Reviewed by Monique Prince, Undergraduate Services Librarian
Reading Lolita in Tehran provides an interesting perspective on Middle Eastern culture—from the point of view of a female literature professor in Iran. Nafisi recounts her experiences pre- and post-revolution, and details how women's freedoms in Iran became more and more restricted. She frames her story around four fiction texts: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Daisy Miller by Henry James, and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Part of Reading Lolita in Tehran takes place in the university classroom, where her students struggle with the implications of fiction—particularly western fiction—what does fiction accomplish? Should fiction be censored? Should the subject matter in fiction be judged according to a moral code? The other part of the story takes place in Nafisi's home, where she meets regularly with a group of young women to discuss literature. Although they are from strikingly different backgrounds, and hold differing views regarding the political and social changes in Iran (such as the controversy of whether women should wear the veil), they form a strong bond with the books they read and with each other as they attempt to cope with the challenges in their own lives.
