Azar Nafisi‘s first book, Reading Lolita in Tehran, chronicles an underground book club reading Western Classics under the oppressive Islamic government of Tehran (it subsequently became a favorite book-club book State-side as it climbed The New York Times Bestseller List). Things I’ve Been Silent About, her second book, examines her family life, particularly her mother’s hysteria. An exclusive excerpt is available from the Daily Beast, as well as an exquisite review from The New York Times. Regardless (or perhaps because) of her fame, Nafisi’s work has been questioned by other scholars who say her narrative of “white men saving brown women from brown men” serves to demonize Islam for behest of American colonial interest. Certainly, the political implications of her personal memoirs are wide and questionable. It is difficult to measure, though, who “owns” Iranian, or more generally, brown, narrative. Is Nafisi’s perspective as valid as her more radical compatriots, though it colludes with American global interests?
Things I’ve Been Silent About
M. Rebekah Otto
M. Rebekah Otto lives in Berkeley, CA. She grew up in Chicago. Her current interests include her new nine-to-five, vintage wallpaper, and Evan S. Connell. Also, she's the former Books Editor of the Rumpus.