Editing Azar Nafisi

{{short description| Iranian-American writer and professor}}
{{infobox writer
| image            = Azar Nafisi 2015.jpg
| imagesize        = 
| alt              = 
| caption          = Nafisi at the 2015 Texas Book Festival.
| pseudonym        = 
| birth_name       = {{langx|fa|آذر نفیسی}}
| birth_date       = {{birth date and age|1948|12|1|df=y}}
| birth_place      = [[Tehran]], [[Pahlavi Iran]]
| death_date       = 
| death_place      = 
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| occupation       = Writer, professor
| language         = English
| nationality      = 
| citizenship      = American
| education        = 
| alma_mater       = [[University of Oklahoma]]
| period           = 
| genre            = 
| subject          = 
| movement         = 
| notableworks     = [[Reading Lolita in Tehran|Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books]]
| spouse(s)        = 
| partner(s)       = 
| children         = 
| relative(s)      = 
| awards           = 2004 Non-fiction Book of the Year Award ([[Booksense]]), [[The World Academy of Arts, Literature, and Media|Persian Golden Lioness Award]]
| signature        = 
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}}
'''Azar Nafisi''' ({{langx|fa|آذر نفیسی}}; born 1948)<ref group="Notes">Following eighth grade, Nafisi's parents sent her to England for schooling from 1961 to 1963. Nafisi 2010, chapter 8, pp. 69-70; chapter 13, p. 115</ref><ref name="BBC_Nafisi_2004">{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3322495.stm|work=BBC News |series=Middle East |title=Moving stories: Azar Nafisi|date=2 January 2004 |access-date=December 8, 2018}}</ref> is an [[Iranian-American]] writer and professor of [[English literature]]. Born in [[Tehran]], [[Iran]], she has resided in the United States since 1997 and became a U.S. citizen in 2008.<ref>[http://madrid.usembassy.gov/news/events/events2010/azar.html Iranian-American author lectures at the Spanish National Library] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304061745/http://madrid.usembassy.gov/news/events/events2010/azar.html |date=2016-03-04 }}</ref>

Nafisi has held several academic leadership roles, including director of the [[Johns Hopkins University]]'s [[Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies|School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)]] Dialogue Project and Cultural Conversations, a Georgetown Walsh School of Foreign Service, Centennial Fellow,<ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=2018-12-20 |title=SFS Announces 2018-2019 Centennial Fellows |url=https://sfs.georgetown.edu/sfs-announces-2018-2019-centennial-fellows-1/ |access-date=2025-03-16 |website=SFS - School of Foreign Service - Georgetown University |language=en-US}}</ref> and a fellow at Oxford University.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=About Azar |url=https://www.azarnafisi.com/about-azar |access-date=2022-03-03 |website=Azar Nafisi |language=en-US}}</ref>

She is the niece of a famous Iranian scholar, fiction writer and poet [[Saeed Nafisi]]. Azar Nafisi is best known for her 2003 book ''[[Reading Lolita in Tehran|Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books]]'', which remained on [[The New York Times Best Seller list|''The New York Times'' Best Seller list]] for 117 weeks, and has won several literary awards, including the 2004 Non-fiction Book of the Year Award from [[Booksense]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.barclayagency.com/nafisi.html|title=StevenBarclayAgency|website=Barclayagency.com|access-date=2017-01-18|archive-date=2015-03-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150329062616/http://barclayagency.com/nafisi.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://opa.yale.edu/news/article.aspx?id=2309|title=Yale University Office of Public Affairs|website=Opa.yale.edu|access-date=5 January 2019}}</ref>

In addition to ''Reading Lolita in Tehran,'' Nafisi has authored, ''Things I've Been Silent About: Memories of a Prodigal Daughter,''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ccragg123.libsyn.com/azar-nafisi-talking-of-lolita-things-i-ve-been-silent-about-and-the-sarah-palins-hilary-clintons-of-iran-|title=Chatting Up A Storm with Claudia Cragg : Azar Nafisi --Talking of 'Lolita', 'Things I've Been Silent About' and the "Sarah Palins/Hilary Clintons of Iran..."|website=Ccragg123.libsyn.com|access-date=2017-01-18}}</ref> ''The Republic of Imagination: America in Three Books''<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Republic of Imagination Classics – Penguin Classics – Because what you read matters. – Penguin Group (USA)|url=https://www.penguin.com/static/pages/classics/therepublicofimagination.php|access-date=2021-12-07|website=www.penguin.com}}</ref> and ''That Other World: Nabokov and the Puzzle of Exile.''<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=That Other World {{!}} Yale University Press|url=https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300158830/other-world|access-date=2021-12-07|website=yalebooks.yale.edu}}</ref> Her newest book, ''Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times'' was published March 8, 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Read Dangerously |url=https://www.harpercollins.com/products/read-dangerously-azar-nafisi |access-date=2022-03-03 |website=HarperCollins |language=en}}</ref>

In 2024, ''Reading Lolita in Tehran'' was adapted into a film by director Eran Riklis. Golshifteh Farahani, one of the most well-known Iranian actresses, plays Nafisi in the film. Other cast members include Zar Amir Ebrahimi, and Mina Kavani.

