BIOGRAPHY of writer Salman Rushdie. The writer documents Rushdie's life until he
went into hiding. The writer mixes bibliographic information in the article
with biographical analysis of his fiction. Rushdie was born Ahmed Salman Rushdie on June 19, 1947, the son of Anis Ahmed
Rushdie, in Bombay, India. Salman's
relationship with his father was conflicted. His sister, Sameen,
tells the writer many stories of Salman's childhood. Salman was sent to England
to study at the Rugby school. He took the trip
with his father and they had a falling out in London, which he later described in his novel
"The Satanic Verses." At Rugby, Rushdie was the victim of racist
taunts; he excelled in debating and won a scholarship to King's College, Cambridge. He met
Clarissa Luard, his future wife, in 1970, and
published "Grimus," his first novel, with
help from editor Liz Calder, in 1973. In 1976, Rushdie and
Luard married. Rushdie's next book was "Madame
Rama," whose main character resembles Indira
Ghandi. His son Zafar was born in 1979.
"Midnight's Children," Rushdie's breakthrough novel, was published by
Knopf in 1980 and won the Booker Prize in 1981. It lampooned many Indian and
Pakistani public figures. Rushdie was acclaimed and feted after its release; he
was now famous. His next book "Shame," published in 1983, was banned
in Pakistan.
His marriage began to break up shortly before his affair with writer Robyn
Davidson began, in 1984. They separated in 1985, and Rushdie had a two-year
relationship with Davidson, before meeting and having a relationship with
writer Marianne Wiggins that ended shortly after Rushdie went into hiding. Rushdie
wrote "The Jaguar Smile," which didn't receive much notice, in 1987. The
publication of "The Satanic Verses," in 1988, caused a rift between Rushdie
and his longtime editor Liz Calder, after he broke
with her to sign with New York
literary agent Andrew Wylie. That book elicited outraged reactions from
Muslims, who claimed its contents were blasphemous. The Ayatollah Khomeini
issued a fatwa, which demanded his death, and Rushdie was forced to go into
hiding. The story of Rushdie's first life, his life pre-fatwa, ends there