Agent Shares Full Extent of Salman Rushdie's Injuries

The full extent of the injuries Salman Rushdie suffered after being stabbed in August have now been revealed via an interview his agent gave to Spain's El Pais. The Guardian reports the upshot of Andrew Wylie's comments: The 75-year-old author has lost vision in one eye and is unable to use one hand. Wylie elaborated: "[His wounds] were profound, but he's [also] lost the sight of one eye. He had three serious wounds in his neck. One hand is incapacitated because the nerves in his arm were cut. And he has about 15 more wounds in his chest and torso. So, it was a brutal attack."

Wylie also said he and Rushdie had discussed this very type of attack, which Wylie characterized as the "principal danger that [Rushdie] faced so many years after the fatwa was imposed"—one involving a "random person coming out of nowhere and attacking ... You can’t protect against that because it’s totally unexpected and illogical. It was like John Lennon[’s murder]." Wylie wouldn't discuss Rushdie's current whereabouts, or whether he remains hospitalized, but noted, "He’s going to live…That’s the more important thing." Hadi Matar, 24, faces second-degree attempted murder and assault charges in connection with the New York attack. (Read Wylie's full interview, in which he speaks much more broadly about publishing and compares Amazon to ISIS.)