Lolita...Tehran
I'm currently reading Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi, an account of her book club in Iran. Got it at the airport after sending my dearest husband (mdh) off with Sofiyya besides two Lightning Mcqueen books for the boys and a Barney book for her.
Thought it will keep me from missing mdh too much, besides it's been a long time since I read fiction. As a child I always had a fascination with Iran, thanks to the images I saw of the years under Khomeini and the war with Iraq on the news which my mum never fails to watch every night unless we were out, which was rare. I also thought Farah Diba was beautiful, courtesy of my mum too, read about her from the magazines that she bought.
As I grew up I learnt to love the architecture of Isfahan and the mysteries of Qom, ok it's actually not that mysterious I just thought the name 'Qom' was cool. I caught Iranian movies whenever one showed on TV and was always stirred by how they always stood up to the big bullies of so called freedom and democracy....
Well, back to the book....she started with an account of the goings-on in her book club and then to times of the revolution when she was a young, new professor teaching western literature in the University of Tehran during the revolution.
I never read Lolita, the thought of a young girl ripped of her innocence by a man she depended on was enough to turn me off. So when I saw Lolita and Tehran in one sentence, I thought the book would be interesting. In fact it was, Nafisi managed to strip down the characters to, may I say, concepts?, that she alluded to what was happening to Iran then.
As the characters discussed the book, slowly they started to open up to each other, revealing what they are really like. I loved the imagery of how they became the true images of themselves as they took off their chadors each time they came by her house and how some things in Iran are merely a facade to comply to the orders of the authorities.
On a personal level, I never felt I lost my identity to hijab, you can still have your own style.
Anyway, can one truly say a country is Islamic because the rules are in the constitution?
Can religious practices be enforced on people?
For now, my kids are awake unfortunately. Sigh, switch to homeschooling mode....
Thought it will keep me from missing mdh too much, besides it's been a long time since I read fiction. As a child I always had a fascination with Iran, thanks to the images I saw of the years under Khomeini and the war with Iraq on the news which my mum never fails to watch every night unless we were out, which was rare. I also thought Farah Diba was beautiful, courtesy of my mum too, read about her from the magazines that she bought.
As I grew up I learnt to love the architecture of Isfahan and the mysteries of Qom, ok it's actually not that mysterious I just thought the name 'Qom' was cool. I caught Iranian movies whenever one showed on TV and was always stirred by how they always stood up to the big bullies of so called freedom and democracy....
Well, back to the book....she started with an account of the goings-on in her book club and then to times of the revolution when she was a young, new professor teaching western literature in the University of Tehran during the revolution.
I never read Lolita, the thought of a young girl ripped of her innocence by a man she depended on was enough to turn me off. So when I saw Lolita and Tehran in one sentence, I thought the book would be interesting. In fact it was, Nafisi managed to strip down the characters to, may I say, concepts?, that she alluded to what was happening to Iran then.
As the characters discussed the book, slowly they started to open up to each other, revealing what they are really like. I loved the imagery of how they became the true images of themselves as they took off their chadors each time they came by her house and how some things in Iran are merely a facade to comply to the orders of the authorities.
On a personal level, I never felt I lost my identity to hijab, you can still have your own style.
Anyway, can one truly say a country is Islamic because the rules are in the constitution?
Can religious practices be enforced on people?
For now, my kids are awake unfortunately. Sigh, switch to homeschooling mode....
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