“Very, Very Difficult” To Write After Knife Attack: Author Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie lost the sight of one eye and the use of one hand, his agent said in October.

New York:

British author Salman Rushdie has said he finds it “very difficult” to write after being stabbed in New York last year in his first interview since the attack.

In an article published on Monday, Mr Rushdie told The New Yorker that the onstage stabbing during a show had left him mentally scarred.

“You know there is such a thing as PTSD,” the 75-year-old said.

“I’ve found it very difficult to write. I sit down to write, and nothing happens. I write, but it’s a combination of emptiness and junk, which I write and which I put away the next day. I really just hasn’t come out of that jungle yet,” Mr Rushdie said.

The award-winning novelist was attacked as he was about to speak at a conference on August 12 in Chautauqua, in upstate New York, near Lake Erie.

Mr. Rushdie, a naturalized American who has lived in New York for 20 years, lost the sight of one eye and the use of one arm, his agent said in October.

The author told journalist David Remnick that he was unable to type very well because of the loss of feeling in some fingers.

“As you can see, the major injuries have healed, essentially. I have regained 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’ve been told That I’m doing very well,” Mr Rushdie said.

He said, “I’ve been better. But considering what happened, I’m not that bad.”

Mr. Rushdie went into hiding for years after his assassination was ordered by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the first Supreme Leader of Iran, published in 1988 over what he considered the scandalous nature of “The Satanic Verses”.

The author was asked whether he thought it had been a mistake to let down his guard in recent decades.

Rushdie said, “I am asking myself that question and I do not know the answer.”

He said, “Three-quarters of my life as a writer has happened since the fatwa. In a way, you can’t regret your life.”

Hadi Matar, 24, of New Jersey, who has roots in Lebanon, was arrested shortly after the attack and later pleaded not guilty to the charges.

“I blame them,” said Mr Rushdie, when asked who he held responsible.

The article was published ahead of Tuesday’s US release of Mr Rushdie’s latest novel, “Victory City”.

It is about a 14th century woman who challenges the patriarchal world to rule a city and was written before the attack.

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