BBC Four’s “This Cultural Life” welcomes literary giant Salman Rushdie this Tuesday for what is sure to be a compelling conversation. John Wilson sits down with the author to explore his life, work, and the events that have shaped both. From his childhood in Bombay to the international controversy surrounding “The Satanic Verses,” Rushdie’s story is one of literary achievement and extraordinary resilience.
The interview traverses key moments in Rushdie’s personal and creative development. He discusses the influence of Bombay’s vibrant storytelling traditions and the folk tales that fueled his early imagination. The impact of India’s independence and partition in 1947, a pivotal moment that would inform his Booker Prize-winning novel “Midnight’s Children,” is another focal point. Rushdie also explores the theme of migration in his work, reflecting on his own moves to England and New York and how this experience found its way into novels like “The Satanic Verses.”
The conversation touches upon Rushdie’s fascination with surrealism, fabulism, and the power of myth, referencing “The Ground Beneath Her Feet,” a novel inspired by the timeless tale of Orpheus and Eurydice. “Truth in art can be arrived at through many doors,” Rushdie observes, and this interview seems to open several of them, providing a window into the mind of a writer who has faced extraordinary challenges and continues to create. Tune in to BBC Four on Tuesday, March 25th at 10:00 PM.
