Le Carre, Rushdie Squash Feud
Authors John le Carre and Salman Rushdie have squashed their long-running feud over the freedom to insult religion.
The issue got heated in The Guardian in 1997, but actually started in 1989 when le Carre tried to get Rushdie to stop distribution of his novel The Satanic Verses due to the threat of violence by Muslims.
Eight years later in 1997, John was frustrated over being accused of anti-Semitism in his novel The Tailor of Panama. Rushdie couldn’t sympathize with le Carre because he was “so ready to join in an earlier campaign of vilification against a fellow writer.”
Le Carre then called him “arrogant, self righteous and self-serving.” Rushdie replied, calling him “pompous.”
Last month, Rushdie said “I wish we hadn’t done it. He’s a writer I really admire. I think of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy as one of the great novels of postwar Britain.”
“I too regret the dispute,” le Carre reponded. “I admire Salman for his work and his courage, and I respect his stand.”
