«Ti sniff my mouth
in case you said “I love you”
They smell your heart:
These are strange times, my dear
They whip love at checkpoints
We hide love in the closet.
In this dead end
They feed the fire
Burning songs and poems
Don’t you dare think:
these are strange times, my dear.’
Azar Nafisi, Iranian writer, lives in the United States. She teaches English Literature at the University of Tehran, she was expelled for not respecting the dress code. She an opponent of the regime, she in the famous Reading Lolita in Tehran she tells how she, at the risk of her life, organized a clandestine reading seminar of Western texts at home. (Press Office)
Azar Nafisi, author of the best seller Reading Lolita in Tehran, use poet Ahmad Shamlu’s words to explain Iran today, censorship, religious, male, blind dictatorship. His latest book, That other world, essays on Nabokov’s works and reflections on the egocentrism of the “bad guys”, published like the others by Adephi, is the ideal closure of the trilogy that began with Lolita and continued with The Republic of Imagination (but the memoir The things I didn’t say is also beautiful).
American citizen since 2008, she lives in exile in Washington with her husband and two children, teaches English literature, writes, but doesn’t take his eyes off Iran, where women cut their hair and burn hijabs against a dictatorship that has much in common with that of Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale.
He spoke about freedom and imagination on June 18 at Taobuk Festival SeeSicily of Taormina in conversation with Barbara Stefanelli, deputy director of Corriere della Sera. At iO Donna, she tells that she loves The invisible cities by Italo Calvino, that Primo Levi taught her to be connected with others even in a concentration camp, that the success of Reading Lolita in Tehran surprised her.
Why?
Nobody believed in this book. They said to me: who do you want to care? I thought if it sold nine thousand copies it would be great. But I wanted to write. I could no longer teach, I felt voiceless and by writing I found mine.
Azar Nafisi’s Iran
Why did he leave Iran in 1997?
It was not an easy decision or even a quick one. But I had gotten to the point where I could no longer do what I did for a living. Whatever I wrote would come out in mutilated form. The ayatollahs were confiscating all our freedoms. I can connect with my people more from the US than in Iran. You are not forced into silence here.
Is today’s Iran like apartheid South Africa?
Absolutely yes. Only that segregation concerns women, in daily life, on public transport, in study, in sport, in the way they dress. If you can’t choose what to wear, how to talk, how to feel, you are no longer you, you are nothing. This Regime Challenges Our Very Existence So yes, women are fighting for their lives.
Why is the veil such an important detail?
It is the symbol of the lack of freedom. Ayatollah Khomeini tried to make it compulsory as early as 1979. It is not a question of religion, but of power, of control.
In the end, will women win?
Yes, they will win. It’s not easy, but there is a strong political movement. The Islamic Republic has no future. They can’t kill millions of women, they can’t arrest and kill everyone, even if violence is the only language they know.
That other world of Azar Nafisi, Adelphi448 pages, €26
Why do you believe that literature can help democracy?
Writers are witnesses of the truth, great writing is the revelation of the truth. And the truth is always dangerous. Storytelling is important to understand emotions, thoughts, sensations. To overcome isolation. It speaks to the mind and heart, it forces you to face the pain of being human. I think of Italo Calvino, of his The invisible citiesI think of Primo Levi, If this is a man. My students, in Iran, disconnect from the regime and connect with the writer. The power of imagination is released. Since I was a child I have traveled to France with The little Princein Great Britain with Alice in Wonderlandin Italy with Pinocchio. In the room of imagination I find stories that give me strength.
What do you think of digital technologies and social media?
They have changed our lives, it is impossible to do without them. There are e-books, of course, but the sensations a book gives are different. Like the wind in your hair. It’s fine as long as the technologies are at our service and not the other way around. It’s not good if we let ourselves be enchanted, if we lose the imagination that can save our lives.
Besides the great writers, what do you read?
The mysteries, the detective stories. I discovered them thanks to my father (former mayor of Tehran, ed). I started with Agatha Christie. I really like Raymond Chandler.
How does he live his dual identity, Iranian and American?
I like the idea of metaphorically belonging to two worlds. America has welcomed me for years now, but there are dangerous, anti-democratic trends.
What do you hope for in difficult times like these?
We live in an era of crisis and transition. We could go towards totalitarianism or towards democracy. Writing is a good source of hope even in a complicated situation. People die every day for basic freedoms. I learned it from Iran, Afghanistan and now Ukraine. My heart breaks for this war. Putin’s invasion is the biggest lie: hospitals, schools, children have not been spared. The message of the Ukrainians is: freedom must be defended. So I hope, I always hope. Even with a broken heart, I hope.
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