Reading Lolita in Tehran

The Atlantic ^ | 5-07-2003 | book review and inteview w/ author

[Lorianne]

In 1979, Azar Nafisi returned to her native Iran after a seventeen-year absence. From the moment she stepped off the plane, she found herself in a place that was dark and unfamiliar. The cheerful and cosmopolitan Tehran airport that she remembered from her youth, with its terraced restaurant and stylishly dressed women, now seemed barren except for giant posters of the ayatollahs tagged with menacing slogans in black and red: "DEATH TO AMERICA! DOWN WITH IMPERIALISM & ZIONISM! AMERICA IS OUR NUMBER-ONE ENEMY!" As a customs official searched her bags, he picked up her books—most of them modern American novels—with particular disdain, as though handling dirty laundry. "But he did not confiscate them—not then," Nafisi recalls forebodingly in her memoir, Reading Lolita in Tehran. "That would come sometime later

[somemoreequalthanothers]

This author was on 'Booknotes' last night. I usually watch that show, but I just couldn't do this one.........

[Wingy]

She did "Booknotes" with Brian Lamb on C-Span last night. She was quite interesting about the state of the Iranian culture. However, and she said this, the Iran of today is very different than the Iran of her book. It seems that the younger Iranians simply won't put up with the fashion and thought police. The leadership is roundly disdained by all with any access to the outside world. According to her, look for a more pro-western slant in the coming years.

If this happens, I say we can look for the clintons to take credit...

[lilylangtree]

When I read this article, I immediately thought of Betty Mahmoody's trials and tributions during her forced confinement in Iran. Betty's experience in Iran was made into the movie "Not Without My Daughter" starring Sally Field. Azar Nafisi was allowed to emigrate to the US with her husband and family. Even though Betty's husband was a doctor, Betty escaped from Iran with only the clothes on her back and her daughter. Found the stories interesting due to the perspective. An American and Iranian woman--their treatment was 180 degrees opposite of each other.

[solzhenitsyn]

A long read, but fascinating! Thank you, Lorianne.