Ten years ago, the Iranian–American author Azar Nafisi wrote a memoir called Reading Lolita in Tehran. That book sold more than a million copies, and it was hailed as a powerful testament to literature’s unique potential in a closed society. In her latest book, Ms. Nafisi examines the role of novels in American culture, by looking at three important works of fiction, and discussing how and why the stories we encounter in literature are so important to our democracy. The book is called The Republic of Imagination: America in Three Books. She joins us from her home in Washington, DC.
Azar Nafisi will be reading from her book next Wednesday at 7 at the Ivy Bookshop.
Nafisi-WebExtra.mp3
More of our interview with Azar Nafisi.