD GET REMORSE.

THERE DOESN'T SEEM TO BE ANY SIGN OF REMOERS.

I THOUGHT I WOULD GET SOME CLICHE.

SO, POINTLESS.

AND I THOUGHT I WOULD DO BETTER TO USE THE SKILL I'VE GOT OF IMAGINATION AND STORYTELLING, TO TRY TO IMAGINE MYSELF INTO HIS HEAD, AND WORK OUT A KIND OF COHERENT PORTRAIT OF SOMEBODY THAT COULD HAVE DONE THIS.

>> IT'S REALLY INTERESTING, THAT CHAPTER.

AND I WANT TO ASK YOU, BECAUSE -- I THINK WE KNOW, I THINK WE KNOW, BECAUSE THIS -- THE ASSAILANT GAVE AN INTERVIEW TO ONE OF THE NEW YORK TABLOIDS, THAT HE DIDN'T READ "THE SATANIC VERSES," HE DIDN'T SOUND LIKE HE HAD ANY MOTIVATION FOR THIS.

>> YEAH, I MEAN, HE SAID HE HAD READ TWO PAGES OF SOMETHING I'D WRITTEN AND HE'D SEEN A COUPLE OF YOUTUBE VIDEOS, AND THAT WAS ENOUGH FOR HIM TO TRY TO COMMIT MURDER.

I MEAN, IT SHOWS ME THAT IN INDOCTRINATION CAN BE A VERY POWERFUL FORCE, AND THERE ARE PEOPLE, LIKE I SUSPECT THIS YOUNG MAN OF BEING, WHO KIND OF NEED TO BE LED, WHO NEED TO BE GIVEN A DIRECTION IN LIFE, BECAUSE THEY DON'T FEEL THAT THEY HAVE IT.

AND SOMETHING PUT THE THOUGHT IN HIS HEAD -- WELL, CLEARLY, HE SAID HE WAS AN ADMIRER OF KHOMEINI, SO, CLEARLY HE WAS THINKING ALONG THOSE LINES.

AT SOME POINT, HE HEARD ABOUT ME GIVING A SPEECH AT CHAUTAUQUA AND DECIDED THAT I WAS HIS TARGET.

IT'S KIND OF A MYSTERY, WHY IT TURNED OUT TO BE ME.

>> YEAH.

AND YOU DIVIDE THE BOOK INTO TWO DISTINCT CHAPTERS.

THE CHAPTER OF HATE AND DEATH AND THE CHAPTER OF LIFE AND LOVE.

AND YOU TALK A LOT ABOUT, YOU KNOW, YOUR WIFE, ABOUT YOUR FAMILY, BUT WRITING ABOUT HAPPINESS, I LIKE THIS LITTLE BIT, YOU SAID, "I'VE ALWAYS BEEN INTERESTED IN WRITING ABOUT HAPPINESS, IN LARGE PART BECAUSE IT IS EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TO DO."

AND YOU QUOTE A PREVIOUS WRITER FROM YESTERYEAR, SAYING THAT IT'S LIKE WRITING WITH WHITE INK ON A WHITE PAGE.

SO, DO YOU THINK YOU ACTUALLY SUCCEEDED IN WRITING ABOUT YOUR HAPPINESS IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE BOOK?

>> WELL, YOU TELL ME, CHRISTIANE.

I THINK I DID.

YEAH.

>> I THINK YOU DID.

>> IT'S FOR THE READER TO JUDGE.

>> I THINK YOU DID.

>> I THINK IT'S FOR THE READER TO JUDGE.

THANK YOU.

WE -- WE HAD -- ELIZA AND I HAVE BEEN TOGETHER, YOU KNOW, FOR 5 1/2 YEARS BEFORE THE ATTACK HAPPENED, AND WE HAD HAD A VERY HAPPY LIFE.

AND IT WAS AS IF WE WERE IN A LOVE STORY, AND THEN SOMEBODY TRIED TO TURN THAT INTO A MURDER STORY.

AND THEN WE WORKED VERY HARD TO TURN IT BACK INTO A LOVE STORY.

SO, IT'S -- I SAY IN THE BOOK THAT, YES, WE DID MANAGE, I THINK, TO RE-CONSTRUCT OUR HAPPINESS, BUT IT WASN'T EXACTLY THE SAME AS IT HAD BEEN.

THAT THERE'S A KIND OF SHADOW IN IT.

WHAT I DESCRIBE AS A WOUNDED HAPPINESS.

BUT HAPPINESS NEVERTHELESS.