Reading Lolita in Tehran

Jun 19, 2009 Siria rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, autobiography, by-poc

This book failed for me on a number of levels. The premise of it sounded interesting to me--a glimpse at the lives of women and academics under the totalitarian regime in Iran, arranged around a series of bookclub meetings and analyses of various famous books. But for such a promising concept, and for a book which deals with so many serious and complex topics, it's facile and cliched. Almost alarmingly so, in fact.

The tone was the biggest failing for me. It's smug and self-important. For me, it...more

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Aug 28, 2009 Annalisa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: book-club, memoir-biography

I feel like I showed up for class without reading the required assignment. This book should come with a prerequisite reading list: Lolita, Invitation to a Beheading, The Great Gatsby, Daisy Miller, and Pride and Prejudice or at least a warning for spoilers: (view spoiler). If I would have known Nafisi was going to delve into these literary pieces like she would one of...more I feel like I showed up for class without reading the required assignment. This book should come with a prerequisite reading list: Lolita, Invitation to a Beheading, The Great Gatsby, Daisy Miller, and Pride and Prejudice or at least a warning for spoilers: (view spoiler). If I would have known Nafisi was going to delve into these literary pieces like she would one of her class discussions, I would have wanted to read them before hand. It would have been nice to have them in my mind to go through the symbolism with her instead of being lectured at.

Reading this book, I pondered this question: can someone become too educated, too intellectual to write a good book? It becomes too analytic and not enough heart. This story about living through the Iranian tyranny of the last century could have been fascinating, but it becomes more about analyzing it to death than about the movement and people of the country. I mention this intellectual question because one of the underlying themes of the book is intellectual liberals vs religious conservatives. While I find the pursuit of education extremely important (and maybe I worship intellectualism too much), why is it always one or the other? Why does the spiritual lost in the educational realm? Can't we have both?

Surprisingly enough, the story of Iran told from this very liberal anti-Revolutionist made me sympathize with these Muslim extremist more than any other media has done so far. Not that I agree with their methods (I full-heartedly agree that forcing morals on people makes them resent them, not embrace them), but I found myself seeing the world through their eyes, especially where Nafisi condemns them the most. I can see them so caught up in their spiritual transformation that they want the world around them to be as pure. They see their country falling to the leftist extreme and they want to save it. We see our country falling into moral decay and we say "don't judge and don't preach." We fall on the other extreme and while freedom of choice is always preferable, I don't know that a social rejection of morality and religion is the answer either. Just for the record, I think the revolution was deplorable and I would have hated and feared to live through it. The backwards control of these men over women riles me. I'm just saying, I could see intention on both sides, and maybe a glimmer or redemption for some, but I don't think that was Nafisi's intention. I think I saw it to spite her because I wanted her to appreciate morality more and I wanted to counteract her bitterness.

My favorite part of the book was in the Gatsby chapter when the students put The Great Gatsby on trial to see if it was worthy to read in an Islamic country. (I find it amusing that they take no issue with Lolita but Austen is too much.) I loved this section because it discussed the purpose of literature, to learn and grow and not merely to be a window of morality. I often find that I learn more and feel more for a book that is not happy and clean, but one that tackles difficult issues, that makes me consider moral issues, not by showing me morality but by examining it and the lack of it. It strengthens my morality instead of deface it. Nafisi said: "A great novel heightens your senses and sensitivity to the complexities of life and of individuals, and prevents you from the self righteousness that sees morality in fixed formulas about good and evil." I loved the concept of reading books from your frame of reference, that the women of Iran were comparing the themes of these books to their own lives, to the restrictions of marriage, to the laws about wearing veils, so that the books not only become a picture of this other world, but help them understand their own as well.

There are some very thought-provoking sections in the book and some beautiful illusions, but Nafisi tries to hard to drive in metaphors, to give us the sense of the surroundings, to make us understand her thought process, to pound the theme "Reading Lolita in Tehran" in just about every other paragraph, that the richness of the story is often lost in details about who ordered what kind of coffee and where people sat in her classroom and what the weather was like. There is a good story in there, but it got lost in the literature.(less)

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Apr 23, 2008 Laurae1212 rated it 3 of 5 stars

I am a lover of books. I am a lover of history. I am a lover of cultures. Consequently, I expected to love this book. Sadly, I found my dissappointment growing with each page I turned. The premise of the novel was certainly interesting- exploring times, the way that they were viewed, the oppression of women, religious fanaticism and political regimes that adopted Sharia, family, and the overall way that a country grew dissillusioned with iteself through novels was certainly an interesting one. Y...more I am a lover of books. I am a lover of history. I am a lover of cultures. Consequently, I expected to love this book. Sadly, I found my dissappointment growing with each page I turned. The premise of the novel was certainly interesting- exploring times, the way that they were viewed, the oppression of women, religious fanaticism and political regimes that adopted Sharia, family, and the overall way that a country grew dissillusioned with iteself through novels was certainly an interesting one. Yet, the novel failed to fulfill its promise. I was very hopeful at the beginning, I quite enjoyed the section on Lolita, and I feel I would have even had I not read Nabokov previously. However, then, as we turned to Gatsby, that initial love died. Now, don't get me wrong, it had nothing to do with Gatsby itself. I adore The Great Gatsby and F.Scott Fitzgerald. But there was such an abrupt shift in time and place, and even in character- I lost all connection I had to the girls I had grown attached to, and I no longer felt any attachment to the author herself. Suddenly, she started to become very self-centered. Some of her complaints seemed too petty, after all there are problems within every nation, but more than that, it was not that she sought refuge in her books, but that she expected others to do the same that annoyed me. I enjoyed the actual analysis on Gatsby, but I the author grew more and more conceited as it went on. It just continued from there on. The novel continued to offer disconnected snapshots of life, that while powerful, never allowed me to truly emphasize because as quickly as they came they faded. Always there was a fleeing to books. And while I could see how the books connected, none seemed to resonate with the actual problems in the country as much as Lolita had. Gatsby and the failed dream I could understand- by Daisy Miller I was lost. Now, admittedly, I have never much enjoyed James, but I found that besides the point, asI also disliked other sections dealing with books I enjoyed. I was truly hoping for the book to redeem itself with an intelligent and relevant discussion of Pride and Prejudice. It failed utterly. I found the end dissatisfying, less connected than anything previously, and it had even lost what had made it charming to begin with- no longer was there an insightful discussion of novels, nor did I feel anything for the author or even the students much at this point. They were completely removed from me, I saw them through a lens, as studies not as actual people. Since this is a memoir, and these people are all real, this is a great failing. They are people who are supposed to come alive, and I felt as they were besotted with themselves, their own pretension, particularly Nafisi's, was unbearable. There were some positive aspects of the book- it gave me a great insight, if often tinged- I felt Nafisi was too biased, I understand why, but I thought that she regarded all of the revolutionaries as inferior beings, not intellectual in the least simply because they had different ideals- into the Iranian revolution and the culture there, and gave me new insights into some of my favorite novels. I am only saddened that the clear bias and narcissism of the author ruined this experience for me. It could have been a great intellectual and cultural study. As it was, it was merely decent, and while the subject material was engaging, I was wishing for it to end.(less)

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Aug 17, 2007 Emma added it Recommends it for: Sheep

Shelves: couldn-t-finish-reading

I'm not sure I can finish this book. It's just so boring and self-important. And poorly written. My eyes keep crossing. It makes me angry because I think this COULD really be a good book. It has a good premise, a lot of potential, and it's about a topic I'm actually very interested in and would like to know more about. But instead it's dry as hell and doesn't follow any cohesive pattern--it just feels like a lot of random moments in the life of Azar Nafisi strung together by some run-of-the-mill...more

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Oct 27, 2007 oriana rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: phenomenal, read-2007

In case you don't know about this book yet (though, honestly, how could you not know about this book yet?), it is an absolutely amazing memoir by an Iranian woman who was a professor of English & Persian Literature at teh University of Tehran before, during, and after the revolution and war with Iraq. Once wearing the veil became mandatory and she refused to wear one, she was forced to quit teaching, and one way she came up with to fill her time was to gather several of her most dedicated st...more In case you don't know about this book yet (though, honestly, how could you not know about this book yet?), it is an absolutely amazing memoir by an Iranian woman who was a professor of English & Persian Literature at teh University of Tehran before, during, and after the revolution and war with Iraq. Once wearing the veil became mandatory and she refused to wear one, she was forced to quit teaching, and one way she came up with to fill her time was to gather several of her most dedicated students for a once-weekly literature class. In it, they discussed books like The Great Gatsby, Pride and Prejudice, Lolita (duh), etc, etc.

