I found a copy of 'The Satanic Verses' at a garage sale in Phoenix and the seller whispered it was 'contraband'

Reading about the 1989 fatwa against Salman Rushdie for writing it made me wonder what other art has sparked real-world violence, not just bans.

3 comments

3 Comments

iris_adams23d ago

Yeah, the fatwa was for the author, not the translators. Riverg75 is right that bookstore workers got threats though.

riverg7523d ago

That book caused a lot of pain for translators and bookstore workers. Sometimes the reaction to art shows how powerful it really is.

campbell.evan1d ago

Remember my friend who worked at a small bookstore in the 90s. They had a copy in the back room for special order only. Someone found out and called the shop every day for a week, just breathing into the phone. She quit not long after that.