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Published in 2003 and it has been over 100 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and it has been translated into 32 languages. |
Published in 2003 and it has been over 100 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and it has been translated into 32 languages. |
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The book narrates the personal and intellectual events of a private literature class she started in [[Tehran]] after she left her last teaching post at the University of |
The book narrates the personal and intellectual events of a private literature class she started in [[Tehran]] after she left her last teaching post at the University of Tehran after refusing to wear the Islamic veil. |
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The class consists of seven Iranian girls of |
The class consists of seven Iranian girls of diverse religious and political beliefs and backgrounds, who meet at Azar's house every thursday morning risking their lives, taking off their [[chador]]s and veils, and discussing forbidden works of [[Western]] literature, as Islamic morality squads raid in Tehran, and [[fundamentalist]]s purge the universities' curriculums, and [[censorship]] stifles freedom of expression. One of the students, Rosie, was caught by the Islamic regime and executed [http://www.booknotes.org/Program/?ProgramID=1731] while another girl , Sanaz, was arrested for displaying "Western attitudes," and subjected to two virginity tests , one by a woman and the other by male guards. |
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The book is divided into 4 sections: [[Lolita]], [[The Great Gatsby|Gatsby]], James, and [[Jane Austen|Austen]]. Azar Nafisi states that the James chapter as being about ambiguity and how [[totalitarian]] mindsets hate ambiguity. Gatsby is about the American dream and the Iranian dream of revolution and how it was shattered. And Austen is about the choice of women, a woman at the center of the novel saying no to the authority of her parents, society, and welcoming a life of dire poverty in order to make her own choice. |
The book is divided into 4 sections: [[Lolita]], [[The Great Gatsby|Gatsby]], James, and [[Jane Austen|Austen]]. Azar Nafisi states that the James chapter as being about ambiguity and how [[totalitarian]] mindsets hate ambiguity. Gatsby is about the American dream and the Iranian dream of revolution and how it was shattered. And Austen is about the choice of women, a woman at the center of the novel saying no to the authority of her parents, society, and welcoming a life of dire poverty in order to make her own choice. |
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Nafisi's book also discuss many issues about [[politics of Iran]] during and after [[Iranian revolution|revolution]], [[Iran-Iraq war]] and Iranian people in general. |
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Nafisi's account flashes back to the ''early'' days of the revolution, when she first started teaching at the University of Tehran amid the swirl of protests and demonstrations. In those frenetic days, the students took control of the university, expelled faculty members and purged the curriculum.[http://www.booknotes.org/Program/?ProgramID=1731] In 1980, Nafisi was expelled from the University of Tehran for refusing to wear the veil; she subsequently pursued an independent writing career, bore two children, and, after a long hiatus from teaching, she took a full-time job at Allameh Tabatabai University where she resumed the teaching of fiction.[http://www.randomhouse.com/rhpg/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780812971064&view=tg] |
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The book title which alludes to [[Vladimir Nabokov]]'s novel [[Lolita]] , a story about a 38 year old man who becomes sexually obsessed with a 12 year old pubescent girl and who rapes and molests her over a period of 2 years until she escapes, is an indirect reference to the Islamic regime which took power in 1979 in Iran and whose first step was to lower the marriage age for girls to 9 years old.[http://www.booknotes.org/Program/?ProgramID=1731] |
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Nafisi's book also discuss many issues about [[politics of Iran]] during and after [[Iranian revolution|revolution]], [[Iran-Iraq war]] and Iranian people in general. Some critics believe that the memoire is a fictitious one or, at the very least, highly exaggerated, yet plausible, scenarios are portrayed as autobiographical account of oppression, persecution and personal suffering. [http://www.payvand.com/news/06/feb/1091.html] |
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⚫ | Azar Nafisi wrote in her book how her freedom was restricted and he had to leave the University: '' I told her I did not want to wear the veil in the classroom. Did I not wear the veil, she asked, when ever I went out ? Did I not wear it in the grocery store and walking down the street ? It seemed I constantly had to remind people that the university was not a grocery store.'' |
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In her book she indirectly criticizes Iranian soldiers who defended the country during Iran-Iraq war. In the book, she wrote ''They [students] were making fun of the dead student and laughing. They joked that his death was a marriage made in heaven-didn’t he and his comrades say that their only beloved was God?'' She then tried to describe Iranians who defended the country in the war or those who follow Islamic dress code as sexually driven people who suffered ''sexual thirst'' during their life in hope of heaven. |
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⚫ | Azar Nafisi wrote in her book how her freedom was restricted and he had to leave the University: '' I told her I did not want to wear the veil in the classroom. Did I not wear the veil, she asked, when ever I went out ? Did I not wear it in the grocery store and walking down the street ? It seemed I constantly had to remind people that the university was not a grocery store.'' |
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While many believe that veiling is not a problem for those children who were raised with it and a piece of material is not going to stop women's progress, Nafisi obsessively address it as a major issue of Iranian society throughout her book(ref.1 and [http://www.bookclubs.ca/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780812971064&view=printtg]). In her own words: ''My constant obsession with the veil had made me buy a very wide black robe with kimonolike sleeves, wide and long. I had gotten to the habit of withdrawing my hands into the sleeves and pretending that I had no hands''. |
