Azar Nafisi

The author of the international bestseller "Reading Lolita in Tehran" now offers a stunning personal story of growing up in Iran, with moving memories of her life lived in thrall to a powerful and difficult mother, against the background of Iran during a time of revolution and change.

Every week for two years in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Nafisi secretly gathered seven of her most committed female students to read forbidden Western classics. This extraordinary memoir is an exploration of resilience in the face of tyranny and a celebration of the liberating power of literature.

Una vez por semana y durante más de dos años Azar Nafisi, una profesora de literatura de la Universidad de Teherán expedientada por negarse a llevar el velo, reunió en su casa a siete de sus alumnas para leer y comentar algunas de las novelas occidentales prohibidas por el régimen de los ayatolás. Poco a poco, superada la timidez inicial, las jóvenes estudiantes empezaron a expresarse con libertad.

Una vez por semana y durante más de dos años Azar Nafisi, una profesora de literatura de la Universidad de Teherán expedientada por negarse a llevar el velo, reunió en su casa a siete de sus alumnas para leer y comentar algunas de las novelas occidentales prohibidas por el regimen de los ayatolas. Poco a poco, superada la timidez inicial, las jovenes estudiantes empezaron a expresarse con libertad.

I started making a list in my diary entitled "Things I Have Been Silent About." Under it I wrote: "Falling in Love in Tehran. Going to Parties in Tehran. Watching the Marx Brothers in Tehran. Reading Lolita in Tehran." I wrote about repressive laws and executions, about public and political abominations. Eventually I drifted into writing about private betrayals, implicating myself and those close to me in ways I had never imagined. —From Things I Have Been Silent About Azar Nafisi, author of the beloved international bestseller Reading Lolita in Tehran, now gives us a stunning personal story of growing up in Iran, memories of her life lived in thrall to a powerful and complex mother, against the background of a country's political revolution. A girl's pain over family secrets; a young woman's discovery of the power of sensuality in literature; the price a family pays for freedom in a country beset by political upheaval-these and other threads are woven together in this beautiful memoir, as a gifted storyteller once again transforms the way we see the world and "reminds us of why we read in the first place" (Newsday). Nafisi's intelligent and complicated mother, disappointed in her dreams of leading an important and romantic life, created mesmerizing fictions about herself, her family, and her past. But her daughter soon learned that these narratives of triumph hid as much as they revealed. Nafisi's father escaped into narratives of another kind, enchanting his children with the classic tales like the Shahnamah, the Persian Book of Kings.When her father started seeing other women, young Azar began to keep his secrets from her mother. Nafisi's complicity in these childhood dramas ultimately led her to resist remaining silent about other personal, as well as political, cultural, and social, injustices. Reaching back in time to reflect on other generations in the Nafisi family, Things I've Been Silent About is also a powerful historical portrait of a family that spans many periods of change leading up to the Islamic Revolution of 1978-79, which turned Azar Nafisi's beloved Iran into a religious dictatorship. Writing of her mother's historic term in Parliament, even while her father, once mayor of Te

Après avoir dû démissionner de l'Université de Téhéran sous la pression des autorités iraniennes, Azar Nafisi a réuni chez elle clandestinement pendant près de deux ans sept de ses étudiantes pour découvrir de grandes ?uvres de la littérature occidentale. Certaines de ces jeunes filles étaient issues de familles conservatrices et religieuses, d'autres venaient de milieux progressifs et laïcs; plusieurs avaient même fait de la prison. Cette expérience unique leur a permis à toutes, grâce à la lecture de Lolita de Nabokov ou de Gatsby le Magnifique de Scott Fitzgerald, de remettre en question la situation "°révolutionnaire°" de leur pays et de mesurer la primauté de l'imagination sur la privation de liberté. A travers le prisme de la littérature, et notamment dans le personnage de Lolita, ces jeunes femmes retrouvent le reflet de leur propre soumission au pouvoir répressif des mollahs. Peu à peu, elles confient à l'auteur leurs aspirations, leurs rêves et leurs déceptions. Ce livre magnifique, souvent poignant, est le portrait brut et déchirant de la révolution islamique en Iran. " Un livre captivant. Il explore avec ferveur et conviction le pacte tacite existant entre l'écrivain, le livre et le lecteur. Tous les lecteurs devraient lire ce livre. " Margaret Atwood

Azar Nafasi formed a book club in Tehran comprised of seven young women who got together to discuss such books as THE GREAT GATSBY, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, DAISY MILLER, and, of course, LOLITA--books forbidden by the Islamic government. In this memoir, Nafasi, who was expelled from the country for refusing to wear the veil, writes about those women, the books, and her own career as a teacher of English literature--first in Iran, now (less precariously) at Johns Hopkins.

