Hey Lily! Thanks for reading! I don’t think of him as primarily known as a politician or activist. He’s an author who got caught up in a fatwa unintentionally. And his book is not a biography by a memoir. It’s really very sweet, talks about his wife a lot, and imagines a conversation with his assailant that’s very empathetic while at the same time unforgiving. But in any case this is all meant in fun and obviously I was far off base this year with my predictions. Have you read any of these books yet?
Ah fair! I think I've always thought of him as a political figure (small-p political obviously, in the sense that arts are political) - that might be a US/UK context thing? I haven't yet read any of the books - some of the titles are new to me so I had a satisfying time going off and finding more about him.
Actually the US/UK context makes a lot of sense. I know from his memoir the UK provided him security and had a lot of state restrictions on his movements to protect him. Here we only do that for actual Presidents/VPs and their families. Everyone else we leave alone and it sounds like that’s why he moved to NYC— he got tired of living under protection.
Would Salman Rushdie not count as a 'Political Man'? Intrigued by your categories here!
Hey Lily! Thanks for reading! I don’t think of him as primarily known as a politician or activist. He’s an author who got caught up in a fatwa unintentionally. And his book is not a biography by a memoir. It’s really very sweet, talks about his wife a lot, and imagines a conversation with his assailant that’s very empathetic while at the same time unforgiving. But in any case this is all meant in fun and obviously I was far off base this year with my predictions. Have you read any of these books yet?
Ah fair! I think I've always thought of him as a political figure (small-p political obviously, in the sense that arts are political) - that might be a US/UK context thing? I haven't yet read any of the books - some of the titles are new to me so I had a satisfying time going off and finding more about him.
Actually the US/UK context makes a lot of sense. I know from his memoir the UK provided him security and had a lot of state restrictions on his movements to protect him. Here we only do that for actual Presidents/VPs and their families. Everyone else we leave alone and it sounds like that’s why he moved to NYC— he got tired of living under protection.
*but— on my phone and it’s not allowing me to edit my typos!