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Azar Nafisi is an Iranian writer and professor of English literature. She is best known for her 2003 memoir, Reading Lolita in Tehran, which tells the story of how she taught a class on Western literature to Iranian students in the 1990s, during and after the Iranian Revolution.
Born in Tehran in 1955, Nafisi grew up in a privileged and Westernized family. She began her studies at the University of Tehran, but after the Revolution in 1979, she was forced to leave Iran and continue her education in the United States. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Oklahoma in 1987, and returned to Iran to teach at the University of Tehran and at Allameh Tabatabai University.
In 1995, Nafisi left Iran again, this time for good, and took a position teaching at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. It was during this time that she began working on Reading Lolita in Tehran, which was published to great acclaim in 2003. The book was an instant bestseller, and has been translated into over thirty languages.
Nafisi has also written two other books, Things I’ve Been Silent About: Memories and a Novel, and The Republic of Imagination: America in Three Books. She is currently a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University.
Azar Nafisi is an Iranian writer and academic who is best known for her memoir Reading Lolita in Tehran. In the book, Nafisi recounts her experience of teaching literature to a group of young women in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. Nafisi was born in Tehran in 1955 and grew up in a privileged, Westernized home. Her father was a successful doctor and her mother was a stay-at-home mom.
Nafisi was educated in both Iran and the United States, and she eventually became a professor of English literature at the University of Tehran. However, Nafisi grew increasingly disillusioned with the Islamist government of Iran, and she eventually left the country in 1997. She now lives in the United States, where she is a visiting professor at Johns Hopkins University.
Nafisi’s memoir has been widely praised for its insights into Iranian society and its exploration of the power of literature. If you’re interested in writing an essay about Azar Nafisi, there are a few things you should keep in mind.
First, it’s important to provide some context about the Islamic Revolution and how it affected Iranian society. This will help your readers understand the backdrop against which Nafisi’s story takes place.
Next, you’ll want to focus on Nafisi’s experiences teaching literature to her students. What was the experience like for her? How did it affect her view of Iran and its people?
Finally, you’ll want to discuss the themes of the book, such as the power of literature, the role of women in Iranian society, and the importance of freedom. What did Nafisi learn from her experience? What do you think her story can teach us about these important topics?
Keep these things in mind as you write your essay, and you’ll be sure to produce a thoughtful and insightful piece on Azar Nafisi and her memoir.
Azar Nafisi is an Iranian writer and literary scholar who is best known for her memoir Reading Lolita in Tehran. The book chronicles her experience teaching literature to a group of young women in Iran during the Islamic Republic. Nafisi has been a vocal critic of the regime, and her work has been banned in Iran. She currently lives in the United States.
Azar Nafisi’s work is important because it brings to light the plight of women in Iran who are living under a repressive regime. She also gives hope to those who suffer under such regimes, by showing that it is possible to overcome the oppression and live a full and satisfying life.
