“A novel is not an allegory...it is a sensual experience of another world. If you don't enter that world, hold your breath… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
If I turned towards books, it was because they were the only sanctuary I knew, one I needed in order to survive,… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“Such an act [testifying for an accused prison guard of the Shah's regime] can only be accomplished by someone who is engrossed… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
It is only through literature that one can put oneself in someone else’s shoes and understand the other’s different and contradictory sides… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“That first day I asked my students what they thought fiction should accomplish, why one should bother to read fiction at all.… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
A bad author can take the most moral issue and make you want to just never, ever think about that moral issue. — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“The class went all right, and the ones after became easier. I was enthusiastic, naive and idealistic, and I was in love… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
I finally returned to Iran in 1979, when I got my degree in English and American literature, and stayed for 18 years… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
The best work of literature to represent the American Dream is 'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It shows us how… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
We do not read in order to turn great works of fiction into simplistic replicas of our own realities, we read for… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“I told them this novel was an American classic, in many ways the quintessential American novel. There were other contenders: The Adventures… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“Is it possible to write a reverent novel," said Nassrin, "and to have it be good?...” — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
A novel is not moral in the usual sense of the word. It can be called moral when it shakes us out… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“Do we consider that anything goes, that we have no responsibility towards others but only for satisfying our needs? Well, that is… — azar nafisi Copy Share Image
“A novel is not an allegory, I said as the period was about to come to an end. It is the sensual… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
A novel is not an allegory.... It is the sensual experience of another world. If you don't enter that world, hold your… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
The dearer a book was to my heart, the more battered and bruised it became. — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
The novels were an escape from reality in the sense that we could marvel at their beauty and perfection. Curiously, the novels… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
Poor reading, like poor writing, is imposing what you already know on texts. You should go into reading to discover, not to… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
A good novel is one that shows the complexity of individuals, and creates enough space for all these characters to have a… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“And even with the book closed, the voices do not stop--there are echoes and reverberations that seem to leap off the pages… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“In class, we were discussing the concept of the villain in the novel. I had mentioned that Humbert was a villain because… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“Why is it that in novels with a message, the villains are so reduced that it is as if they come to… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“A novel is not an allegory...it is a sensual experience of another world. If you don't enter that world, hold your breath with the… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“I have a recurring fantasy that one more article has been added to the Bill of Rights: the right to free access to imagination.… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“Hope for some means its loss for others; when the hopeless regain some hope, those in power--the ones who had taken it away--become afraid,… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
Imagine you are walking down a leafy path…The sun is receding, and you are walking alone, caressed by the breezy light of the late… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
If I turned towards books, it was because they were the only sanctuary I knew, one I needed in order to survive, to protect… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“Such an act [testifying for an accused prison guard of the Shah's regime] can only be accomplished by someone who is engrossed in literature,… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
It is only through literature that one can put oneself in someone else’s shoes and understand the other’s different and contradictory sides and refrain… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“That first day I asked my students what they thought fiction should accomplish, why one should bother to read fiction at all. It was… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“you cannot just be stubborn against something, you need to be stubborn for something as well” — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
Do not, under any circumstances, belittle a work of fiction by trying to turn it into a carbon copy of real life; what we… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
Visa for Avalon is a testament to the power of fiction. It illuminates the truth at the heart of what is commonly called reality.… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
“You ask me what it means to be irrelevant? The feeling is akin to visiting your old house as a wandering ghost with unfinished… — Azar Nafisi Copy Share Image
