Wikipedia article "Salman Rushdie"
Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (Devanagari : अख़्मद सल्मान रश्दी Nastaliq:سلمان رشدی; born 19 June 1947) is a British-Indian novelist and essayist. He first achieved fame with his second novel, Midnight's Children (1981), which won the Booker Prize. Much of his early fiction is set at least partly on the Indian subcontinent.
這本重要的小說台灣翻譯成 《午夜之子》 台北:商務印書館
大陸某譯者在網路上公布其版本2004
"五年前，厦门大学的刘凯芳老师将这本书译成了中文，但是由于种种原因，此书一直无法与读者见面。具体情况请参见刘老师的文章《<午夜的孩子>何时告别午夜？》。"
 拉什迪對創作《撒旦的詩篇》不感到後悔 |
授予他騎士封號的消息去年在女王生日宣佈時，招致世界各地穆斯林的抗議。
拉什迪今年61歲，他的著作很多。拉什迪在小說《撒旦的詩篇》出版後的18年中一直生活在宗教死刑的陰影中，因為伊朗前精神領袖霍梅尼對拉什迪發出宗教追殺令。
拉什迪的小說《撒旦的詩篇》被許多穆斯林認為是宗教誹謗，所以霍梅尼對他發出追殺令。
1998年當伊朗政府解除了對宗教追殺令的支持後，拉什迪重新進入公共生活，但是他一直沒有迴避爭議。在獲得騎士勛章後他說對此感到自豪和高興。
拉什迪說，他認為他35年的工作以這種方式得到承認，他感到十分振奮。
他還表示對於創作引起爭議的《撒旦的詩篇》不感到後悔。他說，能夠寫一本受人關注的作品很幸運。September 21, 1993
By JOHN DARNTON
ONDON, Sept. 20 -- Salman Rushdie's "Midnight's Children" was judged the best British novel of the past quarter-century tonight, and the novelist came out of forced seclusion to accept the honor at a crowded ceremony in the second floor of a London bookstore.
The 46-year-old author has been in hiding since February 1989, when he was publicly sentenced to death by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini for publication of "The Satanic Verses," a novel Iranian authorities said blasphemed Islam. In the past year, Mr. Rushdie has made an effort to appear more frequently in public.
In accepting the honor, which was given to the best among 25 years of winners of the Booker Prize, Britain's most prestigious literary award, Mr. Rushdie made no mention of his underground existence and only a passing reference to the controversy "The Satanic Verses" caused. Handling a copy of "Midnight's Children" temporarily covered in a plain silver jacket -- until it can be specially bound in leather -- he remarked, "Actually, quite a lot of my books tend to get read in a plain wrapper, so there's nothing new about that." 'The Greatest Compliment'
He said he was "amazed to be standing here," and added "this is the greatest compliment I have ever been paid as a writer."
The runner-up for the Booker of Bookers, the judges said, was "Rites of Passage" by the late William Golding. "Rites of Passage" won in 1980, as Mr. Golding edged out Anthony Burgess, who conspicuously missed the awards dinner. The competition helped establish the value of the prize.
In 1981, the winner was "Midnight's Children," the story of a boy, Saleem Sinai, born at the time of India's independence. That year the awards ceremony was first televised and the prize gained a cachet that was seen in added celebrity and books sales. Mr. Rushdie's first novel "was universally trashed, sold less than 900 copies and was remaindered," he said. But "Midnight's Children" quickly sold 43,000 copies.
"The Booker Prize changed my life in many ways," Mr. Rushdie said. "Before then my career as a writer was completely obscure. Overnight it wasn't. I gained confidence." Later he put it differently: "I walked into literary London as a stranger and I ran off with a check, which feels O.K."
Another former winner found other advantages. "For me the Booker meant that I got foreign rights and paperback rights and American rights," said Bernice Rubens, who won in 1970 for "The Elected Member." "No one can live off the English rights. Also, the publishers put on every other book you ever write 'winner of the Booker Prize' and the public is duped into thinking you won it for that book." Hailing the Prize Itself
In a sense tonight's ceremony was also to honor the Booker Prize itself, which was first awarded in 1969 to the best novel by a British, Commonwealth, South African or Irish writer. Martyn Goff, the Booker administrator, said the prize had achieved a distinction after 15 years that it had taken France's Prix Goncourt 53 years to attain. In 1969 the award amounted to $:5,000. Now it is $:20,000, or $30,000.
