With the Eighth pick of the first round, diveway selects, in the category of European Literature:
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
Published 1988.
Quote:
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"To be born again," sang Gibreel Farishta tumbling from the heavens, "first you have to die."
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Upon its publication in 1988,
The Satanic Verses earned its author Salman Rushdie a death sentence from Ayatollah Ruholla Komeini, was burned in the UK, banned in India, and was nominated for the Booker prize and won the Whitbread award for best novel.
Quote:
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Two actors from India, "prancing" Gibreel Farishta and "buttony, pursed" Saladin Chamcha, are flying across the English Channel when the first of many implausible events occurs: the jet explodes. As the two men plummet to the earth, "like titbits of tobacco from a broken old cigar," they argue, sing and are transformed. When they are found on an English beach, the only survivors of the blast, Gibreel has sprouted a halo while Saladin has developed hooves, hairy legs and the beginnings of what seem like horns. - Publisher's Weekly
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As a writer myself, I imagined the experience of first reading Salman Rushdie to be much like being a rookie goaltender getting scored on by Sidney Crosby. A simultaneous dawning of awareness of just how good people are capable of being and an understanding of how much there is to learn.
The Satanic Verses at Amazon.com
At wikipedia
The Controversy, at wikipedia.
The Satanic Verses, at wikipedia. Information on the apocryphal Qu'Ran verses from which the book takes its name and inspiration.