| Joseph Anton: A Memoir | |
| Author: | Salman Rushdie |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | Memoir |
Joseph Anton: A Memoir is an autobiographical book by the British Indian writer Salman Rushdie, first published in September 2012 by Random House.[1] Rushdie recounts his time in hiding from ongoing threats to his life.
Rushdie's 1988 novel The Satanic Verses had led to a widespread controversy among Muslims, prompting the 1989 fatwa issued by Ayatollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran. Rushdie began to use "Joseph Anton" as a pseudonym; Rushdie chose the alias to honor the writers Joseph Conrad and Anton Chekhov.[2] [3]
The memoir also discusses other aspects of his personal life, such as his friendship with other writers including Bruce Chatwin, Paul Theroux, Bill Buford, and Martin Amis, as well as public figures such as Alan Yentob. It also includes the story of the break-up of his relationship with his second wife, Marianne Wiggins, and the acrimonious nature of their split, and his third and fourth marriages (and break-ups) to Elizabeth West and Padma Lakshmi.
Rushdie writes about his period living as "Joseph Anton" in the third rather than the first person.
The book was announced as one of the 14 titles in the longlist for the 2012 Samuel Johnson Prize on 18 September 2012.[4]
On The Omnivore, based on British press reviews, the book received an "omniscore" of 3.0 out of 5.[5] Culture Critic assessed critical response as an aggregated score of 63% based on British and American press reviews.[6] On Bookmarks November/December 2012 issue, a magazine that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received a (4.0 out of 5) based on critic reviews with a critical summary saying, "Written in the third-person--appropriate for a man who for years couldn't cop to his real identity--the memoir, an invaluable artifact of one of the pivotal events in late-20th-century literature, holds an important place in the author's body of work".[7] [8] Globally, Complete Review saying on the consensus "Generally quite positive -- though many complaints about length and gossipiness".[9]