Tonight's ceremony included a Champagne reception attended by several hundred literati at Waterstone's bookstore in Kensington, West London. It was held under tight security. Bodyguards followed Mr. Rushdie at a discreet distance and police officers with walkie-talkies patroled the streets outside.
Sipping mineral water, Mr. Rushdie said he had managed to travel recently, even going to visit Vaclav Havel, the president of the Czech Republic. "We have something in common," he said. "We're both writers and the last thing people talk to us about is our writing."
《午夜之子》榮獲布克獎特別獎
約翰達頓報道
倫敦，9月20日——薩爾曼·魯西迪的《午夜之子》今晚被評為過去25年來最佳英國小說。這位小說家結束了被迫隱居的生活，在倫敦一家書店二樓舉行的頒獎典禮上接受了這項榮譽。
這位46歲的作家自1989年2月以來一直處於隱居狀態。當時，他因出版小說《撒旦詩篇》而被阿亞圖拉·魯霍拉·霍梅尼公開判處死刑。伊朗當局稱這部小說褻瀆了伊斯蘭教。過去一年，魯西迪先生努力增加公開露面的次數。
在接受這項殊榮時——該獎項旨在表彰過去25年布克獎（英國最負盛名的文學獎）獲獎者中的最佳作品——拉什迪先生隻字未提他的地下寫作生涯，也只是略微提及了《撒旦詩篇》引發的爭議。他手捧一本暫時用銀色素面封皮包裹的《午夜之子》（待裝訂成皮面精裝本後再行更換），說道：“其實，我的很多書都是用素面封皮裝訂的，所以這沒什麼新鮮的。”
他表示自己“難以置信能站在這裡”，並補充說：“這是我作為作家所獲得的最高讚譽。”
評審表示，布克獎的亞軍是已故作家威廉·戈爾丁的《成年禮》。 1980年，戈爾丁憑藉《成年禮》一書摘得布克獎，擊敗了安東尼·伯吉斯——後者明顯缺席了頒獎晚宴。這場競爭也奠定了布克獎的價值。
1981年，獲獎作品是《午夜之子》，講述了印度獨立時期出生的男孩薩利姆·西奈的故事。那一年，布克獎頒獎典禮首次進行電視直播，獎項的聲望也隨之提升，得獎者名氣大增，書籍銷售也大幅增加。拉什迪先生說，他的第一部小說「遭到了普遍的抨擊，銷量不足900冊，最終只能清倉甩賣」。但《午夜之子》卻迅速賣出了43,000本。
拉什迪先生說：「布克獎在很多方面改變了我的人生。在此之前，我的寫作生涯默默無聞。一夜之間，一切都變了。我重拾了自信。」後來他換了一種說法：「我以一個陌生人的身份走進了倫敦文壇，然後帶著支票揚長而去，感覺還不錯。」
另一位獲獎者發現了其他好處。 「對我來說，布克獎意味著我獲得了海外版權、平裝本版權和美國版權，」1970年憑藉《當選議員》獲獎的伯尼斯·魯本斯說道，“沒有人能靠英國版權生活。而且，出版商會把你寫的每一本書都貼上‘布克獎得主’的標籤，讓公眾誤以為你是憑藉那本書獲獎的獎項本身。” 讚頌本身的獎項。
從某種意義上說，今晚的頒獎典禮也是為了表彰布克獎本身。該獎項於1969年首次頒發，旨在表彰英國、英聯邦、南非或愛爾蘭作家創作的最佳小說。布克獎管理人馬丁·戈夫表示，該獎項在短短15年內就取得了法國龔古爾文學獎花了53年才達到的成就。 1969年，該獎項獎金為5,000美元。如今，獎金已漲至20000美元或30000美元。
今晚的頒獎典禮在倫敦西區肯辛頓的沃特斯通書店舉行，數百位文壇名流出席了香檳招待會。活動安保嚴密。保鑣與拉希迪先生保持著隱藏的距離，而手持對講機的警察則在書店外的街道上巡邏。
拉什迪先生一邊啜飲著礦泉水，一邊說道，他最近設法進行了旅行，甚至還拜訪了捷克共和國總統瓦茨拉夫·哈維爾。 “我們有一個共同點，”他說，“我們都是作家，但人們最不願意與我們談論的就是我們的作品。”
沒有留言:
張貼留言