Una vez por semana y durante más de dos años, Azar Nafisi, una profesora de literatura de la Universidad de Teherán expedientada por negarse a llevar el velo, reunió en su casa a siete de sus aiumnas para leer y comentar algunas de las novelas occidentales prohibidas por el regimen de los ayatolas. Poco a poco, superada la timidez inicial, las jovenes estudiantes empezaron a expresarse con libertad, no solo sobre las novelas de Jane Austen, Henry James, F. Scott Fitzgerald y Nabokov sino sobre si mismas, sus sueños y frustraciones. En aquellos libros habian encontrado una alternativa valiente a la tirania ideologica a la que estaban sometidas y la adoptaron como un desafio.

Azar Nafisi, una profesora de literatura de Teherán expedientada por negarse a llevar el velo, reunió en su casa a siete de sus alumnas para leer y comentar algunas de las novelas occidentales prohibidas por el régimen de los ayatolás. Poco a poco, superada la timidez inicial, las jóvenes estudiantes empezaron a expresarse con libertad, no sólo sobre las novelas sino sobre sí mismas, sus sueños y fustraciones.

Cada jueves por la mañana a lo largo de dos años, Azar Nafisi, una valiente y brillante profesora iraní, reúne clandestinamente en el salón de su casa a siete de sus alumnas más aventajadas a fin de leer libros prohibidos: obras de Jane Austen, Henry James, Scott Fitzgerald y, por supuesto, de Vladimir Nabokov, el autor de Lolita. Mientras las jóvenes poco a poco se expresan a través de los libros, se dan cuenta cómo sus propias vidas se van transformando y mezclando con la trama de las obras a las que se entregan.

Azar Nafisi, author of the international bestseller Reading Lolita in Tehran, now gives us a stunning personal story of growing up in Iran, memories of her life lived in thrall to a powerful and complex mother, against the background of a country's political revolution. A girl's pain over family secrets; a young woman's discovery of the power of sensuality in literature; the price a family pays for freedom in a country beset by political upheaval - these and other threads are woven together in this beautiful memoir. Nafisi's intelligent and complicated mother, disappointed in her dreams of leading an important and romantic life, created mesmerising fictions about herself, her family, and her past. But her daughter soon learned that these narratives of triumph hid as much as they revealed. Nafisi's father escaped into narratives of another kind, enchanting his children with classic tales like the Shahnameh, the Persian Book of Kings. When her father began to see other women, young Azar began to keep his secrets from her mother. Nafisi's complicity in these childhood dramas ultimately led her to resist remaining silent about other personal - as well as political, cultural, and social - injustices. Reaching back in time to reflect on other generations in the Nafisi family, Things I've Been Silent About is also a powerful historical portrait of a family that spans the many periods of change leading up to the Islamic Revolution of 1978-79. It is, finally, a deeply personal reflection on women's choices, and how Azar Nafisi found the inspiration for a different kind of life. This unforgettable portrait of a woman, a family, and a troubled homeland is a stunning book that readers will embrace, a new triumph from an author who is a modern master of the memoir.

"Nei due decenni successivi alla rivoluzione di Khomeini, mentre le strade e i campus di Teheran erano teatro di violenze tremende, Azar Nafisi ha dovuto cimentarsi in un'impresa fra le piu ardue, e cioe spiegare a ragazzi e ragazze esposti in misura crescente alla catechesi islamica una delle piu temibili incarnazioni dell'Occidente: la sua letteratura. Il risultato e uno dei piu toccanti atti d'amore per la letteratura mai professati - e insieme una beffa giocata a chiunque tenti di interdirla. "

Cosas que he callado, una memoria personal en la que Azar compone un catártico retrato de una familia excepcional y, a la vez, universal. Empezando por su difícil infancia, su primer matrimonio fallido, sus encontronazos con la injusticia y el despertar de su activismo político en la República Islámica de Irán, analiza los acontecimientos y las personalidades que la llevaron a ser una mujer valiente, comprometida e insubordinada. Desde su domicilio estadounidense, Azar reflexiona sobre el poder de los silencios y chantajes sobre los que se sustentan todas las dictaduras y algunas familias, como el más perfecto de los sistemas totalitarios.

Una valiente y brillante profesora iraní reúne clandestinamente en su casa a sus alumnas para leer libros prohibidos. Un homenaje a los clásicos de la literatura mundial. Cada jueves por la mañana