A memoir, a social history, and a literary criticism all wrapped in one, Reading Lolita in Tehran is an outstanding novel that opens the door to many complex subjects to the government and cultural issues in Iran and the world. Being New York’s Times number one best seller, the significance of this memoir is of no doubt.
In the true story set in a time of everything but peacefulness, highlights the experiences, the trials, and the tribulations held by English literature professor and her students, we learn that freedom is something not to be held lightly. Due to the oppressive nature on women in Iran, Professor Nafisi was forced to resign from her teaching career at the Iranian university. Soon after, she gathered seven of her best students, all female, and together they attended secret weekly studies of western literature from the confines of her own home. The books they read were banned by the Iranian government, and they often had to share photocopied pages of the illegal texts. For years the met with each other to share and to talk and to "shed their mandatory veils and robes and burst into color." The meetings provided liberation for them under strict Islamic rule.
Threaded into the memoir are incisive discussions of the literary works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jane Austen, George Orwell, and other great western authors who provided the women with examples of those who successfully defeated obsession despite the challenges they faced. It in turn encouraged them to revolt against the blatant authoritarianism and repression in both large and small ways.
After reading this novel, I would recommend that everyone reads also reads it, and I think it would be especially appreciated by any one with even the tiniest interest in literature and foreign social or cultural issues. Reading Lolita in Tehran is enlightening and reminds us to take every advantage of all the freedom we are blessed with and to not to take them for granted. We must remember that some are not blessed with the right to read, watch, or even think about certain subject matters, and even the smallest liberating topics such as the freedom to dress how one pleases is not always guaranteed. All in all, Reading Lolita in Tehran is an outstanding read that emphasizes the relationship between life, literature, and liberty, and should be on the bookshelves of every home.
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Khaliah, I think that it is important to note that another reason why this book as well as other works are important, is because they help to dispel the many misconceptions Americans have about other people that are trapped in these regimes. Many times we think of “them” as our enemy without giving thought to the individuals that are being oppressed by their governments. We see them on TV chanting “death to America” and burning our flag but we fail to realize that maybe they don’t believe what they are saying or what they are doing, that maybe they feel it’s either that or their death. This literature humanizes these cultures and makes us realize that their values and their desires are not that different than ours. Their government was imposed on them, they didn’t choose it – not all of them. I think this type of literature should be forced on military personnel before they are sent off to wage war with another country, to help them realize that there are individuals with individual beliefs, that not every person there supports the belief system of their government. The last thing someone needs that is down, is to be kicked by an American soldier.
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