The man who was to host the conference with Salman Rushdie in the northern United States, and who was on the stage with the writer when he was stabbed, said on Sunday August 14 that he first thought it was "
a bad joke
".
It was "
very difficult to understand
" the situation at the time, explained Henry Reese in an interview with CNN.
“
It looked like some kind of bad joke, and it didn't seem real.
When there was blood behind him, it became real
, ”said the 73-year-old man, who did not wish to speak in more detail about the exact course of the attack.
He said he "
immediately
" thought of the fatwa targeting the writer for 30 years, but initially believed it was a bad taste "
hint
" at it, not a "
real attack
".
He himself was injured, and answered CNN's questions with a large white bandage over his black, swollen right eye.
"
I'm fine
," he said.
“
We should all be worried about Salman Rushdie, not me.
»
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,
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The event, which took place at a cultural center in the small town of Chautauqua, New York, was to focus on the "
City of Asylum
" movement, co-founded by Henry Reese.
The association is dedicated to defending the freedom of expression of writers and artists in danger because of their work, and in particular offers them temporary accommodation in the United States.
It was precisely a speech by Salman Rushdie in nearby "
Pittsburgh in 1997 that inspired my wife and me to form this organization
," explained Henry Reese.
"
That's the grim irony, or maybe the intent: to not just attack his body, but everything he stands for
," he continued.
“
As readers, we should all go buy a Salman Rushdie book this week, and read
it,” he called.
The author, targeted by a fatwa from Iran for his novel "
The Satanic Verses
" published in 1988, remains hospitalized in the United States and his injuries are serious, but he is currently on the way to recovery, according to his agent.
Sales of
The Satanic Verses
book soar
The attack on Salman Rushdie renewed public interest in the author's work, notably his 1988 novel "
The Satanic Verses
", which earned him death threats for 30 years and sales of which were up on Saturday.
This book is the source of the fatwa declared against him by Iran since 1989.
On Saturday afternoon, three editions of the book topped Amazon's Book Sales Barometer, which tracks the books with the fastest sales growth in the past 24 hours.
And the writer's very first bestseller, "
Midnight's Children
," was in fourth place.