This book is triple-layered. The first layer is Azar Nafisi's memoir of the tumultuous times she lived in in Tehran, which she watched go from one of the most progressive, intellectual cities in the world to one of the most restrictive and repressive. You can see many of her friends and relatives, and the different ways people dealt with everything -- from withdrawing completely from society to picking sides and becoming more vocal and fervant about religion, politics, nationalism, etc.

The second layer is Nafisi's memoirs of being a professor of literature in such times, including one astonishing episode where her class actually puts The Great Gatsby on trial to determine whether it is decadent, Western poison... or a work of high art. Not to mention the memories of the women in her literature class, how they coped with the readings, one another, and ther lives in Iran.

The third layer, which for me catapults this book into a work of absolute genius, is Nafisi's theories on and explications of the books themselves, including how they relate to the struggles and culture of both of the above layers.

Nafisi has brilliant theories about literature, and such a clear, inviting writing voice, in addition to giving us a much-needed internal perspective a country and culture that we (Americans) are essentially taught to loathe, makes this one of the most incredible books I've ever read. Three times.(less)

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Oct 19, 2007 Kareena rated it 2 of 5 stars

This was a tough read. I suppose I would have appreciated it more if I had read all the books that were referenced in this one. And if I studied literature, studied the meaning of every scene, every characterization, every image from the books, I might have appreciated it.

Unfortunately this was much too deep and a serious study of literature. I enjoyed her accounts of life in Tehran and the characters in her book. I enjoyed her personal accounts and her life stories. Unfortunately true life was...more

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Aug 25, 2007 Lorenzo rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: iranian, aaa-my-library

I've never read Nabokov's Lolita. Frankly, that book has never been on my list. Hence, you can understand how I've not been attracted by the artful title of this novel. What has aroused my curiosity here has been the Islamic Republic of Iran, formerly Persia.

Indeed Iran has always interested me a lot. Amir, my best friend during secondary school had Iranian roots and he is one of the most clever persons I've ever met in my life. I always say that when me and Amir were 12 years old we used to ta...more I've never read Nabokov's Lolita. Frankly, that book has never been on my list. Hence, you can understand how I've not been attracted by the artful title of this novel. What has aroused my curiosity here has been the Islamic Republic of Iran, formerly Persia.

Indeed Iran has always interested me a lot. Amir, my best friend during secondary school had Iranian roots and he is one of the most clever persons I've ever met in my life. I always say that when me and Amir were 12 years old we used to talk about arguments I've never found anyone to speak with since I've turned 20. Modern architecture, classical composers, political stuff, computer science and so on. (but we didn't forget girls, of course!).
What a pity we've lost each other in the last years.

Anyway.
Amir used to talk me about Iran too and the same has done a few years ago Ziba a girl with the same Iranian roots I've met while renting her an apartment when I was a yuppie.
Ziba and Amir had described me life in Tehran many times, with their different views, telling me about their relatives there, the rise of ayatollah Khomeini and the fall of Reza Pahlavi. Sometimes they've been critical toward Iran sometimes not.

Azar Nafisi's book makes an interesting portrait of the most turbulent period for Iran's history, in the 70s and in the 80s albeit probably this work is done by a privileged position. In fact the author comes from a rich Iranian family, she has studied and then taught in the US and sometimes she has been accused to have abandoned her country when situation was getting dangerous.

The book itself has two levels of interpretation.
On one hand it aims to explain to young Iranians western literature, choosing perhaps not its greatest books (e.g. The Great Gatsby, Wuthering Heights, Lolita). Nafisi tells about the private lessons she did at her home talking about these books with her students sipping a cup of tea in the meanwhile like they were chatting in a literature club.
On the other hand, professor Nafisi's lessons show the rising difficulties of having a free life in Teheran during Khomeini's revolution when the girls have to hide their bodies from their head to their toes, but they didn't renounce to make up themselves. Someone might say this behaviour was only vanity, but I think it was a way to declare their independence as women, as well and above all.

In this book there are many key moments about recent Iranian's history like the troubles at Tehran University, the destructions of "dangerous" books, or ayatollah Khomeini mass funerals which Nafisi describes better than a documentary. Sometimes "Reading Lolita in Tehran" looks like a counterposition between a laic view and religion, between a wide culture and a narrow fanaticism.

Although this book is not a masterpiece it has been one of the most interesting and open-mindly reads I've done in the last years.

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Jun 16, 2007 Naomi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: воображение, мозговая-власть, история

I read this book while I was down with the flu, which added a dimention to my reading as I was isolated in my room for a couple of days. I read some of the reviews for this book on Good Reads and I must say my experience of this book is quite different from what some other people have reported. Azar's opening two chapters were enough to suck me into her world and engross me. Her reading of Lolita was wonderful and I like the way she able to bring her reading of this book, her reflections on Humb...more I read this book while I was down with the flu, which added a dimention to my reading as I was isolated in my room for a couple of days. I read some of the reviews for this book on Good Reads and I must say my experience of this book is quite different from what some other people have reported. Azar's opening two chapters were enough to suck me into her world and engross me. Her reading of Lolita was wonderful and I like the way she able to bring her reading of this book, her reflections on Humbolt into the context of her own experiences in Tehran. One of the criticisms of this book that I read on Good Reads is that her reading material is too western centric - i.e. that she gives too much praise to the literature of America and therefore might give the American reader the impression that their lit is 'better' than Islamic or Iranian literature. I didn't read her book choices in this way. In a way, because America became such a central focus of hatred for the regime in Iran during the revolution she picked this material to demonstrate how biased and myopic this focus was, and how it failed to see the complexity of American life - i.e. that books like Lolita or the Great Gatsby were not recieved with one interpretation in America and that many of the criticisms leveled at those books in the Iranian context were also been discussed in America - i.e. that they were immoral or had flawed heros.

She talks quite considerably about the difficulty of becoming as she calls it 'irrelevant' in her own country. She describes the constant scrutiny that women get on the streets if they are seen to be too alluring or if they wear 'pink socks' or let their nails grow or have a strand of hair fall out from under her head covering. I was thinking of this in the light of my own 'Australian' context. Obviously my life is not as restricted in terms of what I wear or how I choose to adorn or comport myself in public. In fact, these choices are fairly banal and mundane. Yet, for Azar this restriction caused her to examine aspects of herself and her society to work out what really mattered. Because the system made socks important, choosing to wear pink or striped socks became a subversive act. Beyond the immediate existential questions of how an individual is able to deal with having their public and private lives so micro managed, I also enjoyed her questioning of the effects of these policies on society as a whole and especially her understanding of the role of literature in allowing a person to understand complexity in life as a whole.

I must say, when I read her passage about the 'trial' of the novel 'the great Gatsby' in her class, I experienced a different book than I had read. She managed to inject me with a wonderful sense of excitement and a desire to reread Gatsby with new eyes.(less)

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Oct 24, 2009 K.D. Oliveros rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is a must read for all those who love modern classic literature and who are interested on what happened in Iran during the reign of Ayatollah Khomeini and the Iran-Iraq war in the early 80s. I was in college that time and I have been hearing and reading bits of news about that war. This book completed that story particularly its impact on the ordinary people particularly on its main characters.

Azar Nafisi, a lady author, effectively related her favorite modern fiction works (Lolita of...more This book is a must read for all those who love modern classic literature and who are interested on what happened in Iran during the reign of Ayatollah Khomeini and the Iran-Iraq war in the early 80s. I was in college that time and I have been hearing and reading bits of news about that war. This book completed that story particularly its impact on the ordinary people particularly on its main characters.