==Early life and education==
Nafisi was born in Tehran, Iran. She is the daughter of [[Nezhat Nafisi|Nezhat]] and [[Ahmad Nafisi]], the former mayor of Tehran from 1961 to 1963. He was the youngest man ever appointed to the post at that time.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.pbs.org/weta/finding-your-roots/blog/azar-nafisis-interactive-family-tree/|title=Azar Nafisi's Interactive Family Tree {{!}} Finding Your Roots {{!}} PBS|newspaper=Finding Your Roots|language=en-US|access-date=2017-01-18}}</ref> In 1963, her mother was a member of the first group of women elected to the [[Islamic Consultative Assembly|National Consultative Assembly.]]<ref>{{Citation |title=Nezhat Nafisi |date=2022-02-04 |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nezhat_Nafisi&oldid=1069888617 |work=Wikipedia |language=en |access-date=2022-03-03}}</ref>

Nafisi was raised in Tehran, but when she was thirteen, she moved to Lancaster, England, to finish her studies. She then moved to Switzerland before returning to Iran briefly in 1963. She completed her degree in English and American literature and received her Ph.D. from the [[University of Oklahoma]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/164018|title=Voices from the Gaps|website=Conservancy.umn.edu|hdl=11299/164018 |access-date=5 January 2019}}</ref>

Nafisi returned to Iran in 1979, after the [[Iranian Revolution]] and taught English literature at the University of Tehran.<ref name="news.bbc.co.uk">{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3322495.stm|title=BBC NEWS {{!}} Middle East {{!}} Moving stories: Azar Nafisi|website=News.bbc.co.uk|date=2 January 2004|access-date=2017-02-09}}</ref> In 1981, she was expelled from the university for refusing to wear the mandatory Islamic veil.<ref name="Reading Lolita in Tehran">{{Cite web |date=2014-08-08 |title=Reading Lolita in Tehran |url=https://www.aft.org/periodical/american-educator/fall-2003/reading-lolita-tehran |access-date=2022-03-05 |website=American Federation of Teachers |language=en}}</ref> Years later, during a period of liberalization, she began teaching at [[Allameh Tabataba'i University|Allameh Tabataba'I University]]. In 1995, Nafisi sought to resign from her position, but the university did not accept her resignation. After repeatedly not going to work, they eventually expelled her, but refused her ability to resign.<ref name="Reading Lolita in Tehran"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=About Azar |url=https://www.azarnafisi.com/about-azar |access-date=2022-03-05 |website=Azar Nafisi |language=en-US}}</ref>

From 1995 to 1997, Nafisi invited several female students to attend regular meetings at her house every Thursday morning. They discussed their place as women within post-revolutionary Iranian society. They studied literary works, including some considered "controversial" by the regime, such as ''[[Lolita]]'' alongside other works such as ''[[Madame Bovary]]''. She also taught novels by [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]], [[Henry James]] and [[Jane Austen]], attempting to understand and interpret them from a modern Iranian perspective.<ref name="Atlantic">{{cite web|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/05/the-fiction-of-life/303089/|title=The Fiction of Life|first=Elizabeth|last=Wasserman|date=7 May 2003|website=The Atlantic|access-date=5 January 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite AV media|url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thesundayedition/the-sunday-edition-december-30-2018-1.4462999|title=The Sunday Edition – December 30, 2018|date=December 30, 2018|last=Enright|first=Michael|type=Radio interview|language=English|publisher=CBC|orig-year=2003|minutes=|time=1:27:00|quote= }}</ref>

After staying in Iran for 18 years after the Revolution, Nafisi returned to the United States of America on June 24, 1997, and continues to reside there today.

