From the Department of Silver Linings: according to the Independent, Salman Rushdie (The Enchantress of Florence, 2008) told a TV shrink* that a death threat improved his outlook on life (”Rushdie: how the fatwa made me a much nicer man,” by Jonathan Owen):
Sir Salman Rushdie has confessed how he emerged a better person after being under a fatwa that saw him live a life in virtual seclusion for almost a decade.
In 1989, Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini issued the author with a death warrant over alleged blasphemy against the Prophet Mohamed in his novel The Satanic Verses. In a revelatory encounter with clinical psychologist Pamela Connolly, to be shown on Channel 4 later this month, the author claims the decision ultimately helped him become more self-aware.
What was it that Churchill said about a “blessing in disguise”? That it’s “very effectively disguised”? Do I have that right?
*Before you tell me that term is out of fashion, let me just say that the show is called Shrink Rap.