Azar Nafisi, a lady author, effectively related her favorite modern fiction works (Lolita of Nabokov, Gatsby of Fitzgerald, Daisy Miller of Henry James and Pride and Prejudice of Jane Austen) in this tumultuous era of Iran's rich history. Lolita was used as the back draft for the reading group's introduction of the women characters and how the Lolita's rape could be compared to the discrimination (symbolizes by the wearing of veil) that women in Iran suffered from its own laws. The trial of Gatsby built the climax of the story by providing the contrast between the belief of the Nafisi's male characters with their counterparts in THE GREAT GATSBY. The Iran-Iraq war happened at the height of the plot's climax interwined with the Henry James' novels particularly Daisy Miller. Here the female characters suffered the most but they chose to be brave, just like Daisy. Finally, the most interesting contrast was provided by Jane Austen's novels and the end of the war. Interesting because Austen's English novels were described by Nafisi as like a big dance which for me takes a genius to relate it to a war-torn Moslem country after about a decade of war.

I have read most of the novels mentioned except the third part: James. This is the reason why I almost enjoyed reading all the pages of the book as I knew what Nafisi was trying to say through the characters she borrowed from the literary greats (Nabokov, Fitzgerald, James and Austen). There are equally great other books and authors and this just proves that Nafisi knows her stuff. I have never encountered this writing style before so I am giving this book a five star rating. (less)

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Nov 11, 2008 Lena rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: memoir

In the shadows of all the bluster coming out of Iran these days, I try to remember those stories I've heard about Iranians who do not share the religious fervor of their political leaders and long for a more open society than the one that they currently have. Azar Nafisi's memoir about her life as a literature professor in Tehran the years following the revolution gave me a moving and painful glimpse into the lives of those who chafe under a kind of repression that I can only imagine.

Nafisi was...more In the shadows of all the bluster coming out of Iran these days, I try to remember those stories I've heard about Iranians who do not share the religious fervor of their political leaders and long for a more open society than the one that they currently have. Azar Nafisi's memoir about her life as a literature professor in Tehran the years following the revolution gave me a moving and painful glimpse into the lives of those who chafe under a kind of repression that I can only imagine.

Nafisi was an idealistic young professor when she first returned to Iran to teach in the wake of the revolution. She recounts with clear insight how her own revolutionary leanings and political naiveté gave way to a growing sense of dread as she realized that the political changes wrought by the revolution were much more of the frying-pan-into-the-fire variety than anything else.

Like all good memoirs, Nafisi's account of her own struggles against the growing restrictions placed on her both as a woman and an academic gave me a powerful sense of what it must have been like for those women who saw their freedom snatched away in the name of a rigid ideology. There were many moments in this book that left me with a haunting, visceral sense of events I hope I never experience: the worry that can erupt when a friend's failure to show up for an appointment immediately conjures up images of secret police, torture, and permanent disappearance, or the sheer disbelief at a failed state plot to murder nearly two dozen troublesome writers.

Nafisi learned to cope with the grim reality around her by escaping into the world she loved best, that of the literature she taught on and off at various universities during her stay. During her last years, she ran a private class for female students in which they discussed the works of Nabokov, Fitzgerald, James and Austin. The lessons she and her students learn from these books are intricately woven through the personal stories of the girls themselves. One might think the veiled women of the Islamic Republic would have little in common with the heroines such as Daisy Miller or Elizabeth Bennet, yet Nafisi's eloquent tale makes clear that the power of literature to help us better understand ourselves transcends borders, cultures, and the repression of ideological systems that cannot comprehend the complex, gray shades of human nature literature is so good at revealing.
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May 29, 2007 Nicola rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction

This memoir about the power of books in a time of crisis and oppression definitely falls short of the transitive powers the novels it details possess. Though the overall message of the book is a powerful one, its disjointed narrative structure, organized by theme rather than true chronological order, left me more confused than inspired and did not help in my understanding of the bigger picture.

For someone fairly out of the loop as far as politics and world issues go, especially issues that start...more This memoir about the power of books in a time of crisis and oppression definitely falls short of the transitive powers the novels it details possess. Though the overall message of the book is a powerful one, its disjointed narrative structure, organized by theme rather than true chronological order, left me more confused than inspired and did not help in my understanding of the bigger picture.

For someone fairly out of the loop as far as politics and world issues go, especially issues that started before I was born, I was very confused as to what was going on with the regime in Iran during the book. I could never tell what the separate groups were fighting for, who was in power, or who, if anyone, the author supported. The disjointed structure of the narration, skipping backwards and forwards in time at random intervals, also caused me to lose track of what events were influencing other events and how the people she discussed fit into the grand scheme of things. I feel like some sort of timeline or at least direction to a website for further information would have really helped clear things up in that regard, if an un-chronological narrative structure was necessary to the story.

Also unhelpful to the clarity of the memoir was Nafisi’s inconsistent dialogue notations. At some points she used quotation marks, and at other points she dropped them all together. Whole conversations were contained in single paragraphs, making it difficult to tell who was saying what. This uncertainty left me in doubt about the characters’ personalities and voices.

It was interesting to see how the moral debates in the novels the students read in Nafisi’s classes fueled the debates about what was going on in their own government at the time. Though the best novels always allow the reader to make personal connections, sometimes it is difficult to see how the people in places as vastly different as Henry James’ America and late twentieth century Iran can have so much in common. However, as one of Nafisi’s students comments in her journal, “‘[I]t was good to know that even in a decadent society like America there were still some norms, some standards according to which people were judged’” (199). Though those standards were certainly not the same in Iran as they were in America, the fact that there are rules and conventions in any place at any time indicates that there will be people there to rebel against such rules. Nafisi and her favorite students are the real life reflections of those who defied society in the novels they so cherished.

I found the information and analyses of the books they read in class to be enlightening, provided I had read the book they were discussing. However, in the case of probably half the books they discussed I was lost without a plot synopsis and missed many of the points they were making about the connections to their own culture. I suppose this is less of a negative about the book and more of a reflection on my reading habits and a sign that I should improve them.(less)

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Dec 15, 2012 رنا rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: بحبهم

سألت إحدى قارئات تلك السيرة لم اعطيتيه نجمة واحدة قالت بسبب الملل

لم أجد مللاً قط فيه بل روح نقية تسري داخل الكتاب
و وصف مستفيض أحبه بلغة جميلة

في وصف جلسات البنات و حكاياهن عن الروايات
و في نقد آذر لبعض الروايات كلوليتا و دعوة لقطع العنق لنابوكوف و غاتشبي العظيم لفيتزجيرالد و ديزي ميللر و ميدان واشنطن لهنري جيمس و روايات اوستن

لم تقتصر السيرة على الأدب فقط بل على الحياة في ايران
استطاعت آذر أن تمزج بين الأدب و الجمهورية الاسلامية

قلقت بعض الشئ من آذر كونها متحررة كثيرًا
و أنها من الممكن أن تكون...more

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Jan 25, 2012 lita rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: biography-autobiography-memoir

“Gatsby is being put on trial because it disturbs us – at least some of us. [...] This is not the first time a novel – a non-political novel – has been put on trial by a state. [...] Remember the famous trials of Madame Bovary? Ulysses, Lady Chatterly’s Lover dan Lolita? In each case the novel won. But let me focus on a point that seems to trouble his honor the judge, as well as the prosecutor: the lure of money and its role in the novel.”

Paragraf tadi menggambarkan persidangan imajiner yang dig...more “Gatsby is being put on trial because it disturbs us – at least some of us. [...] This is not the first time a novel – a non-political novel – has been put on trial by a state. [...] Remember the famous trials of Madame Bovary? Ulysses, Lady Chatterly’s Lover dan Lolita? In each case the novel won. But let me focus on a point that seems to trouble his honor the judge, as well as the prosecutor: the lure of money and its role in the novel.”

Paragraf tadi menggambarkan persidangan imajiner yang digelar Azar Nafisi untuk kelas sastra yang dia ajar. Dalam persidangan itu, “Great Gatsby” duduk sebagai terdakwa. Tuduhannya tidak main-main: menyebar pikiran cabul, pandangan yang mendewa-dewakan materi, dan – yang paling memberatkan – menanamkan paham Barat pada masyarakat Iran.

