• Contact Us
  • Events calendar
Entering Swellesley
Pinnacle, Wellesley

The Swellesley Report

More than you really want to know about Wellesley, Mass.

  • Advertise
  • Contribute
  • Eat
  • Wellesley Square
  • School
  • Top 10 things to do
  • Embracing diversity
  • Charities/Community
  • Arts
  • Camp
  • Kids
  • Environment/Sustainability
  • Events
  • About us
  • Subscribe
  • Natick Report
  • COVID-19
  • Letters to the Editor
  • 2021 Town Election
  • Bulletin Board
Needham Bank, Wellesley
Boston Sports Institute, Wellesley

Sir Salman Rushdie graces Wellesley stage

November 13, 2015 by Bob Brown Leave a Comment

Salman Rushdie wellesley college

Partway through his appearance at Wellesley College Thursday night Sir Salman Rushdie, without necessarily knowing it, hit on a very Wellesley issue: Whether you can go home again.

Every time we write about big changes in town, such as housing tear downs or the loss of an old school or town building, we receive comments from people who grew up here or longtime residents lamenting the loss of what they knew as Wellesley.  But as the Bombay-born Rushdie said, citing what’s currently known as Mumbai, you can go home again — it’s just not going to be the same place.

Even for those who long for the old days of Wellesley, there are surely many new things to love about the town. The very fact that Wellesley College brings someone like Rushdie to campus as part of its Distinguished Thinkers series and invites the public to show up for free is a good case in point.

A grateful packed house at  Diana Chapman Walsh Alumnae Hall made the Man Booker Prize-winning author feel right at home on a drizzly Thursday night as he read from his latest book and entertained questions from a professor of French and a handful of students. Rushdie didn’t disappoint, coming off as humorous and peaceful (“I’m from the 60’s…”), much like his writings.

But isn’t this the guy who wrote the notorious 1988 book The Satanic Verses that earned him a fatwa from Iran’s Ayatollah in 1989 that sent the author into hiding? Indeed, but as Rushdie alluded to several times last night, those with the loudest complaints about books are often those who haven’t actually taken the time to read them.

In the case of The Satanic Verses, he said a “deliberate attempt to decontextualize it” — to pick out the parts that could be taken offense to and play them up — resulted in widespread misconceptions about the book that have taken years to erase. He said critics of James Joyce’s Ulysses, those who called it pornographic, obviously never read that book. Inciting sexual arousal “was not one of James Joyce’s great gifts,” Rushdie quipped.

The fact that people still read and study The Satanic Verses, though, vindicates its publication, Rushdie said. If it was just a scandal piece, it would have gone away by now.

Salman Rushdie wellesley collegeThe author said it amuses him when people say how they are surprised his writings are so humorous, and his latest book, Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights, has been touted for its humor and quirky cultural references. At the age of 68, Rushdie said, “I’ve finally become a comic writer.” (I’m about one-third through the book, and while I’m not exactly slapping my knee while reading it, it is clearly a fairy tale with much lightness and a bit of darkness mixed in, too.) Rushdie the comedian did pander to the largely female audience and got some easy yucks by reading a passage from his One Thousand and One Nights-inspired new book that poked fun at the human male’s lack of imagination upon being offered wishes by a jinni (i.e., genie).

Rushdie also shared insights into his writing process, which involves trial-and-error and discovery along the way. “A lot of it is just instinct,” he said.

His books tend to be heavier on fantasy than reality. Rushdie said one reason for this is that sticking to realism is tough in a time when — and I paraphrase here — “ideas about what’s real are very fractured.” I’ll leave it up to you whether my account of his visit to Wellesley delivers the truth.


RELATED: Author Adichie dispenses wisdom to “privileged” Wellesley College grads

print

Share

Filed Under: Books, Wellesley College

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Linden Square, Wellesley
Wellesley Youth Lacrosse

Tip us off…

Please send tips, photos, ideas to [email protected]
Wellesley Square ad
Wellesley, Jesamondo
Admit Fit, Wellesley
Sexton test prep
Feldman Law
Fay School, Southborough
Wellesley Theatre Project
image of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
Never miss a post with our free daily Swellesley Report email
Name: 
Your email address:*
Please wait...
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide

You can subscribe for free, though we appreciate any contribution that supports our independent journalism.

