News from Romania, via the Courier International:
For the first time, Romania has published a translation of Salman Rushdie’s novel, “The Satanic Verses.” Patriarch Daniel, head of Romania’s Orthodox Church, has criticized the book, which he says attacks the spiritual values and symbols of all religions. Sabina Fati [of Romania Libera] comments: “Not only does the head of the Orthodox Church want to control domestic culture; he also wants to control foreign culture as soon as it lands in Romania. Last year, the censorship rights of the Orthodox Church were written into law. … Article 13 of this law bans ‘all forms, all means, all acts of animosity toward religion,’ as well as ‘the public defamation of religious symbols.’ … It is not completely clear whether Patriarch Daniel, who plays the part of an incisive intellectual, has ever read Rushdie’s novel. But the word from his circles is that there is no interest in the book itself, but only in its offensive ideas.”
The translation has also been condemned by – not much of a surprise here – Iran:
In a statement, Iran’s Embassy in Bucharest has denounced the translation of The Satanic Verses and called for the book to be banned in Romania.
The Editura Polirom Publishing House has sponsored the translation work.
This is rather sinister: it should never be forgotten that Rushdie’s Japanese translator, Hitoshi Igarashi, was murdered in 1991 (the killer was never found).
Meanwhile, here’s the death of Rushdie through divine intervention in the form of laser-beam firing flying Korans, as portrayed in the film International Gorillay. Unfortunately, the quality of the recording means we don’t get the full impact of the amazing special effects.
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