==Literary and academic work==
{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?176400-1/reading-lolita-tehran ''Booknotes'' interview with Nafisi on ''Reading Lolita in Tehran'', June 8, 2003], [[C-SPAN]]| video2 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?183113-1/reading-lolita-tehran Presentation by Nafisi on ''Reading Lolita in Tehran'', August 3, 2004], [[C-SPAN]]| video4 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?322794-10/the-republic-imagination-plato-googleplex Presentation by Nafisi on ''The Republic of Imagination'', November 23, 2014], [[C-SPAN]] |video3 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?284133-1/after-words-azar-nafisi ''After Words'' interview with Nafisi on ''Things I've Been Silent About'', February 28, 2009], [[C-SPAN]]}}
In addition to her books, Nafisi has written for ''[https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/14/books/review/surveillance-states.html The New York Times], [https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/14/azar-nafisi-book-bans-dangerous-warning-totalitarianism/ The Washington Post], [[The Guardian]], and The Wall Street Journal''.  Her cover story, "The Veiled Threat: The Iranian Revolution's Woman Problem," published in The New Republic (February 22, 1999) has been reprinted in several languages. She also wrote the new introduction to the Modern Library Classics edition of Tolstoy's Hadji Murad,<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Tolstoy |first1=Leo |url=https://www.amazon.com/Hadji-Murad-Modern-Library-Classics-ebook/dp/B003V4BP5G |title=Hadji Murad |last2=Nafisi |first2=Azar |date=2010-07-09 |publisher=Modern Library |edition=1st |language=English |translator-last=Maude |translator-first=Alymer}}</ref> as well as the introduction to Iraj Pezeshkzad's My Uncle Napoleon, published by Modern Library (April 2006).<ref>{{Cite web |title=My Uncle Napoleon by Iraj Pezeshkzad: 9780812974430 {{!}} PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/130343/my-uncle-napoleon-by-iraj-pezeshkzad/ |access-date=2022-03-05 |website=PenguinRandomhouse.com |language=en-US}}</ref>  She has published a children's book (with illustrator Sophie Benini Pietromarchi) BiBi and the Green Voice (translated into Italian, as BiBi e la voce verde, and Hebrew).

She served as director of the [[Johns Hopkins University]]'s [[Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies|School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS)]] Dialogue Project and Cultural Conversations, a Georgetown Walsh School of Foreign Service Centennial Fellow, and a fellow at Oxford University.<ref name=":0" />

In 2003, Nafisi published [[Reading Lolita in Tehran|'' Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books'']]. The book describes her experiences as a secular woman living and working in the [[Islamic Republic of Iran]] right after the Revolution. In 2008, Nafisi authored a memoir about her mother titled ''Things I've Been Silent About: Memories of a Prodigal Daughter.''

On October 21, 2014, Nafisi authored ''The Republic of Imagination: America in Three Books'',<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Republic of Imagination: America in Three Books|last=Nafisi|first=Azar|date=2014-10-21|publisher=The Viking Press|isbn=9780670026067|edition=1st|language=English}}</ref> in which using ''[[The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]'', ''[[Babbitt (novel)|Babbitt]]'', and ''[[The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter]]'', as well as the writings of [[James Baldwin]] and many others, Nafisi responds to an Iranian reader that questioned whether Americans care about or need their literature.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.penguin.com/book/the-republic-of-imagination-by-azar-nafisi/9780670026067 |title=The Republic of Imagination |access-date=2014-11-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924113945/http://www.penguin.com/book/the-republic-of-imagination-by-azar-nafisi/9780670026067 |archive-date=2015-09-24 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

In 2019, the English translation of ''That Other World: Nabokov and the Puzzle of Exile'' was published by Yale University Press.<ref name=":1" /> Nafisi's forthcoming book, ''Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times'' was published on March 8, 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Read Dangerously |url=https://www.harpercollins.com/products/read-dangerously-azar-nafisi |access-date=2022-03-05 |website=HarperCollins |language=en}}</ref>

Nafisi has lectured and written extensively in English and Persian on the political implications of literature and culture. She often writes about totalitarian tendencies in both Iran and the U.S. She has been consulted on issues related to Iran and human rights by policymakers and various national and international human rights organizations.

She has won numerous awards for her writing and ideas. In 2011, she was awarded the Cristóbal Gabarrón Foundation International Thought and Humanities Award for her "determined and courageous defense of human values in Iran and her efforts to create awareness through literature about the situation women face in Islamic society".<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Gabarron. 30th Anniversary > Awards > Awards > Awards 2011 > Winners > Thought and Humanities |url=https://gabarron.org/Awards/Awards/Awards-2011/Winners/Thought-and-Humanities |access-date=2022-03-05 |website=gabarron.org}}</ref>

She also received the 2015 Benjamin Franklin Creativity Laureate Award.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Author Azar Nafisi Receives the 2015 Benjamin Franklin Creativity Laureate Award at Smithsonian Associates Event |url=https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/releases/author-azar-nafisi-receives-2015-benjamin-franklin-creativity-laureate-award-smithsonian-as |access-date=2022-03-05 |website=Smithsonian Institution |language=en}}</ref> 

== Critical response ==
Nafisi's books have received critical acclaim from authors, publishing houses, and newspapers.