Beginilah seharusnya buku diperlakukan. Dia bisa didebat, dicaci maki, dipertentangkan. Tapi, mengapa orang bisa begitu takut terhadap satu karya sastra, sehingga dia harus dilarang – bahkan dimusnahkan?

Hingga saat ini saya masih belum menemukan jawabannya. Tapi mungkin orang-orang yang melarang tadi justru takut pada kekhawatirannya sendiri, takut akan kebenaran yang disodorkan dalam karya tadi. Padahal, “It is only through literature that one can put oneself in someone else's shoes and understand the other's different and contradictory sides and refrain from becoming too ruthless...” (hal. 118).

Memoar yang ditulis Nafisi ini tidak melulu mengisahkan karya sastra. Porsi terbesar dari buku ini justru menyodorkan kehidupan yang dialami Nafisi beserta ketujuh muridnya (semuanya perempuan) selama revolusi yang berkecamuk di Iran pada periode 1970an – 1980an, dan pemerintahan revolusioner Islam di Iran di bawah kepemimpinan Khomeini. Terutama, bagaimana sebagian besar perempuan Iran merasa diperlakukan tidak adil oleh pemerintah. Mirip-mirip dengan apa yang sedang terjadi di Aceh sekarang.

Sekelumit tentang polemik politik domestik Iran bisa dibaca di sini.

Ada satu hal yang menjadi ciri pemerintahan otoriter: ancaman terhadap kebebasan berpikir. Untuk yang satu ini, Nafisi berpendapat: “I have a recurring fantasy that one ore article has been added to the Bill of Rights: the right of free access to imagination. I have come to believe that genuine democracy cannot exist without the freedom to imagine and the right to use imaginative works without any restriction.” (lits)

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Dec 18, 2008 Jackie "the Librarian" rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, biography

Azar Nafisi was an Irani literature professor, teaching in Tehran at the time of the rebellion, and she tries to use the literature she teaches to illuminate what happened to her during that time. She is not successful at that, but her life story shines through despite it.I loved all the parts of this book that didn't have to do with analyzing literature. I guess it's a good thing I wasn't an English major.

Before the actual revolution, Nafisi herself had been a radical young student, talking ab...more

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Jun 22, 2007 Khalid rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: already-read

Reading Lolita in Tehran is an autobiography of the life of its author, [Azar Nafisi]; by describing her life, the author gave a very interesting depiction of the life in Iran after the revolution. As an expert and a teacher in literature, she colored the autobiography with a touch of literature; novels, as one probably would guess, had a major role in this book. Some of them gave her an explanation of certain situations, others suggested solutions, and she was always on the watch for these hint...more Reading Lolita in Tehran is an autobiography of the life of its author, [Azar Nafisi]; by describing her life, the author gave a very interesting depiction of the life in Iran after the revolution. As an expert and a teacher in literature, she colored the autobiography with a touch of literature; novels, as one probably would guess, had a major role in this book. Some of them gave her an explanation of certain situations, others suggested solutions, and she was always on the watch for these hints.

This is one of the most wonderful books I have read; it very clearly displays the effect of radicalism on people of political and religious backgrounds; it shows the pain of war, the constant fear, and gives very good insight on the Iran-Iraq war.

I do not claim to agree with all of her opinions, I don't; I sometimes felt that she herself is doing exactly as the regime did to her, displaying an extreme and inaccurate perspective, or taking an action that would only hurt her in the end.

Additionally, while I have enjoyed reading her stories, some of them work just too well for her to be real; everybody just happens to have the right quotes to say at the right time, oh, except for those who aren't on her side. Oh well, but then again I may be wrong.

There is one thing I felt bad about while reading the book; some of the novels discussed in details there are Lolita and Pride and Prejudice, which I have read, but others, like The Great Gastby, Daisy Miller and Invitation to a Beheading I haven't read, and through what I read about them in the book, they seem to be indeed worth reading; unfortunately though, reading about them in the book spoiled them for me, since the ends of these novels were actually mentioned in the book.

Islam was criticized a lot in this book, but most of the things they criticized are things I personally oppose. Ayatollah Khomeni (And the Iranian regime in general) is a Shi'ite Muslim, and I am a Sunni Muslim; there are many differences between the two. I am no expert in the Shi'ite belief, and wouldn't want to say invalid information about it (I am not sure if what Khomeni says is followed by all Shi'ites—and I believe a lot of the things I'll mention here are not followed by most Shi'ites), but I know that things related to having sex with minors, sex with animals, and temporary marriage are prohibited greatly in Sunni Islam. Those are things that I can recall now, among the things that struck me as shocking, but there could be more.

But overall, I am very satisfied; an extremely original narrative, and a very enjoyable biography; she knows how to make the reader smile while reading her discussions with her students, and cry at some of the painful incidents. I needed to read a book like this one.(less)

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May 10, 2007 suz rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Americans interested in understanding Iran

Reviewer: L. Shirley "Laurie's Boomer Views" from Amazon

Imagine...Having to hide a satellite dish for fear of being arrested and thrown in prison,having to hide your face with a veil,your body with a robe,your head with a scarf,and God help you if a couple of loose strands of hair are sticking out. Imagine living under such a strict regime that a woman can not walk down the street with a man who is not her husband,father or brother,of having to scramble to different tables in a restaurant where...more Reviewer: L. Shirley "Laurie's Boomer Views" from Amazon

Imagine...Having to hide a satellite dish for fear of being arrested and thrown in prison,having to hide your face with a veil,your body with a robe,your head with a scarf,and God help you if a couple of loose strands of hair are sticking out. Imagine living under such a strict regime that a woman can not walk down the street with a man who is not her husband,father or brother,of having to scramble to different tables in a restaurant where a raid is going on, if you are sitting with a man who is just a friend. Imagine being subjected to body searches for no reason, of being jailed and quite possibly executed for having an opinion not accepted by that regime.Imagine the books you love, great and classic literature by Nabokov,Austen,James,and Fitzgerald, hard to come by and considered evil propaganda. And if fearing what your own countrymen can do to you is not enough, now imagine all that, with bombs going off constantly for years, landing so close they flatten your neighbors house and kill everyone in it. This was everyday life, a battleground of fear from all sides, for professor and intellectual Azar Nafisi. She only wanted to read, teach and discuss her favorite works of fiction.

Those are just a few of the injustices and life threatening situations, described in "Reading Lolita In Tehran".
After refusing to wear a veil to her job as a teacher of Literature, sticking to her own agenda of books considered controversial, Nafisi formed her own little group of women to study the great books mentioned above. She considered them "her girls", like an Iranian Miss Jean Brodie. They discussed the great works of Lolita, The Great Gatsby(this one was put on trial by her class at the University - imagine putting Gatsby on trial!), Pride and Prejudice among others, as they met in secret at Nafisi's home sans the robes and veils revealing their jeans and bright colored T-shirts, along with their inner most thoughts. They saw themselves as the heroines of the fiction they read. They discussed their sometimes unimaginable situations,their deep faith,the deaths of their friends, and the political times they lived in.

Azar Nafisi writes of how this group came to be, how these young women defied authority by studying unacceptable fiction. The girls themselves each have quite a background and stories of chilling experiences. Considering themselves lucky for only getting 5 years in prison for expressing their opinions instead of death in some cases.You can't help but feel a bond with each one of them. Nafisi also takes us back to the years before the group. She writes of life of in the "Islamic Republic of Iran",of teaching at the University of Tehran, and the extreme authoritative figures that ruled. Her writing seems to go off on tangents and some times it is a while before we are brought back full circle to the point, but I have to say, that every word she writes seems important to this story, and well worth reading through. She brilliantly interweaves the theme and characters of the books with the way of life in Iran.

This book left me deep in thought about the things I read in it. It was an up close and personal look at life we've heard about, but always seemed so far away. It not only touched me deeply and emotionally but I learned so much about the history and politics of the country as well. It certainly made me appreciate my own life much more.

