Tag Archives: podcast

Struggle in Iran, Again

Note: [This was written during the struggle by reformers in Iran in June 2009, during a time that would come to be called Arab Spring]Because I stayed up past midnight last night following the current battles in the streets of Tehran, I decided to put on hold my planned review for today, and instead return to a book I read a few years ago. It is important that we think of Iran today.

Destination: Tehran

Book: Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi

We may not be able to safely travel to Iran for quite some time. Most of us have a rather vague idea of what life in Iran has been like since the Islamic revolution. Because we ache for the Iranians who struggle today, we can read (or re-read) Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books to get an idea of what life would have been like before and during the Islamic revolution in Iran.

If you missed this book the first time around, now is a perfect time to return to its account of two years during which Azar Nafisi led a group of young women in discussions of Western books.  You will never see Henry James, Jane Austin and Vladimir Nabokov in quite the same light.

For example, in October 2008, the BBC made podcasts called Children of the Revolution (https://bbc.in/2OIJQsn)that focus on the youth of Iran. They help foretell what is going on in Iran today.