'''Reading Lolita in Tehran (2003)'''

Michiko Kakutani described ''Reading Lolita in Tehran'' in ''The New York Times'' Book Review as "resonant and deeply affecting… an eloquent brief on the transformative powers of fiction-- on the refuge from ideology that art can offer to those living under tyranny, and art's affirmative and subversive faith in the voice of the individual".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kakutani |first=Michiko |date=2003-04-15 |title=Books of the Times; Book Study as Insubordination Under the Mullahs |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/15/books/books-of-the-times-book-study-as-insubordination-under-the-mullahs.html |access-date=2022-03-05 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Stephen Lyons for USA Today called the book "an inspiring account of an insatiable desire for intellectual freedom in Iran",<ref>{{Cite web |title=USATODAY.com – 'Lolita in Tehran' lifts a veil on oppression |url=https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/books/reviews/2003-05-07-lolita_x.htm |access-date=2022-03-05 |website=usatoday30.usatoday.com}}</ref> and Publishers Weekly said of ''Reading Lolita,'' "This book transcends categorization as memoir, literary criticism or social history, though it is superb as all three."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nonfiction Book Review: Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi, Author. Random $23.95 (368p) ISBN 978-0-375-50490-7 |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-375-50490-7 |access-date=2022-03-05 |website=PublishersWeekly.com |language=en}}</ref> Kirkus Reviews called ''Reading Lolita,'' "A spirited tribute both to the classics of world literature and to resistance against oppression."<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/azar-nafisi/reading-lolita-in-tehran/ |title=Reading Lolita in Tehran |magazine=Kirkus Reviews |language=en}}</ref>

Margaret Atwood, author of ''The Handmaids Tale,'' reviewed Nafisi's book for the Literary Review of Canada, stating that, "''Reading Lolita in Tehran'' is both a fascinating account of how she arrived at this belief and a stunning dismissal of it. All readers should read it. As for writers, it reminds us, with great eloquence, that our words may travel farther and say more than we could ever guess when we wrote them."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Atwood |first=Margaret |title=The Book Lover's Tale |url=https://reviewcanada.ca/magazine/2003/09/the-book-lovers-tale/ |access-date=2022-03-05 |website=Literary Review of Canada |date=September 2003 |language=en-US}}</ref>

'''Things I've Been Silent About (2008)'''

After reviewing ''Things I've Been Silent About, The New York Times'' Book Review called Nafisi "a gifted storyteller with a mastery of Western literature, Nafisi knows how to use the language both to settle scores and to seduce".<ref>{{Cite news |last=Sciolino |first=Elaine |date=2009-01-02 |title=Reading Mom and Dad in Tehran |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/books/review/Sciolino-t.html |access-date=2022-03-05 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Kirkus Reviews called the book "an immensely rewarding and beautifully written act of courage, by turns amusing, tender and obsessively dogged".<ref>{{Cite magazine |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/azar-nafisi/things-ive-been-silent-about/?page=2 |title=Things I've Been Silent Abpit |magazine=Kirkus Reviews |language=en}}</ref>

'''The Republic of Imagination: America in Three Books (2014)'''

Iranian French novelist Marjane Satrapi's review of ''The Republic of Imagination'', says, "We are all citizens of Azar Nafisi's Republic of Imagination. Without imagination, there are no dreams; without dreams, there is no art; without art, there is nothing. Her words are essential."<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=The Republic of Imagination by Azar Nafisi: 9780143127789 {{!}} PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books |url=https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/311272/the-republic-of-imagination-by-azar-nafisi/ |access-date=2022-03-05 |website=PenguinRandomhouse.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

Kirkus Reviews said the book is "a passionate argument for returning to key American novels to foster creativity and engagement… Literature writes Nafisi, is deliciously subversive because it fires the imagination and challenges the status quo… Her literary exegesis lightly moves through her experience as a student, teacher, friend, and new citizen. Touching on myriad examples, from L. Frank Baum to James Baldwin, her work is poignant and informative."<ref name=":2" />

[[Jane Smiley]] wrote in [[The Washington Post]] that Nafisi  "finds the essence of the American experience, filtered through narratives not about exceptionalism or fabulous success, but alienation, solitude and landscape".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/a-celebration-of-american-reading-from-the-author-of-reading-lolita-in-tehran/2014/10/20/f1f6765e-4fdf-11e4-babe-e91da079cb8a_story.html|title=A celebration of American fiction from the author of 'Reading Lolita in Tehran'|last1=Smiley|first1=Jane|date=2014-10-20|last2=Smiley|first2=Jane|newspaper=The Washington Post|language=en-US|issn=0190-8286|access-date=2017-01-18}}</ref> Laura Miller of [[Salon (website)|Salon]] wrote that "No one writes better or more stirringly about the way books shape a reader's identity, and about the way that talking books with good friends becomes integral to how we understand the books, our friends and ourselves.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.salon.com/2014/10/19/why_this_iranian_born_writer_fears_for_americas_soul/|title=Why this Iranian-born writer fears for America's soul|last=Miller|first=Laura|website=Salon|date=20 October 2014|access-date=2017-01-18}}</ref>

