Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books

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An inspired blend of memoir and literary criticism, Reading Lolita in Tehran is a moving testament to the power of art and its ability to change and improve people's lives. In 1995, after resigning from her job as a professor at a university in Tehran due to repressive policies, Azar Nafisi invited seven of her best female students to attend a weekly study of great Western literature in her home. Since the books they read were officially banned by the government, the women were forced to meet in secret, often sharing photocopied pages of the illegal novels. For two years they met to talk, share, and "shed their mandatory veils and robes and burst into color." Though most of the women were shy and intimidated at first, they soon became emboldened by the forum and used the meetings as a springboard for debating the social, cultural, and political realities of living under strict Islamic rule. They discussed their harassment at the hands of "morality guards," the daily indignities of living under the Ayatollah Khomeini's regime, the effects of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, love, marriage, and life in general, giving readers a rare inside look at revolutionary Iran. The books were always the primary focus, however, and they became "essential to our lives: they were not a luxury but a necessity," she writes.

Threaded into the memoir are trenchant discussions of the work of Vladimir Nabokov, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jane Austen, and other authors who provided the women with examples of those who successfully asserted their autonomy despite great odds. The great works encouraged them to strike out against authoritarianism and repression in their own ways, both large and small: "There, in that living room, we rediscovered that we were also living, breathing human beings; and no matter how repressive the state became, no matter how intimidated and frightened we were, like Lolita we tried to escape and to create our own little pockets of freedom," she writes. In short, the art helped them to survive. --Shawn Carkonen

Book Description

Every Thursday morning for two years in the Islamic Republic of Iran, a bold and inspired teacher named Azar Nafisi secretly gathered seven of her most committed female students to read forbidden Western classics. As Islamic morality squads staged arbitrary raids in Tehran, fundamentalists seized hold of the universities, and a blind censor stifled artistic expression, the girls in Azar Nafisi’s living room risked removing their veils and immersed themselves in the worlds of Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry James, and Vladimir Nabokov. In this extraordinary memoir, their stories become intertwined with the ones they are reading. Reading Lolita in Tehran is a remarkable exploration of resilience in the face of tyranny and a celebration of the liberating power of literature.

Customer Reviews:

The freedom to read, think and talk about Literature .......2007-10-15

As Nafisi says , people tend to take for granted the freedoms they have, and only appreciate them when they have been denied them. This is a book about appreciating the freedom to read , think about, and discuss Literature. It is also a book about how Literature and Life may intermingle with and influence each other. It is also a book about a courageous teacher who shows not only a real love of literature but a genuine concern for the lives of the seven students she gathers in her apartment to teach Literature to in Tehran. She does this under the regime of the Ayatollahs and the action is taken in defiance of the uniformity of mind and culture, the totalitarian spirit they impose upon Iran.
The group reads Austen, Henry James, Scott Fitzgerald, Saul Bellow and most importantly Nabakov's 'Lolita'. They in the course of this symbolically escape as Lolita from her imprisoning Humbert Humbert, the tyrannical controlling Tehran regime.
Nafisi is not only an intelligent and skilled writer. She is also clearly a very warm and considerate human being , and a teacher of the value of freedom.
An inspiring work of art.

Revenge on the Blind Censor.......2007-10-07

If you could see into Dr. Nafisi's living room - you would see seven young women - her most committed students of literature, sitting in on their teacher's study class held in the privacy of her home- It is the time of the Islamic Revolution in Iran - and they are reading forbidden works of literature including Lolita.

Each reader will interpret this book in their own way according to what they capture from the selected works of literature that the author chose to study with her students - and how they compare to their own reality.
There are four sections in the book: Lolita, Gatsby, James, Austen. The author takes you into the heart of these books exposing the parallels of fiction to reality, and in many cases the reality of their own world.

The study class becomes not only an act of defiance but also an escape from reality. Her students, intellectually curious and enthusiastic, drink up every sentence and ponder on its greater implication and meaning. The subtleties of each story are drawn out and unraveled - analyzed and held up as if a reflection of their own predicaments.

"Reading Lolita in Tehran" is one of those books that will take the reader on their own journey into the lives of people half a world away when their country experienced tumultuous and frightening times. Through the recounted reading of selected literature - and the author's memoirs, you the reader are captured in the emotions of those who lived through it and feelings that encompasses each of her students.

Many reviewers here have attached the meaning of the books Nafisi discusses directly with the events that happened in Iran during its revolution - but it much more than that. The book is not just a critique of the Islamic Revolution (mostly under Khomeini ) but rather it is a condemnation of all ideologies, past - present and future, that would preach in black and white absolutes while it adherents abandon any critical thinking thought process.

