Days after he suffered critical wounds in a stabbing at a lecture in New York, author Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses” topped Amazon’s bestseller charts on Tuesday.
Both the Contemporary British & Irish Literature list and the Literary Satire Fiction list on Amazon ranked the book as the #1 Best Seller. Additionally, it was ranked eleventh overall on Amazon’s list of best sellers.
“Midnight’s Children” and “Joseph Anton: A Memoir,” two of his other novels, also made various Best Sellers lists.
Days after he suffered critical wounds in a stabbing at a lecture in New York, author Salman Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses” topped multiple Amazon bestsellers lists on Tuesday.
After the attack, which also caused damage to his liver and destroyed nerves in one arm, the author’s agent, Andrew Wylie, warned that he might lose an eye. Since then, the celebrated author has been taken off a ventilator and can speak once more, according to Wylie.
In connection with “The Satanic Verses,” Rushdie has endured more than 30 years of death threats and a $3 million bounty on his head. Following the 1988 release of “The Satanic Verses,” which some readers felt blasphemous for its portrayal of Islam, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the former supreme leader of Iran, issued a fatwa demanding Rushdie’s execution.
Rushdie’s stabbing sent “The Satanic Verses” rocketing to the top of multiple Amazon bestsellers lists on Monday and Tuesday, and during the course of the weekend.
Both the Contemporary British & Irish Literature list and the Literary Satire Fiction list on Amazon ranked the book as the #1 Best Seller. The book’s Spanish translation likewise came in first place on the Spanish-language Best Sellers in Literature & Fiction website. Salman Rushdie’s books did not even rank in the top 100 last Friday, according to Amazon page archives retrieved by the nonprofit Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.
The book also made the top 27 on Tuesday’s overall Amazon Best Sellers list, despite not ranking in the top 100 the previous week, according to the Wayback Machine’s archive of Amazon’s Best Seller website.
His other publications, such as “Midnight’s Children” and “Joseph Anton: A Memoir,” had previously not cracked the top 50 last month in the Asia Myth & Legend and Religious Intolerance sections, respectively.
The purpose of the person detained in connection with Rushdie’s attack is yet unknown, according to the police.
When asked if sales of Rushdie’s books had increased as a result of the incident on Friday, Amazon was unable to disclose any confidential sales information. Additionally, Random House, Rushdie’s publisher, was referred to CNBC by Amazon, but they were also unavailable for comment.
Rushdie’s 14th novel, published in 1988, was banned in India
Rushdie condemned the book burning as an attempt at censorship and defended his work
Rushdie moved around with police protection for nine years after Iran issued a fatwa calling for his death over alleged blasphemy.
