According to literary agent Andrew Wylie, 75-year-old writer Salman Rushdie was blind in one eye as a result of the August 12 assassination. Wylie told the Spanish newspaper El País at the Frankfurt Book Fair. The British-Indian writer was also unable to move one hand because the nerves were severed during the knife attack.
To the question of El PaísWylie explained how Rushdie was doing almost two and a half months after the attack: “The wounds are deep (…) He suffered three serious wounds on his neck and another 15 on his back and upper body. It was a brutal attack.”
The agent would not say where Rushdie is currently and whether he is still being treated in the hospital. “I can’t give any information about his whereabouts. But I can say that he will survive. And that’s the most important thing.”
The Booker Prize winner was stabbed at an event in Chautauqua, New York, on August 12. He then had to undergo an emergency operation and at times be artificially ventilated. The 24-year-old attacker was arrested. Rushdie has been persecuted by religious fanatics for decades.
Rusdie’s new novel “Victory City” is scheduled to be published in German in April next year. “The novel is set in southern India in the 14th century and tells the story of a young girl who is chosen by a goddess,” says Penguin-Verlag.