Salman Rushdie at Emory

[Pillsbury]

I feel that a city is often judged by its literary scene. Atlanta, which had a strong literary scene in years past, has been somewhat lacking recently. For this reason, I'm happy that Emory has landed someone of Rushdie's calibur. Anyway, here is the article: Rushdie

[ironchapman]

Great to hear he's coming. Should be interesting to hear his speech.

[ironchapman]

NVM Delete this.

[Lady Celeste]

This was an interesting coup. Seriously though, would anyone expect less from Emory? It is such a great school.

[Pillsbury]

^ It really is an excellent school and hopefully with someone of his academic standing (I mean the man actually has a fatwa issued against him. How cool is that?) should only increase Emory's (and Atlanta's) academic status. That college has been overshadowed in the South by Duke and Vanderbilt for too long......

[dixiecupdrinking]

Interesting. My college has an annual speech geared toward freshmen, which Rushdie gave this year. Obviously it was packed with upperclassmen, not to mention lots of people from the 'outside world,' as well.

Rushdie left almost everyone with a bad taste in their mouths, though. The general consensus was that he phoned in the speech, that it was egotistical, contrived, and rather stock. The people who left with the most bitter impressions were often the ones who most loved his writing. I thought he made some interesting points, specifically about the public's expectations of writers and of the real-world foundations for modern fiction, which does kind of render ironic the fact that people were holding Rushdie the man up to a standard dictated by the successes of Rushdie the author. Shamefully, I haven't read any of his work.