Click here to read our Natick Report

Natick Report

Events Calendar

« March 2021 » loading...
S M T W T F S
28
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
1
2
3
Sun 07

World of Wellesley community book read

March 7 @ 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Wed 10

Open House at Boston Outdoor Preschool Network

March 10 @ 10:00 am - 11:00 am
Wed 17

Wellesley Police Department & Red Cross blood drive

March 17 @ 10:00 am - 4:00 pm
Tue 23

Community Conversations: How Citizens Are Rebuilding the Public Square

March 23 @ 7:00 pm - 8:15 pm
Sun 28

Plunge for Elodie

March 28 @ 8:00 am - 5:00 pm

Most Read Posts

  • Wellesley summer camp listings 2021 — find the experience of a lifetime
  • World of Wellesley community book read, Mar. 7th
  • Newton-Wellesley Orthopedic Walk-In—no appointment needed
  • Wellesley Business Buzz: Free meters ending; Restaurant could fill Gap spot; Semester Off has offer for school & healthcare workers
  • Wellesley man dies while mountain biking in Ipswich

Pages

  • Guidelines for Letters to the Editor
  • How to submit your flyer for the Community Bulletin Board page
  • Wellesley Community Bulletin Board
  • Wellesley coronavirus (COVID-19) updates
  • Wellesley’s 7 official scenic roads
  • Wellesley, Mass., fishing spots
  • Wellesley Choral Society
  • Wellesley College Notable Alumnae
  • Wellesley College, Wellesley, Mass.
  • Wellesley outdoor art gallery
  • Wellesley restaurants offering take-out and delivery
  • Wellesley, Massachusetts restaurant — Amarin of Thailand

Recent Comments

  • Gail Marshall on Wellesley’s scenic roads
  • Bob Brown on Wellesley Business Buzz: Wellesley Tavern to open; More small business grants; virtual networking coffee
  • Patrick Rafter on Wellesley Business Buzz: Wellesley Tavern to open; More small business grants; virtual networking coffee
  • EM on Wellesley Police log: Road rage leads to coffee toss; overdose on fentanyl patches attempted; window broken, no rock found
  • Lew on Wellesley Police log: Road rage leads to coffee toss; overdose on fentanyl patches attempted; window broken, no rock found

Links we like

  • Great Runs
  • Jack Sanford: Wellesley's Major League Baseball Star
  • Taquitos.net
  • Tech-Tamer
  • The Wellesley Wine Press
  • Universal Hub
  • Wellesley Sports Discussion Facebook Group

Categories

  • 2021 Town Election (19)
  • Animals (381)
  • Antiques (48)
  • Art (540)
  • Beyond Wellesley (28)
  • Books (344)
  • Business (1,371)
  • Camp (1)
  • Careers/jobs (44)
  • Churches (72)
  • Clubs (209)
  • Construction (280)
  • Dump (113)
  • Education (2,896)
    • Babson College (240)
    • Bates Elementary School (14)
    • Dana Hall School (29)
    • Fiske Elementary School (6)
    • Hardy Elementary School (33)
    • Hunnewell Elementary School (34)
    • MassBay (47)
    • Schofield Elementary School (20)
    • Sprague Elementary School (19)
    • St. John School (1)
    • Tenacre Country Day School (9)
    • Upham Elementary School (30)
    • Wellesley College (598)
    • Wellesley High School (890)
    • Wellesley Middle School (195)
  • Embracing diversity (44)
  • Entertainment (724)
  • Environment (674)
  • Fashion (134)
  • Finance (13)
  • Fire (142)
  • Food (328)
  • Fundraising (561)
  • Gardens (137)
  • Government (410)
    • 2020 Town Election (47)
  • Health (746)
    • COVID-19 (141)
  • History (359)
  • Holidays (365)
  • Houses (120)
  • Humor (45)
  • Kids (816)
  • Law (3)
  • Letters to the Editor (13)
  • Media (63)
  • METCO (5)
  • Military (3)
  • Morses Pond (97)
  • Music (544)
  • Natick Report (28)
  • Neighbors (249)
  • Obituaries (60)
  • Outdoors (585)
  • Parenting (60)
  • Police (696)
    • Crime (351)
  • Politics (545)
  • Real estate (290)
  • Religion (127)
  • Restaurants (303)
  • Safety (142)
  • Scouts (1)
  • Senior citizens (110)
  • Shopping (123)
  • Sports (901)
  • STEM (104)
  • Technology (154)
  • Theatre (383)
  • Town Meeting (22)
  • Transportation (210)
  • Travel (11)
  • Uncategorized (1,207)
  • Volunteering (319)
  • Weather (167)
  • Wellesley Election 2019 (21)
  • Wellesley Free Library (259)
  • Wellesley's Wonderful Weekend (5)
RSS Feed Icon Subscribe to RSS Feed

© 2021 The Swellesley Report
Site by Tech-Tamer · Login