![]() So long as you can hum “The Impossible Dream,” you’ll catch the broad parallels between these two stories. An homage to the wide-ranging wit and vision of Cervantes’ early 17th-century tale, “Quichotte” attempts to bring a similarly wry eye to the culture and politics of the early 21st century. That’s a painful process for “Quichotte,” an alternately cerebral and goofy novel that has just been shortlisted for the Booker Prize. In short, Rushdie’s books are now more closely scrutinized. ![]() In a matter of days, this writer of brilliant, magical fiction was forced into hiding and became the most famous novelist in the world – a villainous apostate to conservative Muslims, a cause celebre to defenders of free speech and a figure of intense curiosity for millions. His fourth novel, “The Satanic Verses,” inspired the Ayatollah Khomeini of Iran to issue a fatwa in 1989 calling for his assassination. Rushdie was an advertising copywriter when he wrote a novel called “Midnight’s Children,” which won the 1981 Booker Prize and sold hundreds of thousands of copies. Such is the mixed blessing of fame for Salman Rushdie, whose new novel, “Quichotte,” is a modern-day reimagining of “Don Quixote.” In Cervantes’ classic novel, a student tells the knight-errant Don Quixote, “The greater the fame of the writer, the more closely his books are scrutinized.” ![]() (Photo: Random House, Handout via The Washington Post) Book jacket of Quichotte by Salman Rushdie. ![]()
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