Salman Rushdie and Midnight's Children

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？》。"

拉什迪被英女王封騎士

拉什迪對創作《撒旦的詩篇》不感到後悔

引起爭議的英國作家拉什迪被英國女王伊麗莎白授予騎士封號，表彰他對文學的貢獻。

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

'Midnight's Children' Wins Special Booker Prize

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."