Highly recommended read for everyone, and may be an especially deep discussion for book club groups.
It is quite a bit to absorb, but one that I will read again someday...Enjoy the read...Laurie
(less)

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Nazanin dear Julia n Suz

i'll do my best to give u a correct pic of my country.
as u might know the government of iran is an islamic one which means tht the isl...more
Aug 20, 2008 12:41pm

Lama take it all with a large fist of salt as we say - but don't reject it completely as u have to find the slivers of truth amidst the flagrant lies. Ther...more
Jan 06, 2011 05:08pm

Jun 12, 2012 إبراهيم عادل rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

حسنًا إذًا .. انتهيت منه .. اخيرًا
تتزاحم الأفكار في رأسي فعلاً لكتابة "تقرير" عن هذا الكتاب غير العادي .. بالتأكيد:
ماذا أرادت منه المؤلفة؟!
ما الرسائل التي تبثها من خلاله بشكل ضمني أو واضح؟!
لمن توجه هذه الرسائل تحديدًا؟!
كيف يستفيد قارئ هذا الكتاب الاستفادة القصوى منه، إن كان ثمة استفادة قصوى؟!!
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طالت مدة مكوث هذا الكتاب بين يديَّ لأسباب متباينة، بل وقاطعته بغيره، وتركته ثم عدت إليه، فما كان كل ذلك؟!
تضع آذار النفيسي في الجزء الرابع من الكتاب وفي بداية الفصل الثالث منه يدها على أكبر مشكلات الكت...more

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Nov 01, 2012 Tariq A rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, روايات-وقصص

تحمل الرواية ثلاث مشاهد رئيسية متوازية،
حياة آذر نفيسي الشخصية في المنزل والجامعة والشارع، اجتماعات آذر مع طالباتها في المنزل وحواراتهن عن الحياة بشكل عام، الروايات التي تحبها آذر وتحي عنها بشكل سردي أو نقدي
في هذه المشاهد أحببت جدا مشهد الطالبات، كانوا أصدق من يحكي، بعيدا عن قناعات مسبقة راسخة لا تتغير، هم صوت المجتمع الصادق، ضائعات بين أحلام جميلة وسطوة عنيفة، لا يعرفن غالبا ما يُرِدن، يعشن بين نظام دينيّ رجعيّ ومعارضةٍ منحلَّة.
ثم يأتي مشهد المؤلفة الخاص وهو أقل برأيي من مشاهد الطالبات، فيه تحكي...more تحمل الرواية ثلاث مشاهد رئيسية متوازية،
حياة آذر نفيسي الشخصية في المنزل والجامعة والشارع، اجتماعات آذر مع طالباتها في المنزل وحواراتهن عن الحياة بشكل عام، الروايات التي تحبها آذر وتحي عنها بشكل سردي أو نقدي
في هذه المشاهد أحببت جدا مشهد الطالبات، كانوا أصدق من يحكي، بعيدا عن قناعات مسبقة راسخة لا تتغير، هم صوت المجتمع الصادق، ضائعات بين أحلام جميلة وسطوة عنيفة، لا يعرفن غالبا ما يُرِدن، يعشن بين نظام دينيّ رجعيّ ومعارضةٍ منحلَّة.
ثم يأتي مشهد المؤلفة الخاص وهو أقل برأيي من مشاهد الطالبات، فيه تحكي قصصها مع الجامعة، وساحرها، ورغباتها المشتهاة، هو أكثر المشاهد حملا للأفكار الاجتماعية والتصورات الواقعية التي تملكها
وفي الأخير مشهد الروايات الذي لم يعجبني، فهو تعريف وسرد لروايات فقط لم أجد لها متسعا -بهذا الشكل- في سيرة ذاتية، لو أتت بكم أقل وشكل أكثر عرضية لكان أفضل.

حاولت جاهدا في تقييمي ألا أحاكم المؤلفة أخلاقيا، وهو الأسلوب الذي تتبعه في قراءتها للروايات، رغم اقتناعي أن القيم يجب أن تكون محركا رئيسيا في كتابة الأدبيات، وتجريد الأدب من قيمه الأخلاقية تلاعب بحقيقة تاثيره في الوجدان الإنساني

سيعاني القارئ الدقيق -أو صاحب الذهنية التحليلية- من تناقض في بعض المعلومات، ولا أحب أن أخوض في تفاصيل هذه النقطة

إجمالا، الرواية جيدة، وإذا تعلق الوضع بحياة الطالبات فهي رواية رائعة لمن سيحاول أن يفهم عوالمهن وضياع استقلالهن وفردية كل منهن تحت وطأة نظام لا يعترف بالتباين، بل يريد صورة واحدة للإنسان، على غرار كل الأنظمة الشمولة(less)

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Apr 19, 2013 Lisa (Harmonybites) rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Anyone Who Loves Literature

Recommended to Lisa (Harmonybites) by: The Ultimate Reading List

Shelves: 2013-around-the-world, biography, memoir, non-fiction, ultimate-reading-list

This did lure me in and eventually beguile me, but certainly not from the first. Nafisi warns from the introduction that she would be changing details of the people presented not just to shield them from persecution but protect their privacy. I admit, I’ve become wary of creative non-fiction that adulterates the truth, especially those done in “literary” styles--and this memoir is that. It’s written in first person present and eschews the quotation marks that so many literati seem to have a grud...more This did lure me in and eventually beguile me, but certainly not from the first. Nafisi warns from the introduction that she would be changing details of the people presented not just to shield them from persecution but protect their privacy. I admit, I’ve become wary of creative non-fiction that adulterates the truth, especially those done in “literary” styles--and this memoir is that. It’s written in first person present and eschews the quotation marks that so many literati seem to have a grudge against. Moreover it reads like a novel, including the kind of details recalled years later I doubt you could remember even a day later, such as the line: “She attacked the cherry tomato that kept slipping from under her fork and did not begin again until she had finally speared it.” But this is subtitled a “memoir in books” and both sides of that pulled me in. The frame for this tale and inspiration for the title is essentially a book club. Nafisi, who taught Western literature at the University of Tehran, together with seven of her most committed female students met each week to discuss a book. So part of this book focuses on that literature, but also on life in the Islamic Republic of Iran and how those books illuminate the experience of trying to find a private space and ability to keep the mind and soul alive in a totalitarian society.

There are four sections to the book: Lolita, Gatsby, James (Henry James, with the main focus on Daisy Miller) and Austen (with the main focus on Pride and Prejudice). The first section focused on a book I hadn’t read--yet--Nabokov’s Lolita. I’ve seen it listed in Playboy’s “25 Sexiest books.” I’ve heard the prose is luminous--and having read the opening pages I can attest to that. But it’s also the first person story of a pedophile and his “affair” with a twelve-year-old girl, and knowing that its very lyricism repelled me. Nafisi intrigued me at the start when she said Lolita was the “work of fiction that would most resonate with our lives in Iran.” Her take on the novel wasn’t one I had thought of or was expecting, and made me want to read the book.

It was soon obvious to me why those girls took such chances to privately study with Nafisi--she’s a gifted teacher. I definitely resonated with her theme throughout the book that great literature is civilizing both because it teaches us empathy and unsettles our preconceptions. The next section was about Gatsby and I think precisely because it’s a novel I’m very familiar with and read more than once, the literary discussion, though of of interest to me, was less striking than Nafisi’s account of revolutionary Iran--where she responded to her students denunciation of the book by putting Gatsby on trial. This is a land where pink socks or how you bite an apple can get you punished and refusal to wear the veil can get you “punished by fines, up to seventy-five lashes and jail terms.” The third section on Henry James focused not just on Daisy Miller, which I haven’t read, but Washington Square, which I have. Here again what was more striking to me was her story of living in Tehran during the Iran/Iraqi war that lasted through almost all of the 80s.

