Fear, Anger and Pride at Viking Over ‘Satanic Verses’

NEW YORK —  When the first bomb threat came two weeks before Christmas, many employees here at Viking Penguin dismissed it as a prank. It seemed improbable that Islamic protests over Salman Rushdie’s new novel “The Satanic Verses” would suddenly threaten the safety of a respected American publishing house.

“Nobody seemed worried that we had published this book,” said a senior editor. “I remember taking some of my staff across the street for a drink while police cleared out the building. We went back inside an hour later, and everybody felt that was the end of that.”

But the troubles were just beginning.

As the international furor over Rushdie’s book continued, Viking Penguin received new telephone threats. Each time, police had to evacuate the six-story cement building and life at the publishing firm began to take on a state of siege. Work was disrupted; jittery employees began to panic every time the phone rang. For some, the simple act of opening a letter became an ordeal.

“This has been traumatic for many of us,” said a production assistant, who like her colleagues asked not to be identified. “The crisis atmosphere is real. It’s something you can’t understand until you live through it. There’s been too much tension.”

The crisis intensified last week, when Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini put a $6 million bounty on Rushdie’s head and said his surrealistic novel about the birth of Islam was blasphemous. As riots erupted in Iran, Pakistan and India, death threats were made against Viking Penguin’s top executives.

Pulled Book From Shelves

Then, two of the nation’s largest booksellers--B. Dalton-Barnes & Noble and Waldenbooks--pulled the book from display, voicing fears for employees’ safety. On Friday, Viking was forced to temporarily shut its doors after a ninth bomb threat was received and demonstrators appeared outside the building. Spokesmen said employees deserved a break from the ordeal and the company began installing a new security system.

“It’s been hell, if you want to know the truth,” said an exasperated editor. “We’ve been put through the wringer and nobody knows when it’s going to stop. It’s an outrageous situation, because the publishing world is now a target for terrorism. That’s just an appalling thought.”

Viking Penguin officials said the company would be open for business on Tuesday, vowing to carry on despite further threats. And, despite Khomeni’s rejection of Rushdie’s weekend apology, the company announced that 100,000 more copies of his book would be printed. In a show of support for employees, the firm also is considering a plan to move some of its top executives into the firm’s lower Manhattan offices.

As the controversy grows, the focus in the United States may now shift to another part of the literary community. Although slow to react initially, a growing number of angry writers--led by some of the nation’s most prestigious authors--plan to stage a public reading of Rushdie’s novel on Wednesday, the scheduled publication date. They also say they will condemn the decision by U.S. booksellers to pull Rushdie’s work.

“We in the literary community will be showing a commitment to character and courage in the face of terrorism from Iran, something we have so far failed to do,” author Gay Talese said. “The behavior of the booksellers has been most appalling, because we’ve been allowing some 16th-Century figure from the Dark Ages to determine what Americans can or can’t read.”

Talese conceded that “no one expects booksellers to set themselves up for the firing squads of a madman.” But “we do expect people to remember what’s at stake here. We hear that the pen is mightier than the sword, but I guess in this country that may no longer be the case.”

Other writers at the New York event will include Norman Mailer, E. L. Doctorow, Susan Sontag, Joan Didion, John Gregory Dunne, Frances FitzGerald and Larry McMurtry, said Karen Kennerly, executive director of PEN, the U.S. chapter of the international writer’s group that is sponsoring the meeting.

Earlier, Talese blasted the reluctance of fellow authors to speak out on the crisis and condemn Iran. That silence will be a key issue at the Wednesday event, when members of PEN discuss the literary community’s responsibility to act. At the least, FitzGerald declared, American writers should form a united front behind Rushdie, a 41-year old Indian-born writer who is now in hiding in England.

“The lesson for us is clear,” she said. “The only safety is in numbers, and we have to stand together. The bookstores that decided to pull this book isolated the people at Viking, making them an easier target. That was a thoughtless, craven thing to do. Nobody should have to experience what this publisher has gone through.”

Trade Associations’ Support

In a further show of solidarity, the American Booksellers Assn. and the Assn. of American Publishers announced that they will sponsor a newspaper advertisement Wednesday, a part of which will read: “In the spirit of the American commitment to free expression, we inform the public that the book will be available at bookstores and libraries throughout the country.”

A spokesman for the booksellers’ group noted, however, that U.S. bookstores would make their own decisions as to whether Rushdie’s book will be available. As of Sunday, copies were scarce in stores in most large cities.

Looking ahead to Wednesday, FitzGerald said security is a concern. But she stressed that extra police will be on hand and that people should demonstrate support for Rushdie.

“I hope we’ll have a big crowd, even though we may get some demonstrators,” she said. “We could attract the same crazies who have been delivering the threats to Viking, but that’s a risk you have to take. This is no laughing matter.”

Threat Is Serious

Experts on terrorism agree there is a serious threat to Viking Penguin employees but are unclear how immediate it may be.

Neil C. Livingtone, a terrorism specialist and adjunct professor of national security studies at Georgetown University, said “the concern is that some bozo off the street is going to get in his mind that this is the route to a few bucks or becoming important, and that he might go out and attack some Viking editor. It could be vandalism to outright acts of violence.”

Amid the threats, Viking employees had angry words for the American publishing community, and for booksellers who removed the novel from their shelves.

“What we have here is a feeling of betrayal,” said a senior editor. “I guess I’m not too surprised by these actions, but they’re still very upsetting. It’s as if we’ve been ignored.”

Another employee called the booksellers’ decision “a capitulation to Iran. I can’t believe they would have left us hanging high and dry like that. They folded their tent and we’re left alone to take the heat.”

Power of Written Word

Despite the danger, some Viking Penguin employees find the controversy intriguing--if only because it demonstrates the power of the written word to influence international events.

“Isn’t this extraordinary, how one book has set off such an incredible uproar?” said an editor. “We’re used to hearing how television is the major influence on events. We hear that fiction is dying. And now we have this one novel creating such a disturbance.”

As they prepare to return to work, employees expressed pride in the company’s decision to remain open. They vowed to get on with their jobs, despite a bad case of nerves, and pledged to keep showing up for work, regardless of how many more bomb threats are received.

“Under these circumstances, you just keep a stiff upper lip,” said an editor. “You try to keep busy, to remember that life goes on, and that this business has to go on.”

Asked how the controversy had affected her, a production editor said she and her colleagues are resigned to the fact that it could continue indefinitely.

“You have no idea what it’s like to work under this kind of stress, knowing that some lunatic might blow the building sky high at any moment,” she said. “But there’s a principle at stake here. At some point, you must stand up for the right to publish.”