Author of “Reading Lolita in Tehran” Speaks at TU

Azar Nafisi’s October 15th presentation at TU centered on the idea of being a citizen of “The Republic of Imagination.” As a guest of the TU Presidential Lecture series sponsored by the Darcy O’Brien Endowed Chair, Nafisi argues that literature is the heart of culture. Because of this, she says, literature “connects you where you need to be connected.”

Citing the “decadent Western” writers whose books she taught secretly in her home in Tehran, Nafisi painted a striking picture of how literature prompts both choice and responsibility. This is the subject of her book, “Reading Lolita in Tehran,” which garnered six literary awards.

“In literature, it’s about the Other, finding the strangers in ourselves and outside of ourselves,” Nafisi argued. For Nafisi, Iranian girls who read Vladimir Nabokov’s “Lolita”, Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice”, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” and Henry James’ “Daisy Miller” bring something different to these stories than an American would.

Aptly quoting Nabokov, Nafisi stated, “Curiosity is insubordination in its purest form.” She went on to describe how it was literature that two of her former students discussed when they were imprisoned, facing death. They did not discuss politics, but rather the literary ideas they had been exposed to in Nafisi’s home classes.

Nafisi said this was no coincidence. People in concentration camps in WWII did much the same thing. She added, “Did it save them to talk about Dante? No, they still died, but they were able to transcend the tyranny of both life and death.” When faced with dehumanizing circumstances, all people long to connect with what is noble about humanity.

Nafisi quoted German philosopher Thomas Adorno, stating, “The highest morality is not to feel at home, at home.” It is Fitzgerald’s ability to transcend his own prejudices that makes him a great writer, says Nafisi. Great writers also transcend the prejudices of the culture.

Every culture in the world has something to be ashamed of, Nafisi argued. Throughout centuries, all civilizations have fought and destroyed one another’s cities. The real damage is in excusing people’s destructive behavior as simply being that culture’s religion.

Nafisi discussed the history of women’s rights in Iran and stated that Iran was the first country in the Middle East to have a cultural revolution that positively affected women. At the beginning of the 20th Century the age of marriage went from 13 to 18 years of age in Iran. Now the marriage age is nine years old.

Nafisi scoffed at the notion some Westerners have that parents in Iran want their daughters to be married when they are nine years old. “Everyone is striving for happiness,” she says. “The pursuit of happiness is not an American idea.”

Nafisi explained to the audience the importance of not just writing off injustices in Iran as being “their culture.” According to Nafisi, these injustices are a manifestation of religious ideology pervading a previously progressive country. In relation to Americans’ view of Middle Eastern cultures, Nafisi says, “Criticism [of people in other countries] is respect that ‘you should know better,’ as long as it is true criticism and not just insult.”

Speaking of the Iranian president’s appearances on U.S. television, Nafisi stated, “Monsters can love their own children. We get information here, but not knowledge. President Ahmadinejad should have a small place in Iranian society, but not the whole space.”

Drawing parallels between life and literature Nafisi reflected that the great tragedy of Nabokov’s “Lolita” is that its main character, a pedophile, imposes his own image of a lost love on the young girl of the title, ruining her life. “The same is true of Iran,” Nafisi stated. “We don’t want a regime change, we want a change of heart and opinion.”