With the two middle sections the emphasis was on experiences in Nafisi’s past, with Austen we come full circle and the scene is set back in the "present" with her circle of seven students. This was also the section where I knew and loved the author examined best--I not only have read all six of Austen’s mature novels (more than once) but her epistolary novella, her abandoned novel and the one left uncompleted at her death. So unsurprisingly perhaps, this section wasn’t the revelation to me in the way the one on Lolita was, but there were insights I appreciated--I felt Nafisi “got” Austen. She wrote one cannot read the famous “opening sentence of Pride and Prejudice and not grasp that [fun and enjoyment and playfulness] was what Austen demanded of her readers.” All in all I loved Nafisi’s humaneness and the sense you got that literature is vitally important--not just a diversion, but an exercise of the imagination that allows an individual to grow. The insights into literature and her passionate love of books was just as compelling to me as the insights into and picture of life in Iran.(less)

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Gerri Leen Lisa (Harmonybites) wrote: "Gerri wrote: "If it gave me pleasure to read it (whether that be thought provoking or just pure fun kind of pleasure), the...more
updated Apr 22, 2013 03:49pm

Lisa (Harmonybites) Gerri wrote: "Yeah, I know what they SAY a three is, but their scale is wack from a statistical standpoint. When 80% of the options are all postive-ne...more
Apr 22, 2013 03:57pm

Jun 12, 2012 Arij M. AL-Shalalfeh rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

3 نجمات على مبدأ انتهاج الوسطية !
محير هذا الكتاب الذي عمل على 3 محاور ايضاً ...

تحاول السيدة نفيسي ان تقرأ ايران من خلال روايات الادب الامريكي تقرأ لوليتا ، ولـ جويس، اوستن.
تتحدث عن ايران ما بعد الثورة: ايران الجمهورية الاسلامية، وعن الرقيب الاعمى، وعن شخصنة السياسة لدرجة يتحول فيها طلاء الاظافر الى خيانة.

كان يمكننا ان تعاطف جداً مع السيدة نفيسي وعن النساء الجميلات الثائرات اللواتي يحاولنا قول لأ ... كان يمكننا ان نفعل ذلك لو ان السيدة نفيسي توقفت فعلاً عند منتصف الكتاب، ولم تحاول ان تعيده في الج...more

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May 16, 2012 ايمان rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

أن تقرأ لوليتا في طهران
تخيل أيها القارئ ( عبارة ستصطدم بها كثيرا في هذا الكتاب تأتيك كصفعة أحيانا خصوصا حين تكون معارضا للنفيسي) تخيل أنك تجلس على مكتبك و أمامك كتب أدبية منتقاة بعناية فائقة و كتاب واحد سياسي يتحدث عن الثورة الاسلامية الايرانية و شذرات من أوراق حياة أستاذة جامعية ..تخيل نفسك تقرأ من هذا و ذاك مستمتعا بهذا و رافضا ذاك..فتتداخل الأفكار في عقلك ووجدانك مسببة فوضى و صداع و أحيانا صراعات قد تنتهي بقرارات قد ترضيك و قد لا ترضيك ..تخيل اذن لو جمعت كل تلك الفوضى أمامك في كتاب واحد هو أن...more أن تقرأ لوليتا في طهران
تخيل أيها القارئ ( عبارة ستصطدم بها كثيرا في هذا الكتاب تأتيك كصفعة أحيانا خصوصا حين تكون معارضا للنفيسي) تخيل أنك تجلس على مكتبك و أمامك كتب أدبية منتقاة بعناية فائقة و كتاب واحد سياسي يتحدث عن الثورة الاسلامية الايرانية و شذرات من أوراق حياة أستاذة جامعية ..تخيل نفسك تقرأ من هذا و ذاك مستمتعا بهذا و رافضا ذاك..فتتداخل الأفكار في عقلك ووجدانك مسببة فوضى و صداع و أحيانا صراعات قد تنتهي بقرارات قد ترضيك و قد لا ترضيك ..تخيل اذن لو جمعت كل تلك الفوضى أمامك في كتاب واحد هو أن تقرأ لوليتا في طهران..
تخيل أن تحمل هذا الكتاب و تعبر به نفق مظلم و في يدك شمعة تنطفئ أحيانا تحت سطوة نسمة عابرة مجبرة اياك أن تحيا في ظلمة قصيرة تفكر في بعض ما جاء في الكتاب و باحثا في ذات الوقت عن عود ثقاب لتشعل تلك الشمعة مجددا و تكمل المسير ..هذا ما قد يحصل لك كما حصل معي أثناء قرائتي لهذا الكتب.
فلنتوقف قليلا عند العنوان" أن تقرأ لوليتا في طهران' لما أختارت النفيسي هذا الكتاب دون غيره عنوانا رغم انها ذكرت كتبا أخرى كغاتسبي العظيم و اعمال جين اوستن..وجدت أن اختيارها قد يكون نابع من سببين أولها ربط الثورة الايرانية بالثورة الروسية و ثانيهما و هو الأقرب في نظري الصدمة التي قد يحدثها العنوان كنوع من الدعاية للكتاب لهذا أنصح الراغبين في قراءة هذا الكتاب ان يعرجوا قليلا على أعمال نابكوف خاصة لوليتا لتتضح له الرؤية فالنفيسي أرادت ان تضع نفسها بجانب ناباكوف و هي المغرمة بهذا الكاتب لحد الجنون أرادت أن تربط بين غضبها و رفضها للثورة الاسلامية و رفض ناباكوف للثورة الروسية ...
فلنعد الآن للمضمون..سيرة النفيسي تعالج فترة جد مهمة من تاريخ ايران قد ابالغ ان قلت تعالج فالمعالجة السياسية بالتأكيد تحتاج الى خبرة أكثر و حيادية أعم لم نجدهما في هذا الكتاب لأنها تحكي وجهة نظر شخصية حتى لو استغلت حكايا تلميذاتها أو بناتها كما تناديهن..فلنستبدل كلمة معالجة و نقول الكتاب يشير الى فترة ما بين 1979-1997
بين اندلاع الثورة الايرانية و خروجها من ايران متجهة نحو امريكا الهروب من الضد نحو الضد ..يا للمصادفة
أعترف أني لم أكن حيادية أحيانا في القراءة و وجدت نفسي مضطرة أن اهمس للنفيسي متفقة معك تماما .. فالثورة الاسلامية الايرانية لها من الأخطاء ما يكون عادة لكل الثورات فليست الثورة منزهة و تكفي نظرة واحدة لواقعنا المعاصر لنتأكد من الأمر..و لم أمنع نفسي من الضحك الأسود الغاضب و النفيسي تقتبس عن كتاب الخميني" المباديء السياسية والفلسفية والاجتماعية والدينية" يقول : إذا مارس رجل الجنس مع دجاجة فهل يجوز له أكلها بعد ذلك؟ الإجابة : كلا لا هو ولا أي أحد من أفراد أسرته الأقربين ولا الجار القريب يجوز له أن يأكل من لحم تلك الدجاجة، ولكن لا بأس مع الجار الذي يسكن على بعد بابين ..
بالله عليكم ...فلنصمت و نعود للكتاب قلت ساندتها أحيانا..لكني رفضت نظرتها الشخصية- و يجب التأكيد على هذا الأمر الشخصية- لمسألة الحجاب كما استهجنت أيضا أريحيتها في الـتأكيد على حبها للحم الهام "لحم الخنزير " و كأن ايران تخلو من لحم غيره و أضف لهذا الخمر بكل انواعها هذا كله كان موجودا في ايران تحت حكم الخميني ...غريب هذا الربط الحتمي بين المثقف و المفكر و بين كل ما يحرمه الدين فهل الخمر و التدخين و لحم الخنزير و أن اعري كتفي و صدري يجعل مني مثقفة و مفكرة منطق غريب على العموم النقاش حول مسالة الحجاب هل هو مفروض أم غير مفروض يبقى جدل بيزنطي لن يخرج بنتيجة فالأمور واضحة و المرأة المسلمة لا تحتاج لمن يدافع عنها و عن اختياراتها خصوصا من كتب تنشر من خارج الدول الاسلامية من بلاد تنتظرأية فرصة لضرب الاسلام فهذا شيء غير مقبول بتاتا...
على العموم فقراءة النفيسي لايران تحت الحكم الثيوقراطي لم يستهويني جدا بل ما دفعني لأتمم هذا الكتاب هو قراءتها لعدة كتب أدبية و هي قراءة بالتأكيد على درجة كبيرة من الخبرة الاكاديمية تحسب للنفيسي..قراءة جعلتني أغير بعض من أحكامي السابقة على كتب قرأتها أو أهملتها لكني الآن بالتأكيد سأعود اليها بحماس أكثر و رؤية جديدة لا يسعني الا أن أشكر النفيسي على هذا الأمر..الحديث عن الروايات و النقاشات التي تمت في الحرم الجامعي بين النفيسي و الطلبة و بينها و بين طالباتها في الصف الخاص شيء مثير ذكرني بنا نحن رواد هذا الموقع فالنقاش بالتأكيد يثري جدا فلكل منا أسلوبه الخاص في القراءة و مبادئه التي تعكسها ملاحظاته و تعليقاته و نظرته للحياة عموما و هو شيء أجده حيوي و مشجع فكم من كتاب لم أكن لأقرأه لولا تشجيع البعض و كم من فكرة خاطئة أعتبرتها من المسلمات فأجد من يعارضني فيها و يأتي بضدها فاعيد التفكير من جديد ..النفيسي في كتابها هذا بغض النظر عن المسألة الايرانية تدعونا الى اعمال الفكر حين نقرأ و أن لا نكون مجرد عبيد للكلمة نبكي حين تفرح البطلة بل أن نسأل ما سبب الفرح و ما الغاية منه ...لهذا السبب أشكر النفيسي على هذا الكتاب...و أدعوها الى قراءة الاسلام بين الغرب و الشرق لعزت بيغوفيتش ( فهو الكتاب الوحيد الذي يخطر ببالي الآن ومن يجد غيره فليخبرنا به لتعم الفائدة) ادعوها أن تقرأه لتفهم الفرق بين الثقافة و الحضارة فالاسلام ابدا لم يكن دين يجمد الفكر بل على العكس تماما ..و لنا عودة في الموضوع
قراءة ممتعة
نسيت أمرا مهما تحية للمترجمة ريم قيس كبة
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Feb 26, 2012 Naila rated it 2 of 5 stars

