Salman Rushdie talks swapping magic realism for bizarre reality of today’s world in new novel
Trump, terrorism and the world’s other strange ‘new normals’ all feature in writer’s new novel The Golden House
“This was a long time ago,” Rushdie recalls. “Long before he had expressed any political ambitions. When he was just this lummox, this kind of New York buffoon.”
Trump began gesturing at Rushdie. “He did this thing where he pointed at me with his shapely and very long index fingers.” Rushdie mimes Trump’s take on “finger guns”.
“Then Trump said, ‘You’re the man.’”
Rushdie was so surprised he glanced over his shoulder. “In case ‘the man’ was behind me. But apparently, I was ‘the man’.” He laughs. “I have no idea why. But I also knew there was a correct answer. And this was, ‘No Donald, you’re ‘the man’.” Apparently satisfied, the “all friendly” Trump moved on.
Whether the 45th president of the United States has told anyone that Sir Salman Rushdie – knight of the British realm, writer of the Booker of Bookers ( Midnight’s Children [1981]) and arguably the most famous writer of the past three decades – called him “the man” remains a secret to this day.
