Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi

The name of the novel itself shows a protest against the orthodoxy in Iran where the novel is set.  It is a protest against the restrictions on people of Iran especially the female class which is always kept away from education in order to make the path of male dominance in the society easier and prominent.

The story revolves around an inspired, vibrant and bold teacher Azar Nafisi of the Islamic Republic of Iran  who secretly gathers seven of her most committed female students to read forbidden Western classics every Thursday for a span of two years. It shows the courage and the thirst for knowledge of the girls and the bold attitude of their teacher who tried to achieve their goal even under the shadow of arbitrary raids staged by Islamic morality squads in Tehran. It was a very risky time to take such a step when  fundamentalists had taken  hold of the universities, and artistic expression was stifled through the nation. In such a situation,  the dedicated students of Azar Nafisi living immersed themselves in the worlds of the popular western authors like Jane Austen, , Henry James, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is a remarkable celebration of the liberating power of literature in the face of tyranny.

Kumar