These days it is easy to see primordial, classless, guttural commentary or exchanges between people (mostly politicians and television stars like Snooky or Jennifer Lawrence). So it is nice to see disagreements take the form of intellectual swaps (lyrical and verbose cheap shots, really).
I recently finished reading Salman Rushdie's incredible Joseph Anton, his memoir about his years in hiding following the fatwa issued against him on Valentine's Day 1989 by the Ayatollah Khomeini. I enjoyed many parts of the book, but the section I enjoyed most involved an exchange that took place between Rushdie and John le Carré on the pages of The Guardian newspaper in England. le Carré had been one of the first critics of Rushdie for publishing "The Satanic Verses," and when he himself complained about accusations of anti-Semitism following the publication of his latest book, Rushdie jumped in. I include a part of their memorable exchange (all on the pages of The Guardian) here:
Rushdie (Joseph Anton): "It would be easier to sympathize with him, had he not been so ready to join in an earlier campaign of vilification against a fellow writer. In 1989, during the worst days of the Islamic attack on The Satanic Verses, le Carré rather pompously joined forces with my assailants. It would be gracious if he were to admit that he understands the nature of the Thought Police a little better now that, at least in his own opinion, he's the one in the line of fire."
John le Carré: Rushdie's way with the truth is as self-serving as ever. I never joined his assailants. Nor did I take the easy path of proclaiming him to be a shining innocent. My position was that there is no law in life or nature that says great religions may be insulted with impunity. I wrote that there is no absolute standard of free speech in any society...I wrote, and would write again in paperback for, I was more concerned about the girl at Penguin Books who might get her hands blown off in the mail room than I was about Rushdie's royalties. Anyone who had wished to read the book by then had ample access to it. My purpose was not to justify the persecut8ion of Rushdie, which, like any decent person, I deplore, but to sound a less arrogant, less colonialist, and less self-righteous note than we were hearing from the safety of his admirers' camp."
Rushdie: "'Ignorant' and 'semilieterate' are dunces' caps he has skillfully fitted on this own head...le Carré's habit of giving himself good reviews was no doubt developed because, well, somebody has to write them...I have no intention of repeating yet again my many explications of The Satanic Verses, a novel of which I remain extremely proud. A novel, Mr. le Carré, not a give. You know what a novel is, don't you, John?"
There is more to this exchange and luminaries such as Christopher Hitchens and William Shawcross chime in as well. You will not be sorry you read this book!
In today's (March 30, 2013) blog post for the Huffington Post, Elizabeth Gore, Resident Entrepreneur, United Nations Foundation, writes about the social and cultural landscape that awaits her 18-month old daughter in the United States. Returning to the US with a heightened sense of Americanism following a UN-sponsored trek around the world, Ms. Gore talks about violence and women's rights, etc., openly saying how much better we have it in our country than elsewhere. Her ethnocentric statements aside, I was particularly drawn to her statements about women's rights.
