Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi
Book description
Every Thursday morning for two years in the Islamic Republic of Iran, a bold and inspired teacher named Azar Nafisi secretly gathered seven of her most committed female students to read forbidden Western classics. As Islamic morality squads staged arbitrary raids in Tehran, fundamentalists seized hold of the universities, and a blind censor stifled artistic expression, the girls in Azar Nafisi’s living room risked removing their veils and immersed themselves in the worlds of Jane Austen, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry James, and Vladimir Nabokov. In this extraordinary memoir, their stories become intertwined with the ones they are reading. Reading Lolita in Tehran is a remarkable exploration of resilience in the face of tyranny and a celebration of the liberating power of literature. Published in 2003; 347 pages.
Description from book jacket
Research the author and the book using library resources
Information on the author’s life and works is available through our library’s online resources. Recommended online resources for Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi include Biography Resource Center and Literature Resource Center. Enter your library barcode and then use the author’s name or the book title to search for full-text encyclopedia or magazine articles.
Discussion questions
Reading Lolita in Tehran discussion questions from readinggroupguide.com
Additional information
“Transcript: David Brancaccio Interviews Azar Nafisi.” NOW on PBS. June 20, 2003.
“Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi.” Middle East Quarterly, Spring 2003, Vol. X, no. 2.
Readalikes
Lipstick Jihad: a memoir of growing up Iranian in American and American in Iran by Azadeh Moaveni
The child of Iranian exiles, Moaveni, is determined to explore the country her parents left.
Persepolis: a story of a childhood by Marjane Satrapi
A graphic novel that chronicles Satrapi’s girlhood under the Iranian Islamic Revolution.
The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad
Western journalist Seierstad is welcomed into the home and lives of an Afghani family shortly after the fall of the Taliban.
Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
The Kite Runner is the story of two friends, one the son of a wealthy businessman and the other the son of a servant, and the event that binds them together.