Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir
in Books is an account of Iranian author Azar Nafisi’s experiences in her home
country. This New York Times’ Bestseller is a narrative about Nafisi’s record
of the life she lived in the Islamic Republic of Iran until her departure in
1997. The book revolves around the experiences shared by seven of her students
in a private literature class formed by Nafisi in Tehran after she left her
teaching post at the local university.
The women meet at her house every Thursday and
discuss books like the Great Gatsby, Lolita and Pride and Prejudice and through
the tests Nafisi eventually reveals the personal struggles of each of these
women in a strict and totalitarian society. The book is divided into ‘Lolita’
‘Gatsby’, ‘James’ and Austen and each is a chronicle of different aspects of
Iranian life. In the first two sections, Nafisi talks about her experiences of
teaching at the University of Tehran and the oppression that women like her
faced in such conservative surroundings. The latter chapters deal with the
secret lives of her students and the ‘taboo’ subjects of sex and men and the
often inhuman treatment of women caught in unfortunate marriages.
Reading Lolita in Tehran is a
powerful read indeed. Though Nafisi’s style does seem awkward and uneven in
certain places, it does not take away anything from its essence. The stories
she narrates are compelling and draw the reader in almost immediately. Whether
it’s the war in Iran or the murder of intellectuals, Nafisi always manages to
create an impression on the reader. The book tells a very real story about the
treatment of men and women in Iran who are forced to compromise their ideals in
the face of such a harsh dictatorship and the bombings and demonstrations which
take place subsequently. One of the strengths of the book is the different
variety of perspectives of its author who had received a western education and
returned to Iran much later.
While she does not agree with
many of the philosophies of Iranian culture, she is able to empower her
students to look outside their limited worldviews and encourages them to
explore a myriad of possibilities through the texts that they read and discuss
every week. Reading Lolita in Tehran ultimately offers readers a very balanced
idea of life and culture in Iran against a background of widespread political
turmoil and upheaval.
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