She appeared on ''[[Late Night with Seth Meyers]]'',<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nbc.com/late-night-with-seth-meyers/video/author-azar-nafisi-interview-part-1/2819356 |title=Author Azar Nafisi Interview, Part 1 &#124; Video &#124; Late Night with Seth Meyers &#124; NBC |access-date=2014-11-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150529213442/http://www.nbc.com/late-night-with-seth-meyers/video/author-azar-nafisi-interview-part-1/2819356 |archive-date=2015-05-29 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hulu.com/watch/700217|title=Late Night With Seth Meyers|website=Hulu|access-date=2017-01-18}}</ref> and [[PBS NewsHour]]<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/azar-nafisi-views-american-society-literature-republic-imagination/|title=Azar Nafisi views American society through its literature in 'Republic of Imagination'|newspaper=PBS NewsHour|language=en-US|access-date=2017-01-18}}</ref> to promote the book.

'''That Other World: Nabokov and the Puzzle of Exile (2019)'''

American literary critic Gary Saul Morson described ''That Other World'' as "somewhere between a first-person encounter with literature and a critical study; this book reminds us of how meaningful literature can be".

''' Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times (2022)'''

Publishers Weekly authored a starred review of Nafisi's forthcoming ''Read Dangerously,'' calling it a "stunning look at the power of reading" and characterizing Nafisi's prose as "razor-sharp".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nonfiction Book Review: Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times by Azar Nafisi. Dey Street, $26.99 (240p) ISBN 978-0-06294-736-9 |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-06294-736-9 |access-date=2022-03-05 |website=PublishersWeekly.com |language=en}}</ref> ''The Progressive Magazine'' printed that ''Read Dangerously'' lives up to its audacious title, demonstrating the subversive and transformative power of literature. It should start many a book-based conversation among the living and the dead."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lueders |first=Bill |date=2022-03-02 |title=A Life Well Read |url=https://progressive.org/api/content/09810428-9a4d-11ec-898c-12f1225286c6/ |access-date=2022-03-05 |website=Progressive.org |language=en-us}}</ref>

''' Reading Lolita in Tehran, Film (2024)'''

''The Atlantic'' said in a January 2025 review, that the "film and book avoid didacticism. And in doing so, they demonstrate exactly the point Nafisi explores with her students, which is the power of literature to stir empathy across seemingly unbridgeable divides."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Azizi |first=Arash |date=2025-01-26 |title=Why ‘Reading Lolita in Tehran’ Holds Up |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2025/01/azar-nafisi-film-reading-lolita-tehran/681465/ |access-date=2025-03-16 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}</ref> ''Variety'' described the film as  "a respectable, aptly rebellious and deeply feminine exercise." 

===Political influences===

In a 2003 article for ''The Guardian'', [[Brian Whitaker]] criticized Nafisi for working for the public relations firm [[Benador Associates]] which he argued promoted the neo-conservative ideas of  "[[creative destruction]]" and "[[total war]]".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2003/feb/24/worlddispatch.usa|title=Conflict and catchphrases|last=Whitaker|first=Brian|date=2003-02-24|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=2017-01-18|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

In 2004, [[Christopher Hitchens]] wrote that Nafisi had dedicated ''Reading Lolita in Tehran'' to [[Paul Wolfowitz]], the [[United States Deputy Secretary of Defense]] under [[George W. Bush]] and a principal architect of the [[Bush Doctrine]]. Hitchens had stated that Nafisi was good friends with Wolfowitz and several other key figures in the Bush administration. Nafisi later responded to Hitchen's comments, neither confirming nor denying the claim.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2004/10/azar_nafisi_rep.html |title=Azar Nafisi replies to Hitchens et. al. |author=Doug Ireland |date=14 October 2004 |access-date=15 September 2013}}</ref>

In a critical article in the academic journal ''Comparative American Studies'', titled "Reading Azar Nafisi in Tehran", [[University of Tehran]] literature professor [[Seyed Mohammad Marandi]] states that "Nafisi constantly confirms what orientalist representations have regularly claimed". He also claimed that she "has produced gross misrepresentations of Iranian society and Islam and that she uses quotes and references which are inaccurate, misleading, or even wholly invented."<ref>{{cite journal |title=Reading Azar Nafisi in Tehran |author=Seyed Mohammed Marandi |journal=Comparative American Studies |volume=6 |date=2008 |issue=2 |pages=179–189 |doi=10.1179/147757008x280768|s2cid=170912855 }}</ref>

