Reading Lolita In Tehran Essay

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Book review:
Title: Reading Lolita in Tehran
Author: Azar Nafisi
"و لنا في الخيال حياة" - Through Imagination we live (an Arabic proverb). In Iran during the late 1990s is a setting of a private book club in Tehran, where Professor Azar Nafisi, author of the book, meets weekly with seven of her most prominent female students to discuss banned western literary work. Azar Nafisi writes her memoirs, shedding light on the transformation of the self through literature, the book discussions are no longer limited to exploring the characters, but rather intertwine with the group members' lives hopes and dreams. Nafisi's journey with her students revolves around the imagination's role in opening spaces, an act subversive in itself against the existent …show more content…

Manna, a poet of a withdrawn and private nature with an inquisitive eye for peculiar things, she cherishes memories of her late father that passed away after the revolution. Mahshid, a sensual, dainty and seemingly vulnerable young woman that is in reality strong-willed. Mahshid has been jailed for being involved with a non-conformist group; she is in her mid-thirties lonely and lives with her mother. Yassi, a shy yet inquiring and probing character, is looking forward to leave Iran to the States; she had enough of her country and uses music to rebel. Azin, a person with an inviting smile, a fun personality and an appetite for life with strong opinions; she is married with three children, towards the end of the novel she wants to divorce. Azin has been nicknamed "the wild one", for vocalizing her strong opinions on love, sex and men by the more conservative member of the group Mahshid and Manna. Mitra, the painter and calm person of the group that could unsuspectingly manipulate anyone with her sweet dimples; she is married and plans to leave for Canada with her husband towards the end of the novel. Sanaz, the one caught between her strife for independence and the need for traditions and family approval, especially with the presence of her controlling younger brother. She has found love with a Turkish man, worked hard to make it work. They got …show more content…

In Reading Lolita in Tehran, the author tried to escape and to create their own little pockets of freedom. As quoted by the author “This class was the color of my dreams. It entailed an active withdrawal from a reality that had turned hostile” (P.11). And like Lolita, they took every opportunity to display their repealing and expressing their freedom by showing a little hair from under their scarves, implying a little color into the dull uniformity of their appearances, polishing their nails, falling in love, and listening to forbidden

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