De levensavond

by Salman Rushdie, Karina van Santen (Translator), Martine Vosmaer (Translator)

Leggen wij ons neer bij de dood, of verzetten we ons ertegen? Slijten we onze levensavond in berusting of in razernij? En hoe leven we een zinvol bestaan als we niet kunnen weten hoe ons verhaal afloopt? In dit boek richt richt Salman Rushdie zich op de laatste fase van het leven. Met zijn buitengewone verbeeldingskracht brengt hij de drie landen waar hij zijn boeken schreef –India, Engeland en de Verenigde Staten – en een onvergetelijke reeks personages tot leven.

Scherpzinnig, creatief en vol overtuiging buigt 'De levensavond'
zich over het leven en de dood, nalatenschap en identiteit.

257 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 28, 2025

About the author

Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie is an Indian-born British and American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Western civilizations, typically set on the Indian subcontinent. Rushdie's second novel, Midnight's Children (1981), won the Booker Prize in 1981 and was deemed to be "the best novel of all winners" on two occasions, marking the 25th and the 40th anniversary of the prize.
After his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses (1988), Rushdie became the subject of several assassination attempts and death threats, including a fatwa calling for his death issued by Ruhollah Khomeini, the supreme leader of Iran. In total, 20 countries banned the book. Numerous killings and bombings have been carried out by extremists who cite the book as motivation, sparking a debate about censorship and religiously motivated violence. In 2022, Rushdie survived a stabbing at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York.
In 1983, Rushdie was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He was appointed a Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France in 1999. Rushdie was knighted in 2007 for his services to literature. In 2008, The Times ranked him 13th on its list of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. Since 2000, Rushdie has lived in the United States. He was named Distinguished Writer in Residence at the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute of New York University in 2015. Earlier, he taught at Emory University. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2012, he published Joseph Anton: A Memoir, an account of his life in the wake of the events following The Satanic Verses. Rushdie was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in April 2023.
Rushdie's personal life, including his five marriages and four divorces, has attracted notable media attention and controversies, particularly during his marriage to actress Padma Lakshmi.

Reviews

[Karine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Geweldige leeservaring.

[SG · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wat een schrijver, wat een boek, culminerend in de absolute parel « de oude man op de piazza ».