No Freedom Of Speech: Random House’s Tale Of Fighting and F*cking
HISTORY is sexy. History is exciting. Popular history proves that men in sandals can still pull nymphomaniacs, and that human life in all its ages is about fighting and fu**ing.
Now Sherry Jones has written a historical novel about Aisha, the young wife of the prophet Muhammad.
Random House was so turned on to the subject it bought the novel last year in a $100,000, two-book deal. The Wall Street Journal says Jones was “ecstatic”.
The world would not be able to get enough of The Jewel of Medina – “a tale of lust, love and intrigue in the prophet’s harem”.
Peep through the gap in the tent flaps as Mohammad shows Aisha just how much he fancies her:
“the pain of consummation soon melted away. Muhammad was so gentle. I hardly felt the scorpion’s sting. To be in his arms, skin to skin, was the bliss I had longed for all my life.”
All her life:
Yes, she is describing how a NINE YEAR OLD girl would feel after having sex with a man in his FIFTIES.
If there’s to be a film of the book, who will play the parts? More contention to follow, we feel.
Make Love Not Phwoar!
More. More. Turn off the internet porn; shove that jazz mag back under the mattress and press the mute button on Songs of Praise, this is racy stuff. Who says history is boring?
But we will not be reading the book.
Random House feared the book would become a new Satanic Verses.
Random House executive Elizabeth McGuire has, reportedly, told the author and her agent of “fear of a possible terrorist threat from extremist Muslims”.
Thomas Perry, deputy publisher at Random House Publishing Group, says it “disturbs us that we feel we cannot publish it right now”.
He says advanced copies of the work were dispatched and the company received “from credible and unrelated sources, cautionary advice not only that the publication of this book might be offensive to some in the Muslim community, but also that it could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment.”
Random House should “postpone publication for the safety of the author, employees of Random House, booksellers and anyone else who would be involved in distribution and sale of the novel”.
Ms Jones is “devastated.” She says:
“I wanted to honor Aisha and all the wives of Muhammad by giving voice to them, remarkable women whose crucial roles in the shaping of Islam have so often been ignored — silenced — by historians.”
As he says:
If I searched around right now, I could probably find eight or ten books that outrage me. The oeuvre of Esposito and Armstrong would top the list. But the idea of bringing pressure upon a publisher not to publish them would be inconceivable to me. Those of a totalitarian mindset, however, do not hesitate.
Of course the book should be published. We’ve got the f****g, and we’ve got the news that violence works.
So let’s make history. Publish and be damned…
Posted: 7th, August 2008 | In: Reviews Comments (9) | TrackBack | Permalink
