Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi
“Art is no longer snobbish or cowardly. It teaches peasants to use tractors, gives lyrics to young soldiers, designs textiles for factory women’s dresses, writes burlesque for factory theaters, does a hundred other useful tasks. Art is useful as bread.” (Nafisi 107)
This quote was not actually written by the author, but was quoted from a Mike Gold essay. In the book, Reading Lolita in Tehran, a group of female university students meets with a female professor to discuss great works of literature, book club style. This would seem entirely ordinary, except that the book takes place in Iran at the time of the country’s revolution in the late 70s and early 80s. The author uses this quote to bring out what purpose art, and literature, serve in their extremely conservative society. Even though I do not face anything like the oppressive challenges that these women did, it made me pause to think about what makes art essential to humanity.
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3 comments:
When I first read the quote you selected, I notice that it sounded like it was written from an older time period. However, as soon as you explained how the quote written by a woman from Iran, it also made me think about how many subjects we study everyday are thought of differently and of different value to all different places. Sounds like an interesting book!
I think this quote shows how art can be practical and for anyone: peasants, soldiers, etc. Even now, in a time where appreciation for art has grown, there still are times where art is seen (by some people) as snobbish or cowardly. Though this quote gives so many examples to different aspects of art and how useful it is.
Yea I really like this quote. I like the variation in sentence length and style- initially it is short, decisive, and clear, then goes into a longer sentence with many examples and scenes, and then ends with another short but 'full' sentence. It makes it interesting to read, and artistic itself, adding to the fact that it is describing art.
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