 First edition | |
| Author | Salman Rushdie |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Memoir |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
Joseph Anton: A Memoir is an autobiographical book by the British Indian writer Salman Rushdie, first published in September 2012 by Random House. 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.
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.
Reception
On The Omnivore, based on British press reviews, the book received an "omniscore" of 3.0 out of 5. Culture Critic assessed critical response as an aggregated score of 63% based on British and American press reviews. 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". Globally, Complete Review saying on the consensus "Generally quite positive -- though many complaints about length and gossipiness".
References
- Yardley, Jonathan (16 September 2012). "'Joseph Anton: A Memoir' by Salman Rushdie". Washington Post. Retrieved 17 September 2012. Balint, Benjamin (April 2013). "A review of Joseph Anton". Claremont Review of Books. Archived from the original on 16 May 2022. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
- Gompertz, Will (17 September 2012). "Meeting Salman Rushdie". BBC. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
- Radio Times, p.130 22–28 September 2012
- "Nuclear weaponry, feathers, Everest and fatwa: Longlist announced for Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction 2012". The Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction. Archived from the original on 25 September 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
- "Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie". The Omnivore. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
- "Salman Rushdie - Joseph Anton". Culture Critic. Archived from the original on 23 January 2013. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
- "Joseph Anton: A Memoir". Bookmarks. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
- "New books guide". Bookmarks. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
- "Joseph Anton". Complete Review. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
- "Joseph Anton". The BookScore. Archived from the original on 1 October 2015. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
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