For just as it is in the fictional works this book passes through, self deception comes in many forms and from many places, and usually from within oneself. But more than anything else it is through these readings that Nafisi manages to capture the nexus of their own dreams and reality.

B-O-R-I-N-G.......2007-10-07

I'm sorry to have to title my review as such. I wanted to read this book for quite some time. I had expected to read about the struggles of educated Iranian women in an oppressive regime. Instead I was subjected to the pompous ramblings of an English professor. I don't mean this to sound like an insult, but she writes like an English professor - trying to sound educated but not actually relaying a good story.
I hate to not complete a book, but at page 42 I just cut my losses.

Life and Literature in Iran.......2007-09-30

For two years, Azar Nafisi, an Iranian professor, gathered a group of young women into her home every Thursday morning to discuss literature. This circular memoir begins by talking about these weekly meetings, then takes the reader into poignant fragments about Nafisi's life in Iran and how things became the way they are. Throughout the book, learning and discussion occurs through novels such as Lolita and Pride and Prejudice.

I found the middle sections a little monotonous. The first and fourth sections were my favorites, because they focused on the girls' group that Professor Nafisi led. I would recommend this book if you love literature and writing and English... or if you want to learn more about the nuances of Islamic life in Iran.

Rambling and boring.......2007-09-21

First, I must confess: I didn't finish the book. It contains a lot of disjointed literary criticism in additon to descriptions of the lives of the author and her women students in 1990's Iran. I found it boring.

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books

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A gloriously subersive history

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books

Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0965470806

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Brand new. Never read. Excellent condition.

Customer Reviews:

A gloriously subersive history.......2006-09-02

"Reading Lolita in Tehran" (RLT) is a Persian variation on "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich." Both are about surviving cruel, arbitrary tyrants.

There was a brilliant essay on RLT in the July 19, 2004 "Washington Post" entitled "Sorry, Wrong Chador." At the time, Nafisi's book had not even been translated into Persian, but Iranians still had opinions about it:

"The problem, several Iranians said in interviews, is that Nafisi left Tehran seven years ago. Her highly personal account of 18 years living under the mullahs is as absorbing a history as might be found of this place in that time. But it ends precisely at what most people here call the dawn of a new era in Iran, the 1997 landslide election of Mohammad Khatami as president."

Some may believe it dated, but "Reading Lolita in Tehran," just like Solzhenitsyn's classic, is actually timeless. Nafisi's mullahs may be history, just as Stalin's labor camps are now history, but somewhere in the world people are still unjustly imprisoned. Somewhere in the world women are still treated as non-citizens.

Iran itself is not yet a paradise for women. The Iranian Nobel peace prize winner, Shirin Ebadi has recently received death threats for her 'un-Islamic' behavior--she is the cofounder of the Tehran-based Center of Human Rights Defenders, which was banned by the Interior Ministry. Iranian women are still fighting for free access to public places such as universities and coffee shops. The police periodically campaign against 'un-Islamic' dress.

As far as I know, it is still legal to marry a nine-year-old girl in Iran, a practice Nafisi fiercely condemns--and this brings us back to "Lolita" and why Nabokov's book was so popular with Nafisi's students.

My own impression of "Lolita" was 'silly nymphet with heart-shaped sunglasses seduces helpless adult male'. Yukk! I had never actually read it or seen the movie.

Nafisi points out that my synopsis was completely wrong. It should have read, 'powerful adult male kills young girl's mother and takes complete control of his stepdaughter, even to the point of renaming her (Lolita's real name was 'Dolores'.) He forces her to conform to his most intimate fantasies, and if he is in some way disappointed, he blames and punishes her.

Humbert Humbert reminds Nafisi's students of various males who had abused them, including the mullahs who were then in power. One student was sent to prison because a male caught a glimpse of her neck and found it highly erotic. There are some very sad stories in this book about the abuse of women and the stunting of human relationships, all in the name of religion and power.

But RLT also pays tribute to the vitality and teaching power of Western and Persian literature. I had never realized how gloriously subversive Jane Austin's novels were until I read Nafasi. Tyrants should never rest easy on their thrones if their subjects can read Austen, Nabokov, Henry James, or even Mark Twain. This book really opened my eyes as to why fiction should be read. It can be even more dangerous than books about making bombs.

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Reading Lolita in Tehran : A Memoir in Books
Azar Nafisi
Manufacturer: Hodder
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0733618235

$READING \"LOLITA\" IN TEHRAN: A MEMOIR IN BOOKS (STRANGER THAN... S.)$
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READING \"LOLITA\" IN TEHRAN: A MEMOIR IN BOOKS (STRANGER THAN... S.)
AZAR NAFISI
Manufacturer: HARPERPERENNIAL
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 000724178X

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We all have dreams -- things we fantasize about doing and generally never get around to. This is the story of Azar Nafisi's dream and of the nightmare that made it come true.

