you just said is the master and margarita, tells the story of jesus from the point of view of pontius pilate. it is only one of the narrative strategies in reasonably good . you discover you are more resilient than you thought you were. i'm glad to be at the end of the story because it was a long time ago. the satanic verses was my fifth published book. this is my 18th. most of my life as a writer comes after it. feels like a long time ago. i am proud of it and pleased the first is less, the book is finally being read just as a novel, being studied in colleges and so on and has the life of a novel. some love it, some hated and some are in between and that is the ordinary life of a book. i am glad to have that life, small principal called free expression which is worth fighting for, in these times and administration which is keen on the second amendment but not so keen on the first. [applause] >> let me try to answer. let me touch on it. regarding christopher hitchens, have you speculated much -- >> it is very difficult. christopher hated the clintons. christopher's dislike of the clintons wa

christ, when jesus asked by pontius pilate, "are you the king of the jews?"ne else into that. >> we are not accepting the answers you gave. >> that is your prerogative. >> do you understand you are standing in contempt of the committee? i hate to waste the committee felt time. my answer is the same. i love my country very dearly and i greatly resent this implication that because some of the places i have sung and some of the people i have known and some of my opinions, whether they are religious or , are making me any less of an american. [applause] i just want to say as an american muslim, i am very live on the shoulders of giants. thank you for the opportunity. [applause] >> as we have seen, women played a key role in resisting you act --huac. she was involved in the teaching and mentoring of youngwriters -- young writers generation of a young african-american tv writ ers. her grandmother fell statement is sarah star leavitt. [applause] >> there is no such thing as an almost freedom. if you modify freedom of expression and conscience of association of cordi