Just...ugh.

Apart from the problematic simplicity of the narrative, (self-centered narrator preaches empathy and a nuanced understanding of humanity via fiction while exulting herself over her nasty, brainwashed students who's arguments she takes great pride in trampling over and and telling us about later), the book is just...bad. The attempted literary connections are so, so terribly forced, and the book is more about her than anything else. The sort of book where the author starts every other...more

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Jan 03, 2009 Kali rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

An uncommon approach to memoir writing, the events in the author’s life are informed by and intertwined with great works of 19th & 20th century literature. Nafisi is a professor of literature in Tehran who records her experiences at the time of the revolution. She claims that she is more of a rebel than an activist. This is true within her context. However, as a citizen who attends organizing meetings & protests & loses her job because she defies oppressive laws, her civic involvemen...more An uncommon approach to memoir writing, the events in the author’s life are informed by and intertwined with great works of 19th & 20th century literature. Nafisi is a professor of literature in Tehran who records her experiences at the time of the revolution. She claims that she is more of a rebel than an activist. This is true within her context. However, as a citizen who attends organizing meetings & protests & loses her job because she defies oppressive laws, her civic involvement is miles ahead of the average North American or European. She stresses the point that she and her countrymen & women must shoulder the blame for what happened during and after the revolution, because they allowed it to happen. As one of her friends says, “people get what they deserve”. That immediately brought to mind the long nightmare of the U.S. under Bush. The U.S. is now in a shambles because people allowed it to happen. Imagine if the mass of people who poured into the streets to celebrate Obama’s victory had been out there demanding impeachment all the while that the Bush regime has been destroying the Constitution, deregulating the economy, & committing impeachable offenses to get us into wars of conquest! Another parallel I couldn’t help but notice is how the Islamic regime in Iran & the Bush administration use the same types of justification for torture & the instatement of Orwellian laws.

Nafisi makes a distinction between Islam as a spiritual path & Islam in the service of a political ideology. She criticizes the hijacking of the religion in the name of political goals. Reading her descriptions of the Islamic regime, I was struck by how much fundamentalist Muslims & fundamentalist Christians have in common. The same obsession with policing women, sexuality, and the imagination. The same stark, humorless, black & white view of the world, leaving no room for subtlety or ambiguity. If right wing Christian fundamentalists took over a western nation, it would probably be a scenario similar to what happened in Iran (goodbye Harry Potter, birth control, & evolutionary theory). I lived in three predominantly Muslim countries for a total of nine years & as a female I definitely chafed under some of the restrictive aspects of those societies, but never experienced anything like what the women in this book have to live with. As the narrative progresses, more rights are taken away & new discriminatory laws are imposed until the simplest pleasures, like feeling wind & sun on your skin, or socializing with friends become impossible. Scattered throughout are memorials to the dead and testaments to women and men whose potential has been thwarted. I’ll be thinking about these people for a long time.

Some goodreads reviewers dislike this book (NOT a novel, by the way), complaining that the story is hard to follow, the literary analysis is mediocre, etc. I found it quite engaging & easy to follow, with accessible characters. I don’t particularly go for non-contemporary literature. I find pre-feminist settings to be suffocating & have only read 2 of the books Nafisi included. So I can’t make a very informed comment on her analysis, but it worked for me. She conveys her love of literature with such passion that I considered reading some of her beloved novels. My focus on politics in this review actually goes against the author’s frustration with the inability of some of her students to read the literature for its own sake. She always comes back to the importance of the imagination as vital to human integrity and survival.

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Skaidra What a great synopsis/discussion! I read this book with added interest because I really like Nabokov. (I think Lolita is the great American novel. But...more
Jan 04, 2009 02:47pm

Kali Skaidra wrote: "What a great synopsis/discussion! I read this book with added interest because I really like Nabokov. (I think Lolita is the great Ame...more
Jan 13, 2009 11:25pm

Jul 17, 2008 J rated it 4 of 5 stars

From its provoking, intriguing title to its very last page, Azar Nafisi's book, Reading Lolita in Tehran, partly a narrative biography, partly a history of a nation and its people, and partly critical analysis of great American and British authors, is astonishing, enlightening, and important. Much like Marjane Satrapi's amazing graphic novels, Nafisi pulls back the headscarves, the long black robes dictated by the Guardian Council, to show us the modern women of Iran and how they fight to mainta...more

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Apr 18, 2008 Claudia rated it 4 of 5 stars

To me, Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, is a story about the search and struggle for identity. How much of who we are is dictated by our surroundings and how much comes from within? A former English lit. professor in Iran, Azar Nafisi, invites various "girls" to a weekly, private class in her home to discuss literature. Their conversations change over time to discussions of a more intimate and personal nature as these children of the revolution struggle to understand who they are and...more To me, Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books, is a story about the search and struggle for identity. How much of who we are is dictated by our surroundings and how much comes from within? A former English lit. professor in Iran, Azar Nafisi, invites various "girls" to a weekly, private class in her home to discuss literature. Their conversations change over time to discussions of a more intimate and personal nature as these children of the revolution struggle to understand who they are and what they want in life. In a country where women, at that time, were incredibly oppressed, most of the girls' lives have been controlled by others. What they wear, how they act, whom they associate with. The books become their freedom. Their escape. The other world where they are free because their imaginations are free.

Prior to reading this book, my knowledge of Iranian history was poor. Even worse, my concept of how the political forces impacted individual lives was pretty much nonexistent. I gained valuable insight into the struggle to cope in an oppressive, and sometimes violent, situation.

Nafisi weaves mini lectures about literature through the stories about the girls and her life during the revolution. I found these frustrating, probably mostly due to the fact that my memory of the novels she comments on has faded. These segments came across very college lecture-y, which I wasn't prepared for, and I felt like a student who didn't finish her homework before coming to class. (And am a little embarrassed that I don't have a better recollection of the works that I read in High School. Sorry, Miss Bagley...) Perhaps I will pick up some of the classics again and refresh myself with the stories so as to better appreciate the value of these lectures.

