An enormous amount has been written about Rushdie's extremely controversial novel, although only a segment of the reaction to The Satanic Verses and its effects around the world involves any literary analysis of the work. Writings about the novel can be roughly separated into several main categories, the first being its prominent place in the news media. Newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times carried the story of the controversy on the front page and quoted Khomeini's original fatwa (in "Khomeini Says Author of 'Satanic Verses' Should Be Killed," by Charles P. Wallace and Dan Fisher): "I inform the proud Muslim people of the world that the author of 'The Satanic Verses,' a book which is against Islam, the prophet and the Koran, and all those involved in its publication who were aware of its content, are hereby sentenced to death."

Rushdie's...