Without some insight into his thinking process, Salman Rushdie's complex novels must remain baffling even to the well-read. This volume puts forward a selection of significant statements made by Rushdie during the last two decades. Given in response to questions by authors, scholars, and journalists, they illuminate the life and work of the most controversial novelist of the last quarter century. Gathered here are Rushdie's utterances ordinarily hard to locate if only because, originally published in journals now defunct, they lie buried in archives across three continents.

The material included in this collection ranges from biographical snippets, through literary explications, to political dicta and historical analyses. Taken together, they make up a psycho-biography of the writer who, in our age, has emerged as the archetype of the romantic artist--tyrannized and tormented, yet refusing to abandon either his position or his art. The core of Rushdie's ideas embedded in the interviews comes as a mine of information, especially valuable for students and scholars. Accompanied by annotations and a detailed index, the interviews offer a guide to Rushdie's seemingly impenetrable fiction.