John Carlos Rowe, Professor of the Humanities at the [[University of Southern California]], states that: "Azar Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books (2003) is an excellent example of how neo-liberal rhetoric is now being deployed by neo-conservatives and the importance they have placed on cultural issues."<ref>John Carlos Rowe, "[http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/p/pod/dod-idx/cultural-politics-of-the-new-american-studies.pdf?c=ohp;idno=10945585.0001.001 Cultural Politics of the New American Studies]", Open Humanities Press, University of Michigan Library, 2012, p.132</ref> He also states that Nafisi is "amenable.. to serving as a non-Western representative of a renewed defense of Western civilization and its liberal promise, regardless of its historical failures to realize those ends."<ref>Rowe 2012, 141.</ref>

===Hamid Dabashi: criticisms and counter-criticisms===
In 2006, [[Columbia University]] professor [[Hamid Dabashi]], in an essay published in the Cairo-based, English-language paper ''Al-Ahram'' (Dabashi's criticism of Nafisi became a cover story for an edition of the [[Chronicle of Higher Education]])<ref>[http://chronicle.com/article/A-Collision-of-Prose-and/36204 A Collision of Prose and Politics] by Richard Byrne, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 13, 2006.</ref> compared ''Reading Lolita in Tehran'' to  "the most pestiferous [[Indophobia#Among nineteenth-century colonialists|colonial projects of the British in India]]", and asserted that Nafisi functions as a "native informer and colonial agent" whose writing has cleared the way for an upcoming exercise of military intervention on the Middle East. He also labeled Nafisi as a "[[comprador]] intellectual," a comparison to the "treasonous" Chinese employees of mainland British firms, who sold out their country for commercial gain and imperial grace. In an interview [[Z Communications|Z magazine]], he classed Nafisi with the U.S. soldier convicted of [[Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse|mistreating prisoners at Abu Ghraib]]: "To me, there is no difference between [[Lynndie England]] and Azar Nafisi."<ref name="Dabashi">{{cite web |url=http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/columnists/story.html?id=9837485b-aef9-49aa-b04d-8c73c804862e |title=Reading Lolita at Columbia |website=www.canada.com |access-date=15 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070208123557/http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/columnists/story.html?id=9837485b-aef9-49aa-b04d-8c73c804862e |archive-date=8 February 2007 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://archive.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/10/23/women_and_islam/|title=Women and Islam|first=Cathy|last=Young|access-date=5 January 2019|newspaper=[[The Boston Globe]]}}</ref> Finally, Dabashi stated that the book's cover image (which appears to be two veiled teenage women reading Lolita in Tehran) is in fact, in a reference to the [[September 11 attacks]], "Orientalised pedophilia" designed to appeal to "the most deranged Oriental fantasies of a nation already petrified out of its wits by a ferocious war waged against the phantasmagoric Arab/Muslim male potency that has just castrated the two totem poles of U.S. empire in New York."<ref name=Gideon/>

Critics like Dabashi have accused Nafisi of having close relations with [[neoconservatives]]. Nafisi responded to Dabashi's criticism by stating that she is not, as Dabashi claims, a neoconservative, that she opposed the Iraq war, and that she is more interested in literature than politics. In an interview, Nafisi stated that she has never argued for an attack on Iran and that democracy, when it comes, should come from the Iranian people (and not from US military or political intervention). She added that while she is willing to engage in "serious argument...The polarized debate isn't worth my time." She said she did not respond directly to Dabashi because "You don't want to debase yourself and start calling names."<ref name=bookclubbed/><ref name=Fulford>[http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/columnists/story.html?id=9837485b-aef9-49aa-b04d-8c73c804862e Reading Lolita at Columbia] by Robert Fulford, National Post, November 6, 2006 (retrieved on October 21, 2009).</ref> In the acknowledgements she makes in ''Reading Lolita in Tehran'', Nafisi writes of [[Princeton University]] historian [[Bernard Lewis]] as ''"one who opened the door"''.  Nafisi, who opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, rejects such accusations as "guilt by association", noting that she has both "radical friends" and "conservative friends."<ref>[http://chronicle.com/free/v53/i08/08a01201.htm A Collision of Prose and Politics] by Richard Byrne, ''[[The Chronicle of Higher Education]]'', October 13, 2006.</ref> Ali Banuazizi, the co-director of [[Boston College]]’s Middle East studies program,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bc.edu/schools/cas/polisci/facstaff/banuazizi.html |title=Ali Banuazizi |date=nd |work=[[Boston College]]}}</ref> stated that Dabashi's article was very "intemperate" and that it was "not worth the attention" it had received.{{Citation needed|date=October 2017}} Christopher Shea of ''[[The Boston Globe]]'' argued that while Dabashi spent "several thousand words... eviscerating the book," his main point was not about the specific text but the book's black-and-white portrayal of Iran.<ref name=bookclubbed>[http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2006/10/29/book_clubbed/?page=2 Book clubbed] by Christopher Shea, The Boston Globe, October 29, 2006 (retrieved on October 21, 2009).</ref>

