Salman Rushdie: Through A Glass Darkly

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Salman Rushdie: Through a Glass Darkly

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Salman Rushdie

Alan Yentob

Simon Goretzki

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Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media: Arts

BBC Two - Salman Rushdie: Through a Glass Darkly

Salman Rushdie speaks about the devastating knife attack he was subjected to in 2022.

Salman Rushdie speaks to Alan Yentob about the devastating knife attack he was subjected to in 2022, losing his right eye and almost his ability to write.

In 2022, Sir Salman Rushdie found himself on a stage in Chautauqua, Pennsylvania, discussing the importance of protecting the freedom of writers – a subject upon which he is uniquely placed to speak, despite feeling that he had moved on from the fatwa imposed on him following the publication of his novel The Satanic Verses. When a man emerged from the audience and subjected Rushdie to a 27-second knife attack, the threat that had been hanging over him for years finally became real.

In an exclusive BBC interview with Alan Yentob, Rushdie talks in detail about the attack’s devastating effects - losing his right eye and almost his ability to write. A combination of archive footage, AI-generated material and a moving account of events from his wife Lady Eliza Rushdie allows viewers to share in an imaginary confrontation between Rushdie and his attacker, and ultimately discover how his near-fatal experience casts a new light on the story of his past and his previous writings.

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