From: Grant Callaghan (grantc4@hotmail.com)
Date: Fri 22 Nov 2002 - 04:55:37 GMT
Good story, Joe. It has the ring of truth.
Grant
>
> Salman Rushdie Signs Humanist
> Manifesto 2000
> or How I Met the Great but Distant Man
>Paris: Oct. 7
>Salman Rushdie was in Paris on the occasion of the publication of
>the French edition of his latest novel, The Ground Beneath Her
>Feet, (" La Terre Sous Ses Pieds"). Just a few days before his
>public appearance, a friend phoned to ask me whether I wanted to
>go and meet Rushdie at a press conference in the famous Parisian
>bookshop of FNAC “St.Lazare. I jumped at the idea, and
>immediately set out for the capital. But on arriving at the
>bookshop, we were told that only those who had special
>invitations were permitted to get anywhere near the great man,
>who was heavily guarded. I was greatly disappointed, and made
>my way to my friend™s flat which was quite a distance from the
>FNAC “St.Lazare. Just before reaching her flat, I walked past a
>bookshop, and noticed an enormous photo of Rushdie in the
>window. The shop was obviously stocking a large number of
>copies of Rushdie's latest book, and almost all his other titles
>available in French. I was about to turn away thinking Rushdie
>was mocking me and rubbing in my failure to meet him, when I
>noticed an unassuming little note at the bottom of the photo
>saying Rushdie would be present to sign copies of his book in this
>particular bookshop in two days time. I entered to check to see
>whether Rushdie himself would really turn up at this tiny little
>bookshop, almost unannounced. Yes indeed, he would. Sheer
>luck! Sheer coincidence! I waited in the cold, third person in the
>queue on Thursday, October 7th at 20 .00 hours outside the
>bookshop; The elderly French couple in front of me said they had
>not read anything by Rushdie but they were there on principle to
>support Rushdie morally.
>About fifteen bodyguards were placed in front of the bookshop,
>and at promptly 20.30 Rushdie turned up in a large car with two
>more policemen. He was rushed into the bookshop, and then
>placed, rather illogically, right in front of the bookshop window,
>where any assassin would have had no problem in firing directly
>from a car or motorcycle from the road. Again, rather illogically,
>given all the fuss surrounding Rushdie™s security, the public were
>let in without any rigorous body search ; they did not even check
>my briefcase as I sauntered in.
>As I suddenly found myself in front of Rushdie, I asked him to
>sign a copy of his book ( French edition), and then I blurted out
>breathlessly and as quickly as possible that I was Ibn Warraq, that
>I had sent him a copy of my book over two years ago, had he
>heard of it? had he read it ? here was yet another copy? Yes, he
>had heard of it, but did not think he had ever received a copy. No
>he would not have much time to see me after the signing but I
>could wait and see.
>So, at the end when about 45 - 50 people had filed past, and the
>field was clear, I again approached Rushdie. He was a little more
>relaxed this time but still hardly very friendly. He confessed that
>he had after all received a copy of my book but in manuscript
>form! I showed him the copy of Free Inquiry with the Humanist
>Manifesto 2000, explained to him very quickly what it and the
>Council of Secular Humanism was all about, and invited him to
>sign the manifesto and come to the Congress in Los Angeles in
>May 2000.He said he would look at it and let me know. I asked
>his permission to write to him via email, as I had his email
>address from Taslima Nasrin. He gave his permission, and as I
>left, I added, "Mr. Rushdie, thank you very much, you are an
>inspiration to all of us." There for the first time, he showed some
>sort of human warmth, as he smiled spontaneously at my generous
>tribute.
>I wrote to him via email giving more details about the conference
>in L.A. A few weeks later, I received a terse email note saying I
>could add his name to the Manifesto but that he was unable to
>attend the meeting in L.A.
>
>===============================================================
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This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
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