Azar Nafisi: Reading Lolita in Tehran

[Sitaram]

I just now had a chat with my friend Ladybug in Tehran, and asked her what time it is. For her it is 10:30pm Sunday, and for me, GMT-5 east coast USA, it is 3pm. I explained to her that at 2am this morning, we all set our clocks ahead one hour, and explained the "Spring ahead, Fall back" acronym.

She commented that this year, Iran's leader refused to observe daylight savings time. As a joke, I said, "Well, it is rather satanic. Surely the devil must want to reduce the hours available for prayer."

But she said, "THAT WAS exactly the reason given!"

Many a true word said in jest, eh?

One Ottoman ruler in the 19th century forbade western sheet music, thinking it a secret code carrying a subversive message from the West.

I was reading Azar Nafisi's book today.

Part IV on Jane Austin, pg. 257 (in the paperback), which starts with a parody of the opening line of Pride and Prejudice: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Muslim man, regardless of his fortune, must be in want of a nine year old virgin wife [a snide reference to Mohammed and his child bride, Aiyesha].

On page 261, we read, "The age of marriage was lowered to nine - eight and a half lunar years, we were told; adultery and prostitution were to be punished by stoning to death; and women, under law, were considered to have half the worth of men."

 

[SFG75]

Thought of this place when I read this article. I only wish I could've been to this event.

Reading Lolita in Tehran author speaks in Lincoln.

 

[beer good]

Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi

Really enjoyed this. The story of a female Iranian professor of literature returning to her home country around the time of Khomeini's revolution and staying for 18 years, trying to do what she wants to do - teach literature, without being censored or oppressed. Which isn't easy in a very hard-line religious dictatorship.

It's part memoir, part literary criticism (her analysis of Lolita is fascinating - I just wish I had read all of the books she discusses) and part analysis of what it means to live in a country where individuality, imagination and personal freedom are frowned upon, to put it mildly - especially as a woman. It's a furious defense of human rights and of the need for fiction, a book where I find myself wanting to quote something every other page. (And considering the current trend of growing moral censorship and hunt for "true stories", not just relevant in Iran.)

I'm not completely bowled over by her writing style, though; her observations are astute, but she veers back and forth in time, dipping in and out of monologue and dialogue in a way that doesn't always do her any favours. It doesn't really bother me, but it's enough to make the book less than a masterpiece. Still, very recommended. 4/5.

 

[SFG75]

Just finished reading it this morning. I have to agree with beer_good that there are portions where she tends to just go off on her own literary tangents, she admits this fault about pontificating to no end to some extent. With that being said, I was particularly struck by how the "classmates" had their own internal struggles and how to reconcile that with what they read in the books about feisty and independent women. Should you marry and go to Turkey? Should you sue for divorce or risk losing your child? How do you maintain your independence when you are hard pressed to do so in your personal life and out in public?

I enjoyed reading about the University of Tehran and how it was a political hotbed filled with protests and all sorts of splinter political groups. The slow reintegration of the intellectuals back into their old jobs and allowing them some modicum of freedom was interesting to look at. The revolutionaries soon discovered that they couldn't govern the country without them and chose to become lenient on a few matters. By far, I enjoyed the "magician" challenging Nasifi to not become so sucked up into politics and warned her about becoming bitter. His point about people like her keeping the authorities up at night worrying about the youth listening to Michael Jackson and reading Nabokov, said a lot about how powerful she really was.

This was an excellent book, I only regret not having read it sooner.