Björn recenserade Reading Lolita in Tehran av Azar Nafisi
None
4 stjärnor
Really enjoyed this. The story of a female Iranian professor of literature returning to her home country around the time of Khomeini's revolution and staying for 18 years, trying to do what she wants to do - teach literature, without being censored or oppressed. Which isn't easy in a very hard-line religious dictatorship.
It's part memoir, part literary criticism (her analysis of Lolita is fascinating - I just wish I had read all of the books she discusses) and part analysis of what it means to live in a country where individuality, imagination and personal freedom are frowned upon, to put it mildly - especially as a woman. It's a furious defense of human rights and of the need for fiction, a book where I find myself wanting to quote something every other page. (And considering the current trend of growing moral censorship and hunt for "true stories", not just …
Really enjoyed this. The story of a female Iranian professor of literature returning to her home country around the time of Khomeini's revolution and staying for 18 years, trying to do what she wants to do - teach literature, without being censored or oppressed. Which isn't easy in a very hard-line religious dictatorship.
It's part memoir, part literary criticism (her analysis of Lolita is fascinating - I just wish I had read all of the books she discusses) and part analysis of what it means to live in a country where individuality, imagination and personal freedom are frowned upon, to put it mildly - especially as a woman. It's a furious defense of human rights and of the need for fiction, a book where I find myself wanting to quote something every other page. (And considering the current trend of growing moral censorship and hunt for "true stories", not just relevant in Iran.)
I'm not completely bowled over by her writing style, though; her observations are astute, but she veers back and forth in time, dipping in and out of monologue and dialogue in a way that doesn't always do her any favours. It doesn't really bother me, but it's enough to make the book less than a masterpiece. Still, very recommended.