In “‘As usual, words fail him’\u20146 great literary feuds,” a glorified “list” story meant to entertain, The Telegraph’s Morwenna Ferrier and Rupert Hawksley offer a fluff piece that doesn’t go into much detail and didn’t involve much research. But it’s worth noting that Updike gets a mention:<\/p>\n
Salman Rushdie vs John Updike<\/strong><\/p>\n “Rushdie, as we know, is no stranger to controversy, but his battle with John Updike tops all his feuds.<\/p>\n “In 2006, Updike denounced Rushdie’s novel, Shalimar the Clown<\/em>, writing ‘Why, oh why did Salman Rushdie, in his new novel call one of his major characters Maximilian Ophuls?.’ Rushdie responded to Updike’s query in The Guardian: ‘Why, oh why… ? Well, why not? Somewhere in Las Vegas there’s probably a male prostitute called “John Updike”.’ He went on to describe Updike’s latest, Terrorist<\/em>, as ‘beyond awful,’ and suggested Updike should ‘stay in his parochial neighbourhood and write about wife-swapping, because it’s what he can do.’ Because what’s a little quibbling between literary giants\u2026”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In “‘As usual, words fail him’\u20146 great literary feuds,” a glorified “list” story meant to entertain, The Telegraph’s Morwenna Ferrier and Rupert Hawksley offer a fluff piece that doesn’t go into much detail and didn’t involve much research. But it’s … Continue reading