Writing in ''[[The New Republic]]'', [[Marty Peretz]] sharply criticized Dabashi, and rhetorically asked, "Over what kind of faculty does [Columbia University president] [[Lee Bollinger]] preside?"<ref name=bookclubbed/> In an article posted on Slate.com, author Gideon Lewis-Kraus described Dabashi's article as "a less-than-coherent [[pastiche]] of stock anti-war sentiment, strategic misreading, and childish [[calumny]]" and that Dabashi "insists on seeing [the book] as political perfidy" which allows him "to preserve his fantasy that criticizing Nafisi makes him a usefully engaged intellectual."<ref name=Gideon>[http://www.slate.com/id/2154700/ Pawn of the Neocons?] by Gideon Lewis-Kraus, Slate.com, November 30, 2006 (retrieved on October 21, 2009).</ref> [[Robert Fulford (journalist)|Robert Fulford]] sharply criticized Dabashi's comments in the ''[[National Post]]'', arguing that "Dabashi's frame of reference veers from [[Joseph Stalin]] to [[Edward Said]]. Like a Stalinist, he tries to convert culture into politics, the first step toward [[totalitarianism]]. Like the late Edward Said, he brands every thought he dislikes as an example of imperialism, expressing the West's desire for hegemony over the oppressed (even when oil-rich) nations of the Third World." Fulford added that "While imitating the attitudes of Said, Dabashi deploys painful [[clichés]]."<ref name=bookclubbed/><ref name="Fulford"/> Firoozeh Papan-Matin, the Director of Persian and Iranian Studies at the [[University of Washington]] in Seattle,<ref>http://depts.washington.edu/complit/people/faculty/papan/ {{Dead link|date=February 2022}}</ref> stated that Dabashi's accusation that Nafisi is promoting a "'kaffeeklatsch' worldview... callously ignores the extreme social and political conditions that forced Nafisi underground." Papan Matin also argued that "Dabashi's attack is that whether Nafisi is a collaborator with the [United States]" was not relevant to the legitimate questions outlined in her book.<ref>[http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1190886485566&pagename=Zone-English-Muslim_Affairs%2FMAELayout Reading & Misreading Lolita in Tehran] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100919084846/http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1190886485566&pagename=Zone-English-Muslim_Affairs%2FMAELayout |date=September 19, 2010 }} by Dr. Firoozeh Papan-Matin, IslamOnline, 2007.</ref>

==Achievements and Awards==
Nafisi has received multiple honorary degrees and numerous awards. 

'''Honorary Degrees''' 
* Salve Regina University (2023)
* Susquehanna University (2019) 
* Pomona College (2015)
* Mount Holyoke College (2012)
* Seton Hill University (2010)
* Goucher College (2009)
* Bard College (2007)
* Rochester University (2005)
* Nazareth College (2005)

'''Selected Awards'''

* Pell Center Prize for Story in the Public Square (2023) 
* Matilde Serão Award Recipient (2018)
* Benjamin Franklin Creativity Laureate Award (2015)
* Carnegie Corporation of New York, 2015 Distinguished Immigrants List (2015)
* Cristóbal Gabarrón Foundation International Thought and Humanities Award (2011)
* The Don and Arvonne Fraser Human Rights Award (2010)
* The Elizabeth Ann Seton Woman of Courage Award  (2010)
* Distinguished Alumnus Award, University of Oklahoma (2001)
 
'''Literary Awards'''

* Taobuk Award for Literary Excellence (Taormina, Italy) (2023) 
* The Times (London), “100 Best Books of the Decade” for Reading Lolita in Tehran (2009)
* Persian Golden Lioness Award for literature, presented by the World Academy of Arts, Literature, and Media (2006) 
* Frederic W. Ness Book Award (2005)
* The Book Standard Bestsellers Award (2005)
* Grand Prix des Lectrices d’ Elle (2005)
* Achievement award from the American Immigration Law Foundation (2005)
* Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger (2004)
* Non-fiction Book of the Year Award from Booksense (2004)
* Latifeh Yarsheter Book Award (2004)
* Encyclopaedia Iranica Award for Literature (2004)

