[lit-ideas] "Reading Lolita in Tehran" - "Why one should bother to read fiction at all"
- From: "Mohammad Al-Ubaydli" <mo@xxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 25 Apr 2004 22:32:09 -0400
I'm greatly enjoying reading "Reading Lolita in Tehran", and although I'm o=
nly one third of the way through the book, one question had been nagging me=
. At the top of page 94, it was spelt out for me:
"That first day I asked my students what they thought fiction should accomp=
lish, why one should bother to read fiction at all."
So I ask you, with full understanding that the question exposes my ignoranc=
e and betrays the my lack of sophistication: Why bother read fiction?
I ask because the parts that I enjoyed most from the book were the factual =
ones, not the fictional books discussed.
For example, it is tragic to learn what the story of "Lolita" really was - =
again, apologies for my ignorance, but I had always thought that Lolita was=
a story of a child seducing an older man. I'd never read the book. "Readin=
g Lolita in Tehran" explained to me that the story was of a pedophile murde=
ring a child's mother then imprisoning and abusing the child. It's rather s=
ad and moving and I feel guilty that I had not known what the story was abo=
ut.
But far more important for me to know were the numerous stories Dr Nafisi m=
entions of older Muslim men marrying young girls and to all intents and pur=
poses abusing them. To read about the sexual abuse of one of Dr Nafisi's st=
udents by a supposedly pious teacher is disgusting. And I have heard storie=
s in Bahrain about Saudi men literally buying young girls from Yemen. Of co=
urse no one in Bahrain discusses Bahraini pedophiles.
I also found it far more important to hear about the inspiration for Naboko=
v in writing "Lolita":
"the initial shiver of inspiration was somehow prompted by a newspaper stro=
y about an ape in the Jardin des Plantes, who, after months of coaxing by a=
scientist, produced the first drawing ever charcoaled by animal: this sket=
ch showed the bars of the poor creature's cage." (p75)
The last fiction book I actively devoured was during my O-levels in Cyprus =
- my (very English) English Literature teacher had chosen "Lord of the Flie=
s" and the book changed my life considerably.
Perhaps that is the point of fiction.
But shortly after that I read the Malcolm X's autobiography. That, too, cha=
nged me, and I was intruiged by his readings in prison: he started with the=
first page of the dictionary. Following that, he says, he never again read=
a fiction book. He just never had the time and there were far more importa=
nt non-fiction titles to read.
My time has not been anywhere near as important as Malcolm X's, and I've be=
gun to read a few non-fiction books since school my school years. But I rar=
ely finished those books as I would always pick up a "true story" instead, =
and find it more useful.
mohammad - getting closer to the known unknowns of Lolita.
PS I'd like to recommend one non-fiction book, courtesy of this week's Econ=
omist: "Self-help" by Samuel Smiles, was published in 1859, and was apparen=
tly the first every self-help book. It's a rather pleasant read, if only to=
see how Brits once spoke as the Americans now do:
http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3D2610260
The wonderful people at the Gutenberg project have provided a digital versi=
on for free download:
http://www.gutenberg.net/etext/935
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