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Monday 25 March 2019

A riff on Reading Lolita in Tehran

1/ Lovers of literature should read this book. 
2/ Especially fans of Nabokov, Flaubert, Fitzgerald, Henry James, or Jane Austen. Like me. I’m starting to see Azar Nafisi as a friend. 
3/ Critics and sceptics should, too, read this book. Reading Lolita in Tehran is an ode to literature, and a defence of literature. 
4/ It’s about books; about writers and readers; about good readers and bad readers; about reading and teaching. 
5/ Some students on the author’s course make me wonder why they chose to study literature at all, when they have no interest in it, reject ambiguity, and want to impose their brand of morality on a book. 
6/ But then can we not say the same thing about lots of literary critics or book reviewers? Those who are more interested in feminist or social criticism than literature, like Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar? Those who claim that male writers can’t write good female characters? Those who say that Tolstoy punishes Anna Karenina, because of misogyny? Those who reject the Western canon and dead white male authors? Those who look at everything through the lens of gender, race, and the privilege concept, and seem to judge an author by their identity rather than the quality of their works? And so on. 
7/ Reading Nafisi’s book, I’m glad I wasn’t born in Iran. 
8/ The idea that writers should serve the government, and an ideology, is so familiar. Totalitarian governments are all the same. 
9/ One of the most brilliant moments in the book is the trial of The Great Gatsby. A book on trial. 
10/ Many so-called feminists in the West should read Reading Lolita in Tehran. When they know what it’s like to be a woman in many other countries, they may stop with the faux outrage over non-issues, and the stupid things done in the name of feminism. It is insulting.

8 comments:

  1. i sense that you feel rather strongly about this topic (lol)... readers imo read themselves into books; nobody can interpret a text completely objectively; if they could then there wouldn't be anything to argue about... what do you think?

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    1. I do. Lol.
      Interpretation can, to some extent, be subjective, but I do dislike the idea that art is all subjective, it's all about taste, there's no standard about good books or bad books, and so on and so forth. People can have different interpretations, but what do you base your interpretation on? What are your arguments? Some people seem to think that debate doesn't matter and as long as they say "I'm entitled to my opinion", that ends the conversation.

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    2. Also, I do dislike that lots of people don't know the difference between "this book is good" and "I like this book".

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    3. good points... i've thought for years that the whole process of lit crit is sort of a tempest in a teapot; it seems like every critic spends his/her life formulating a style of criticism and defending it with any and all means they can dig up... after all, what can a reader say except "i like it" or "this book sucks"...

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    4. Oh no, I disagree with you there, at least on my blog I've been trying to write a lot more than just "I like it" or "this book sucks".

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    5. i see that that is what you've been doing and i think it's entirely appropriate... there's a large industry associated with lit crit and it's not only because there's a lot of money in it... people are moved and educated by analyses of books, undoubtedly, and it serves a purpose in enlightening readers and helps them to further understand their own lives... i laud you for doing that...
      sometimes i don't remember that i'm old now... when i was young i was concerned about these things just as you are... i don't know what happened, really, it's just that so much doesn't seem very important any more... age related i think... anyway, i enjoy your posts a lot and admire what you have to say about the books you read...

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    6. I think the problem with lots of literary criticism (professional) is that it's not really about the book, not really about beauty and art, but about other stuff like social issues, gender, race, historical context, and so on.
      When I did English literature, my course was like that. All about themes and social issues.
      To be honest, I learnt a lot more from Nabokov and a few book blogs like Wuthering Expectations or Argumentative Old Git than that course.
      So these things just piss me off. Haha.
      Thanks though.

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    7. true, you could probably learn a lot more from those two bloggers than from a class in English... they're certainly well read and brilliant analysts...

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