Rushdie Haunted by his unholy Ghosts — Page 153
Rushdie: Haunted By His Unholy Ghosts 153 Brian Clark, the playwright, wrote a play Who Killed The Writer? following the fatwa, in order that ‘writers should immediately do what they could to express support, and, more importantly, draw the lessons from the event. ’ He wanted to show ‘through a con- frontation between the assassin and a political journalist’ that even though Rushdie’s àTcondemnation by the Ayatollah was wicked and unacceptable in any kind of world order we can tolerate, it did not arrive out of the blue but that the Western powers have helped to create the monster which now threatens to devour us. ’ This was part of the covering letter that Brian Clark sent to Salman Rushdie with a copy of the play before the title became known in the hope that it would reassure him that, ‘while I have used your appalling predicament, I have not exploited it. . . . I have only one hope for the play and that is by widening the debate about Muslim (or any other) fundamentalism, I may contribute to a gen- eral lessening of tensions in the world. ’ This seemed like a noble enough gesture by a fellow writer, but the response by Rushdie has once again exposed his true self-moti- vated perverse character. Brian Clark continues : ‘Mr Rushdie responded by leaving a message on my answer- phone saying he was appalled that I would think the play which postulated his death could in any way be acceptable to him, that he would resist its being performed. ’ Furthermore, Brian Clark was ‘shocked to be in receipt of a letter from Mr Rushdie’s agent saying that if we intended production we should send him a formal note so that he could establish Salman’s legal rights. ’ Brian Clark decided in the end not to go ahead with the pro- duction; in spite of this he writes that he received no note from Rushdie to acknowledge his concession and feels now that his ‘act of self-censorship was misguided. ’ Clark’s assertion is probably shared by many fair-minded peo- ple when he surmises : ‘The irony of Mr Rushdie wishing to sup-