What is frightening is that this blindness can exist in the best of us (Eliza Bennet) as well as the worst (Humbert). We are all capable of becoming the blind censor, of imposing our visions and desires on others. Once evil is individualized, becoming part of everyday life, the way of resisting it also becomes individual. How does the soul survive? is the essential question. And the response is through love and imagination.
Reading Lolita in Tehran
~ Azar Nafisi
It's time for a new book (yea!). Studying Iranian history and the classics was an arduous process. I finally finished Reading Lolita in Tehran. I finished just in time for the book club I hosted Friday night. I was eagerly anticipating this night of book banter and Persian food. It was a good night too and the discussion while not exhaustive, was more robust than I expected knowing most of the ladies didn't get beyond 50-100 pages. Only three of us read the book in entirety. It was a difficult read: preachy and political. The memoir was packed full of historical events and too much lit crit, but in the end I don't regret choosing or reading it. I also would be very careful to recommend it.
The evening was lovely. I think the ladies enjoyed the spread. We lingered around the candle-lit table until well after dark talking about freedom, fiction and women, and as always, our own stories too.
It's time for a new book (yea!). Studying Iranian history and the classics was an arduous process. I finally finished Reading Lolita in Tehran. I finished just in time for the book club I hosted Friday night. I was eagerly anticipating this night of book banter and Persian food. It was a good night too and the discussion while not exhaustive, was more robust than I expected knowing most of the ladies didn't get beyond 50-100 pages. Only three of us read the book in entirety. It was a difficult read: preachy and political. The memoir was packed full of historical events and too much lit crit, but in the end I don't regret choosing or reading it. I also would be very careful to recommend it.
The evening was lovely. I think the ladies enjoyed the spread. We lingered around the candle-lit table until well after dark talking about freedom, fiction and women, and as always, our own stories too.
No comments:
Post a Comment