Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books

Many of the struggles faced by Nafisi and her students center upon issues of agency. How is agency represented in Reading Lolita in Tehran? In what ways do Nafisi and the other women attempt to assert agency? Do they succeed? Why or why not?

Explore the representations of religious faith in the memoir. For example, how does Mr. Nyazi’s conception and/or experience of faith differ from Mahshid’s? In what ways is faith depicted as a force of liberation or oppression?

While the members of the secret book club read many works over the two years of the club’s existence, Nafisi chooses to center her memoir (and the book club) upon English literature. Why does Nafisi choose English literature instead of Persian literature as her main focus? What are the strengths and limitations of this focus?

Nafisi criticizes the Islamic regime for trying to make writers into “moral guardians.” However, she herself believes that literature can and does promote certain moral and intellectual values. What are the differences in how the Islamic regime conceives of writers and their mission and Nafisi’s conception? What kind of values does Nafisi attribute to literature?

Analyze the memoir’s conception of the past. How does the past influence different figures in the memoir? How is the past conceived and experienced in different ways? What is the relationship between past and present in the memoir more generally?

Gender dynamics are an important element in the memoir, in virtually every respect. How does Nafisi depict gender dynamics? How does gender inform the experiences of different figures in the memoir?

The memoir features not just Nafisi’s book club, but her experiences as a university professor in Tehran. How does she depict her teaching experiences? How does she conceive of her role? What connections, if any, exist between the role of a teacher and that of a writer in the memoir?

The personal and the political are closely intertwined throughout the memoir. Choose one of the major figures and analyze this connection. What are his/her experiences under the Islamic revolutionary regime? How does she/he change, if at all, over the course of the memoir? How do his/her individual experiences reflect wider contexts and issues in the memoir?