==Works==
* Nafisi, Azar. "Images of Women in Classical Persian Literature and the Contemporary Iranian Novel." ''The Eye of the Storm: Women in Post-Revolutionary Iran.'' Ed. [[Mahnaz Afkhami]] and Erika Friedl. New York: Syracuse University Press, 1994. 115–30.
* ''Anti-Terra: A Critical Study of Vladimir Nabokov’s Novels'' (1994).
* Nafisi, Azar. "Imagination as Subversion: Narrative as a Tool of Civic Awareness." ''Muslim Women and the Politics of Participation.'' Ed. Mahnaz Afkhami and Erika Friedl. New York: Syracuse University Press, 1997. 58–71.''
* "Tales of Subversion: Women Challenging Fundamentalism in the Islamic Republic of Iran."  ''Religious Fundamentalisms and the Human Rights of Women'' (1999).
* ''[[Reading Lolita in Tehran]]'' (2003). 
* ''Things I've Been Silent About'' (Random House, 2008).
* ''The Republic of Imagination'' (Random House, 2014).
* "Foreword," ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (Penguin Classics, 2014).
* ''That Other World: Nabokov and the Puzzle of Exile'' (Yale University Press, 2019). Translated from Persian by Lotfali Khonji.<ref>{{cite web |title=That Other World: Nabokov and the Puzzle of Exile |url=https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300158830/other-world |website=Yale University Press}}</ref>
* "Foreword", ''Shahnameh'' (Penguin Random House, Dick Davis, 2016)
* Afterword to Sinclair Lewis's ''Babbitt'' (Signet Classics, 2015)
* ''Read Dangerously: The Subversive Power of Literature in Troubled Times'' (Dey Street Books, 2022)

==Notes==
{{reflist|group="Notes"}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* Nafisi, Azar. 2010 (2008). ''Things I've been silent about''. Random House Trade Paperbacks. (Originally published 2008)

==External links==
{{Library resources box|about=no|by=yes}}{{commons category|Azar Nafisi}}
{{Wikiquote|Azar Nafisi}}
*[http://www.azarnafisi.com Official Website]
*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/2009/03/000000_forum.shtml Azar Nafisi on The Forum]
*[http://www.randomhouse.com/author/results.pperl?authorid=21752&view=full_sptlght Random House author biography]
*{{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090423074443/http://www.nypl.org/research/chss/pep/pepdesc.cfm?id=3920 |date=April 23, 2009 |title=Samantha Power in conversation with Azar Nafisi }} at LIVE from the New York Public Library, February 21, 2008
*[https://www.theguardian.com/iran/story/0,,1808980,00.html Lust for life] by Azar Nafisi, ''[[The Guardian]]'', July 1, 2006.	
*[https://www.loc.gov/today/cyberlc/feature_wdesc.php?rec=3617 Azar Nafisi speaks at the National Book Festival in 2004]
*[http://www.dailytargum.com/2.4985/breaking-barriers-in-books-1.1504134 Breaking barriers in books]{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} 
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20050408094052/http://casweb.ou.edu/home/news/video_gallery/video_20010223.html Azar Nafisi speaks on Crossing the Borders: Western Fictions and Iranian Realities]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060613195835/http://dialogueproject.sais-jhu.edu/anafisi.php?SMSESSION=NO Nafisi's Dialogue Project] 
*[http://www.identitytheory.com/interviews/birnbaum139.php Azar Nafisi] by Robert Birnbaum, [[Identity Theory (webzine)|''Identity Theory'']], February 5, 2004.
*[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60490-2004Jul18.html Sorry, Wrong Chador] by Karl Vick, ''[[The Washington Post]]'', July 19, 2004; Page C01.
*[https://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/transcript_nafisi.html Transcript of Nafisi's interview with David Brancaccio on PBS's Now]
*{{in lang|fa}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20060813113745/http://www2.dw-world.de/persian/kultur/1.104827.1.html DW-WORLD.DE on Azar Nafisi]
* [http://bigthink.com/topics/the-middle-east/ideas/azar-nafisi-what-are-the-biggest-misconceptions-of-the-muslim-woman Nafasi on how the world misperceives Muslim women], in conversation with Big Think.
*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/documentaries/2009/04/090427_theforum_260409.shtml Audio: Azar Nafisi in conversation on the BBC World Service discussion show] [[The Forum (BBC World Service)|''The Forum'']]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100919211231/http://jacobinmag.com/archive/issue1/nafisi.html "Native Informer" – Jacobin interview] 
*{{C-SPAN|53442}}
*[http://upcoming4.me/news/book-news/review-the-republic-of-imagination-by-azar-nafisi REVIEW : The Republic of Imagination]

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[[Category:1955 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Iranian expatriate academics]]
[[Category:Iranian women writers]]
[[Category:Iranian literary critics]]
[[Category:Iranian emigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:Literary critics of English]]
[[Category:Johns Hopkins University faculty]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Tehran]]
[[Category:University of Oklahoma alumni]]
[[Category:American writers of Iranian descent]]
[[Category:Iranian women literary critics]]
[[Category:American women literary critics]]
[[Category:Academics from Tehran]]