For two years before she left Iran in 1997, Nafisi gathered seven young women at her house every Thursday morning to read and discuss forbidden works of Western literature. They were all former students whom she had taught at university. Some came from conservative and religious families, others were progressive and secular; several had spent time in jail. They were shy and uncomfortable at first, unaccustomed to being asked to speak their minds, but soon they began to open up and to speak more freely, not only about the novels they were reading but also about themselves, their dreams and disappointments. Their stories intertwined with those they were reading -- Pride and Prejudice, Washington Square, Daisy Miller and Lolita -- their Lolita, as they imagined her in Tehran.

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. When a radical Islamist in Nafisi's class questioned her decision to teach The Great Gatsby, which he saw as an immoral work that preached falsehoods of "the Great Satan," she decided to let him put Gatsby on trial and stood as the sole witness for the defense.

Azar Nafisi's luminous tale offers a fascinating portrait of the Iran–Iraq war viewed from Tehran and gives us a rare glimpse, from the inside, of women's lives in revolutionary Iran. It is a work of great passion and poetic beauty, written with a startlingly original voice.

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Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
Azar Nafisi
Manufacturer: Random House Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OLI5LQ

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Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
Azar Nafisi
Manufacturer: Random House Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000O38LU4

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Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books
Azar Nafisi
Manufacturer: Random House Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000WUNOBK

Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books.(Book Review): An article from: Christianity and Literature

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Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books.(Book Review): An article from: Christianity and Literature
Darlene E. Erickson
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
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Binding: Digital

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This digital document is an article from Christianity and Literature, published by Thomson Gale on September 22, 2005. The length of the article is 2458 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books.(Book Review)
Author: Darlene E. Erickson
Publication: Christianity and Literature (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 22, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 55 Issue: 1 Page: 144(5)

Article Type: Book Review

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Reading Lolita in Tehran: a Memoir in Books.(Book Review): An article from: Reviewer's Bookwatch

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Reading Lolita in Tehran: a Memoir in Books.(Book Review): An article from: Reviewer's Bookwatch
Coletta Ollerer
Manufacturer: Midwest Book Review
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Binding: Digital

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ASIN: B00081X6ES
Release Date: 2005-08-01

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This digital document is an article from Reviewer's Bookwatch, published by Midwest Book Review on December 1, 2004. The length of the article is 661 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Reading Lolita in Tehran: a Memoir in Books.(Book Review)
Author: Coletta Ollerer
Publication: Reviewer's Bookwatch (Newsletter)
Date: December 1, 2004
Publisher: Midwest Book Review
Page: NA

Article Type: Book Review

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4 Books: 1) Interpreter of Maladies (Jhumpa Lahiri) / 2) A Fine Balance (Oprah's Book Club) (Rohinton Mistry) / 3) White Teeth: A Novel (Zadie Smith) / 4) Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books (Azar Nafisi) (Unboxed Set of World Literature Fiction Books by Different Authors)

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4 Books: 1) Interpreter of Maladies (Jhumpa Lahiri) / 2) A Fine Balance (Oprah's Book Club) (Rohinton Mistry) / 3) White Teeth: A Novel (Zadie Smith) / 4) Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books (Azar Nafisi) (Unboxed Set of World Literature Fiction Books by Different Authors)
Jhumpa Lahiri , Rohinton Mistry , Zadie Smith , and Azar Nafisi
Manufacturer: various
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000X9PSM8

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4 Books: 1) Interpreter of Maladies (Jhumpa Lahiri) / 2) A Fine Balance (Oprah's Book Club) (Rohinton Mistry) / 3) White Teeth: A Novel (Zadie Smith) / 4) Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books (Azar Nafisi) (Unboxed Set of World Literature Fiction Books by Different Authors), in either Hard or Softcover, (See Seller Condition Comments), Shipped in one package to save on shipping costs.

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Churchill, the Great Game and Total War (Cass Series on Politics and Military Affairs in the Twentieth Century; 5)

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it is a very interesting book

Churchill, the Great Game and Total War (Cass Series on Politics and Military Affairs in the Twentieth Century; 5)
David Jablonsky
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Influenced by what Clausewitz termed the 'remarkable trinity' the government, the military and the people - Jablonsky studies the interaction between Churchill, the British people and the army during the Second World War. He argues that the great British leader saw civilian supremacy as the rule in total war.

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it is a very interesting book.......1999-09-21

it is very serious boo

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