Author says he doesn’t ‘feel symbolic’ and hopes to steer narrative to his books after surviving assassination attempt Author says he doesn’t ‘feel symbolic’ and hopes to steer narrative to his books after surviving assassination attempt Salman Rushdie said he’s tired of being everyone’s “free speech Barbie” four years after the author survived an assassination attempt that left him blinded in his right eye. “It’s a subject I’m anxious to change,” Rushdie said Friday during a talk with the