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[[Ayatollah Khomeini]] enforced Iranian women to follow Islamic dress code on March 7th, [[1979]]. In Azar Nafisi’s viewpoint Islamic dress code was the symbol of oppression imposed by Ayatollah Khomeini after revolution. She wrote in her book wishing the death of Ayatollah Khomeini: ''The day women did not wear the scarf in public would be the real day of his death and the end of his revolution.'' Ayatollah Khomeini established the new regime after a [[referendum]] (March 30 and 31, [[1979]]) in which more than 98% of Iranian people voted for his policies. Before revoluion, Iranian women were forced not to wear veil for almost 50 years.[http://www.iranian.com/Women/2003/May/Veil/ 1] |
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Although in the book, Nafisi criticizes Islamic republic, she also calls for self criticism. In her speech in 2004 National book festival, Nafisi said:''It is wrong to put all the blame on the Islamic regime or right now on the Islamic fundamentalists, It is important to probe and see what did you do wrong to create this situation''. |
Although in the book, Nafisi criticizes Islamic republic, she also calls for self criticism. In her speech in 2004 National book festival, Nafisi said:''It is wrong to put all the blame on the Islamic regime or right now on the Islamic fundamentalists, It is important to probe and see what did you do wrong to create this situation''. |
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Despite its success in attracting many from all over the world, ''Reading Lolita in Tehran'' has not been able to attract many Iranians. As Nafisi herself told the [[New York Times]], ''People from my country have said the book was successful because of a Zionist conspiracy and US imperialism, and others have criticized me for washing our dirty laundry in front of the enemy.'' |
Despite its success in attracting many from all over the world, ''Reading Lolita in Tehran'' has not been able to attract many Iranians{{fact}}. As Nafisi herself told the [[New York Times]], ''People from my country have said the book was successful because of a Zionist conspiracy and US imperialism, and others have criticized me for washing our dirty laundry in front of the enemy.'' |
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== References == |
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*1. Mahnaz Kousha, Voices from Iran: The Changing Lives of Iranian Women (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2002), pp. 227-228. |
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== External links == |
== External links == |
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*[http://www.merip.org/mero/interventions/mottahedeh_interv.html About Iranian Memoirs] |
*[http://www.merip.org/mero/interventions/mottahedeh_interv.html About Iranian Memoirs] |
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*[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60490-2004Jul18.html Sorry, Wrong Chador] |
*[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60490-2004Jul18.html Sorry, Wrong Chador] |
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*[http://www.meforum.org/article/542 Some excerpts from Reading Lolita in Tehran] |
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{{nonfiction-book-stub}} |
{{nonfiction-book-stub}} |
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[[Category: |
[[Category:2003 books]] |
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[[Category:autobiographies]] |
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[[Category:political books]] |
Revision as of 06:14, 9 March 2006
Reading Lolita in Tehran, A Memoir in Books is a book by Iranian author and feminist activist Azar Nafisi.
Published in 2003 and it has been over 100 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and it has been translated into 32 languages.
The book narrates the personal and intellectual events of a private literature class she started in Tehran after she left her last teaching post at the University of Tehran after refusing to wear the Islamic veil.
The class consists of seven Iranian girls of diverse religious and political beliefs and backgrounds, who meet at Azar's house every thursday morning risking their lives, taking off their chadors and veils, and discussing forbidden works of Western literature, as Islamic morality squads raid in Tehran, and fundamentalists purge the universities' curriculums, and censorship stifles freedom of expression. One of the students, Rosie, was caught by the Islamic regime and executed [1] while another girl , Sanaz, was arrested for displaying "Western attitudes," and subjected to two virginity tests , one by a woman and the other by male guards.
The book is divided into 4 sections: Lolita, Gatsby, James, and Austen. Azar Nafisi states that the James chapter as being about ambiguity and how totalitarian mindsets hate ambiguity. Gatsby is about the American dream and the Iranian dream of revolution and how it was shattered. And Austen is about the choice of women, a woman at the center of the novel saying no to the authority of her parents, society, and welcoming a life of dire poverty in order to make her own choice.
Nafisi's book also discuss many issues about politics of Iran during and after revolution, Iran-Iraq war and Iranian people in general.
The book title which alludes to Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita , a story about a 38 year old man who becomes sexually obsessed with a 12 year old pubescent girl and who rapes and molests her over a period of 2 years until she escapes, is an indirect reference to the Islamic regime which took power in 1979 in Iran and whose first step was to lower the marriage age for girls to 9 years old.[2]
Azar Nafisi wrote in her book how her freedom was restricted and he had to leave the University: I told her I did not want to wear the veil in the classroom. Did I not wear the veil, she asked, when ever I went out ? Did I not wear it in the grocery store and walking down the street ? It seemed I constantly had to remind people that the university was not a grocery store.
Although in the book, Nafisi criticizes Islamic republic, she also calls for self criticism. In her speech in 2004 National book festival, Nafisi said:It is wrong to put all the blame on the Islamic regime or right now on the Islamic fundamentalists, It is important to probe and see what did you do wrong to create this situation.
Despite its success in attracting many from all over the world, Reading Lolita in Tehran has not been able to attract many Iranians[citation needed]. As Nafisi herself told the New York Times, People from my country have said the book was successful because of a Zionist conspiracy and US imperialism, and others have criticized me for washing our dirty laundry in front of the enemy.