Rushdie speaks: Heraclitus, or, Character and Destiny

September 21st, 2006
Bowker Auditorium,
UMass - Amherst

I meant to write about the talk a long time ago, but I was probably overwhelmed from the barrage of literary references which did succeed in making me feel like an ignoramus, totally worthless and unread! A journey through literature... from Samuel Richardson to Charles Schulz (yes, of 'Peanuts")... from Heraclitus, ("part wise man part fortune cookie") to Popeye - 'I yam what I yam', or 'Character is Destiny'.... Melville (Ishmael as Dylan (Bob) in Pat Garett and Billy the Kid) to Ragtime's Doctorow.. Cervantes, Shakespeare, Joyce, Austen, Nabokoff...

I'm not gonna try. Just recording the moment.

And yes, picked up "Shalimar the Clown". Wanted to get a copy of Midnight's Children too, signed, but they'd sold out! Should have had the foresight to bring along a copy!!