'The Satanic Verses' was denied the ordinary life of a novel. It became something smaller and uglier: an insult.
Interpretation
The quote reflects on how 'The Satanic Verses' was not just another novel, but became a source of controversy and offense.
'The Satanic Verses' by Salman Rushdie is an example of how literature can be transformed from a work of art into a battleground for ideological conflict. Instead of being appreciated for its narrative and themes, it became a focal point of outrage, reducing its literary merit to an insult in the eyes of some, highlighting the complexities and consequences of artistic expression in a polarized world.
In practice
During a discussion on censorship in literature, this quote could illustrate the consequences of controversial works.
I've been fascinated by Machiavelli since I was very young. I've always felt that he had a bad rap from history, and that he was actually a person quite unlike what we now think of as Machiavellian. He was a republican. He disliked totalitarian government.
Killing people because you don't like their ideas - it's a bad thing.
faith without doubt is addiction
I am clearly vulnerable to these more passionate and volatile unstable relationships. I am trying to not be so vulnerable.
In India, as elsewhere in our darkening world, religion is the poison in the blood. Where religion intervenes, mere innocence is no excuse. Yet we go on skating around this issue, speaking of religion in the fashionable language of 'respect.' What is there to respect in any of this, or in any of the crimes now being committed almost daily around the world in religion's dreaded name?
Reality is a question of perspective; the further you get from the past, the more concrete and plausible it seems - but as you approach the present, it inevitably seems more and more incredible.
Music is structure out of Chaos
Writing is a way of talking without being interrupted.
The musician is perhaps the most modest of animals, but he is also the proudest. It is he who invented the sublime art of ruining poetry.
People think because it's photography it's not worth as much, and because it's a woman artist, you're still not getting as much - there's still definitely that happening. I'm still really competitive when it comes to, I guess, the male painters and male artists. I still think that's really unfair.
Films are neither true nor false. That includes my films, as well as others. They may make claims that are true or false, but films are too complex. They have too many ingredients.
Photographers have to impose order, bring structure to what they photograph. It is inevitable. A photograph without structure is like a sentence without grammar-it is incomprehensible, even inconceivable.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.