Rushdie condemns “censorship by fear”
Salman Rushdie, whose recent books are published by Random House, has criticised his publisher for shelving Sherry Jones’ 7th century burka-ripper The Jewel of Medina.
I am very disappointed to hear that my publishers, Random House, have canceled another author’s novel, apparently because of their concerns about possible Islamic reprisals. This is censorship by fear, and it sets a very bad precedent indeed.
Especially since RH abandoned the project without a single threat having been made. They caved because there was a threat of threats.
This book needs to be published. We need to have this fight.
August 15th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
If not published on dead trees, then at least allow the manuscript to be available over BitTorrent.
August 15th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Categorizing this as a “burka-ripper” is completely irresponsible and the kind of crap that leads to fear-based decisions . I’m Sherry’s friend, and I’e read this book. I’m sure you haven’t. It’s a historical novel about the life of A’isha.
August 15th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Categorizing this as a “burka-ripper” is completely irresponsible and the kind of crap that leads to fear-based decisions
No, it isn’t. Fear is what leads to fear-based decisions.
August 15th, 2008 at 6:50 pm
surely mostly people haven’t read this book because the publishers chickened out of publishing it? Hopefully it will be published soon and that will clear up any confusion as to whether “burka-ripper” is an accurate description.
August 16th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
“censorship by fear” is actually an old-established and well-known technique better known as, and more simply called, intimidation - no more, no less - nothing new.