Azar Nafisi, author of Reading Lolita in Tehran writes, in the guise of letters to her late father from the time of the 2019 protests in Iran to the killing of George Floyd, a guide to literature for troubled times--both in Iran and in an increasingly authoritarian USA.
She says: "We in this country have lost the art of engaging with the opposite. This is where reading dangerously comes in...it teaches us how to deal with the enemy . . .Knowing your enemy involves discovering yourself . . .It depends upon us being made to think, and rethink, assess, and reassess our own positions, face both the enemies outside of us and the ones within."
In other words, this sort of reading (James Baldwin, Margaret Atwood, Salman Rushdie, Plato, Ray Bradbury, Toni Morrison, Zora Neale Hurston, Ta-Nehisi Coates to name most of them) this sort of reading may well take one out of one's comfort zone and introduce one to the harsh realities of other lives. One may even become "woke" by which I mean, aware of and empathetic to the suffering of others.
It's uncomfortable reading that matters. When we decline to step out of our comfort zone, we stop growing and learning. (Which is not to say there's anything wrong with comfort reads--but an exclusive diet of them is like a diet based on sugar and chocolate.)
This book is an excellent guide to the sort of books that get banned--not because they are pornographic but because they make people in power uncomfortable.
Nafisi's experiences in Iran and later in Trump's America make for a compelling narrative and offer a hard one wisdom.
"Isn't this what great literature does, drawing upon our shared humanity while also pointing out our differences?"
3 comments:
Jenny enjoys the sun the way a cat does. Where do the cats go for sunning?
You're certainly right about the wisdom of reading outside our comfort zones. When I hear about a situation I'm not familiar with, my first impulse is to read as much about it as I can. I'm appalled that book banning is in full swing in some states, especially Florida. But it's heartening to read and hear about citizens, especially parents with kids in school, who are rebelling. They want their children to get a complete education and to be able to read books by Mark Twain and Toni Morrison and other great writers.
The kittehs work on their tans atop a chest in the bedroom or in an upstairs window.
Such an important force...having opposite opinions on any situation, and diving into the backgrounds of it. It's unfortunately human nature not to consider many wrongs until there's a crisis...for instance Black Lives Matter. But promoting the right and good of humanity just doesn't sell products on national broadcasts. So literature must do it!
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