I’d always thought of Salman Rushdie as a rather serious writer, tackling big issues like religion and being treated with solemn reverence at book festivals and on TV.
But yesterday, at the last night at Edinburgh’s sprawling Book Festival, I realised I’d been wrong.
“I don’t like books with no sense of humour,” he admitted to James Naughtie who was chatting with him about his latest book: Quichotte (pronounced “key shot” and promoted as “a dazzling Don Quixote for the modern age”).
Naughtie is the ideal foil to Salman as they share a Scottish-type of humour; they both look quite serious and don’t laugh much, but subtle black humour is built into their characters. It was a delight to hear them talk and I had a wry grin on my face for most of their one-hour slot.
Thinking back to his seminal novel – Midnight’s Children – a book which turned me into an independent traveller, I realise that humour was more important to it than the political backdrop of India’s independence.
On the Road with Quichotte
Salman Rushdie describes his new book as “a road novel” in the tradition of Lolita and Easy Rider. This format, he explained, “allows the book to change all the time,” as the main character (a TV addict who’s madly in love with a TV presenter) moves from place to place.
Rushdie also punctured my impression of him as a supremely confident writer when he admitted to having “serious doubts” about his new novel just 50 pages in. He sent the first chapter to his agent (Andrew Wylie, an American book agent known in the trade as “The Jackal”) who said, “this is the funniest thing you’ve ever written”.
The most inspiring part of the event was during the Q&A session when political questions were asked. I can’t imagine a better pair to discuss US politics – Rushdie lives in NYC and Naughtie reported from the 2016 presidential election for Radio 4.
Rushdie on Trump and the Age of Opposites
When asked which Democratic Party candidate is best placed to beat Trump in 2020 there was disagreement between the speakers. Casting aside his role as an objective interviewer, Naughtie promoted Biden as someone from an age “when presidents talked eloquently”.
Rushdie parried by saying “there would be a job for you in the Biden campaign,” and then pitched his own suggestion: Elizabeth Warren.
“None of the old rules apply”, he said. “According to the old rules, Trump was unelectable. Old thinking just doesn’t work anymore.” He praised the way Warren avoids personal attacks and concentrates “entirely on policy issues.”
In the last few minutes of the talk Rushdie said “We live in a moment of opposites: Trump wins because he’s the anti-Obama; so maybe what we need is the opposite of Trump? And the closest I can see to the opposite of Trump is Warren. I think she has a strong chance of being the candidate.”
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