I'm not one for epilogues, and rarely read them. But, I finished this book during a sleepless night and needed more pages to help lull me back to sleep. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that one of the girls started at my alma mater, Rice University, to work on a PhD the year after I graduated. That makes the book even more special. And, somehow, it makes me feel good.(less)

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Feb 19, 2008 Liz rated it 2 of 5 stars

I have really mixed feelings about this book. Seeing as it is a best seller you would expect it to be amazing but I have to say that I was not impressed with the writing style at all. It seemed forced and strangely put together... something you would not expect from an author who is so highly educated.

In addition to that the book seemed to be filled with so much propaganda that it was hard for me to ignore it and focus on the authors memoir without feeling that she was trying to push a particula...more

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Jan 06, 2008 Janet rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: literary critics, teachers, lovers of classic literature

This book is a great example of the power of a compelling story. Azar Nafisi is a literary critic rather than a trained fiction writer. Her inexperience shows in many rookie mistakes, the kinds of awkward mis-steps that are beaten out of novelists in writing workshops -- occasional self-conscious narrative intrusions (a la George Eliot), jarring word choices in descriptive passages, and unconvincingly heavy "in scene" detail from older memories (stuff that feels imported in order to make the mem...more This book is a great example of the power of a compelling story. Azar Nafisi is a literary critic rather than a trained fiction writer. Her inexperience shows in many rookie mistakes, the kinds of awkward mis-steps that are beaten out of novelists in writing workshops -- occasional self-conscious narrative intrusions (a la George Eliot), jarring word choices in descriptive passages, and unconvincingly heavy "in scene" detail from older memories (stuff that feels imported in order to make the memories feel more immediate). I'm still baffled by Random House's failure to edit this work with a firmer hand. But the writing is fluent and moving in the passages where Nafisi does what she's best at -- sharing her insights into writers like James, Fitzgerald and Austen.

Nafisi is aware of her strengths. She writes, "I am too much of an academic: I have written too many papers and articles to be able to turn my experiences and ideas into narrative without pontificating. Although that is in fact my urge -- to narrate, to reinvent myself..." (p. 266)

The flaws in craft, which would be fatal to many stories, become minor blemishes here, because Nafisi's story is such a powerful one. The painful and often shocking details of daily life in the Islamic Republic of Iran are absolutely fascinating. The students draw amazing connections between the themes in classic Western novels and their lives under a brutal theocracy.

The story is somewhat hampered by the author's obligation to obscure the identities of her female students. In many ways this is a hybrid book -- it's a fictionalized memoir with a heavy dose of literary criticism. I enjoyed the portraits of the seven compelling students, but what I valued most was the passion these women shared for literature.

"Austen's theme is cruelty not under extraordinary circumstances, but ordinary ones, committed by people like us. Surely that's more frightening? And that's why I like Bellow....Bellow's novels are about private cruelties, about the ordeal of freedom, the burden of choice -- so are James', for that matter. It's frightening to be free, to take responsibility for your decisions. Yes, he said, to have no Islamic Republic of Iran to blame. " (p. 312)

This book is a welcome reminder that good teachers touch lives and even "conservative" works of great fiction can transform readers.
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Dec 28, 2011 Osho rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

"It is only now, when I try to gather up the morsels of those days, that I discover how little, if ever, we talked about our personal lives--about love and marriage and how it felt to have children, or not to. It seemed as if, apart from literature, the political had devoured us, eliminating the personal or private." (p. 237) When I reached this statement about 2/3 in, I thought, yes, and that's why I just can't get into this memoir, despite repeated efforts over the last year.

I empathize with...more "It is only now, when I try to gather up the morsels of those days, that I discover how little, if ever, we talked about our personal lives--about love and marriage and how it felt to have children, or not to. It seemed as if, apart from literature, the political had devoured us, eliminating the personal or private." (p. 237) When I reached this statement about 2/3 in, I thought, yes, and that's why I just can't get into this memoir, despite repeated efforts over the last year.

I empathize with Nafisi (as a secular subject high school teacher in a religious school, I once had to buy or hand-expurgate 11 copies of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich to keep my job) and, while I don't find her comments on literature very interesting, I'm at least in agreement with the idea that novels are a refuge in difficult times, or that they may illuminate sociopolitical contexts other than those in which they were written.

I think my inability to engage deeply with Nafisi is due in part to the lack of emotional detail; there's a reasonable amount of telling of emotion, but not much showing of it. Nafisi as narrator seems distant, somewhat authoritarian, and sometimes reactive in ways that seem guaranteed to get her sacked, beaten, or executed. These outbursts don't always make sense to me, though I can add my own speculation that she is keeping a tight lid on her feelings, or erupts when she can't stand it anymore, or is culturally less disclosive than an American would be. However, that's just my exegesis, and Nafisi comes off as more histrionic than repressed (that is, as if her emotions are shallow rather than that she's forcing them down). Again, that's not what she says, but it is what I take from what I actually experience as a reader. Despite being much more cued by words than images, I found Persepolis more immediate and moving.

I could now get into a long discussion of fiction vs. memoir and the intentionalist fallacy, but instead I'm just going to reitterate that for whatever reason, I never got to a point where this felt like a pleasure. That's an observation, not an indictment. I'm glad to have read it, but it was a long, hard road.(less)

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Jul 25, 2007 Heather rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really would have liked to have seen a lot less "Reading Lolita" and a lot more "in Tehran." I've tried to read this book at least three times over the past three years and each time couldn't muster the energy to plow through it. I think the only reason I made it through this time was because of my long commute and the threat of being due back at the library soon.

As I said above, the parts of the book that dealt with the socio-political landscape of the Islamic Republic of Iran - how it chang...more I really would have liked to have seen a lot less "Reading Lolita" and a lot more "in Tehran." I've tried to read this book at least three times over the past three years and each time couldn't muster the energy to plow through it. I think the only reason I made it through this time was because of my long commute and the threat of being due back at the library soon.

As I said above, the parts of the book that dealt with the socio-political landscape of the Islamic Republic of Iran - how it changed so drastically in such a short period of time, how the revolution played out, how the various political decrees affected the lives of women close to the author, how basic rights were chiseled away with little resistance, the various actors at play during the transition between a post-colonial/monarchical ruling body and a theocracy, the role of students in political movements - were absolutely fascinating and, in my view, well-written.

On the other hand, the author is a professor of literature and wanted to write about that...which may or may not interest the reader. Each time I tried to read this book, I felt as though there should have been a required reading list prior to picking up "Reading Lolita in Tehran." Though the author chastises intellectualism for the sake of intellectualism, the book is far from accessible. Furthermore, I felt a bit duped because I felt that the book is marketed as a text exploring the socio-political landscape of Iran (see above) and not a tedious, scholarly literary critique.

Admittedly, I was humbled by the fact that these Iranian students coveted their copies of foreign literature so deeply and I, one who has so many opportunities to read the classics to which they refer (no doubt even cost-free if I comb through the library's dustiest of shelves or inexpensive in paperback), have not read most of them. It did encourage me to add some of the classics cited in the book to my "to-read" list. What it didn't encourage me to do is recommend this book to others without the warning that it is, first and foremost, a academic literary critique.(less)

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Oct 06, 2008 Eastofoz rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Readers who enjoy literary theory & have read several Western classics

Shelves: 1st-person, non-fiction

A very dense and sometimes difficult read. More than once I was close to just giving up for how dry it was at times. The “mysterious” title is what drew me in as did the back blurb but they’re both somewhat misleading.

The book reads more like literary theory mixed with memoir and endless pages of heavy narrative --not quite what I expected. If you haven’t read the majority of the classics dissected in the book I don’t see how you could enjoy it or appreciate what the author is trying to convey....more

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why write this book?	31	254	May 12, 2013 07:35pm
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The Imprinted Lif...: The book and the reply	19	13	Apr 29, 2013 09:02am
DC Public Library: 2012 - Reading Lolita in Tehran	3	16	Oct 24, 2012 08:50am

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