Taslima Nasrin – The Death Order and its Background

Peter Priskil

Peter Priskil, author of the acclaimed literary biography of Salman Rushdie from 1989 – the first and so far the only one to be published in the German-speaking realm – deals, in this study, with the literary work of this author who has been threatenend with death and hunted into exile, as well as the causes of and background to her persecution.
In the introduction to this study it states, amongst other things: »Our first interest is in the work which has rekindled the bloodthirstiness of religious fanatics with a vengeance ... Access to the source, to the incriminated book, is the only way to procure an answer to the question of why it is to be blocked up or contaminated; only then can the sinister intentions of the murderous arsonists and the shady intentions of their Western mainstays be seen in an appropriate light...«
The author focuses on the novel ›Lajja‹, completely unknown in Europe, which was banned in Bangladesh shortly after its publication. In the following chapters the pogroms by religious fanatics against its author are described based on both articles from European newspapers and reports from the Indian press. Moreover he gives a survey about the offensive of Islam which moved forward in a terrific speed all over the world since Khomeini's death order against Rushdie, any step of which is approved of and even supported by the West. In a final chapter he discusses the question why the author, in contrast to her own statements, is being labelled a »feminist« and thereby reveals the new quality of the religious offensive in the »case Nasrin«.