Every fairy tale offers the potential to surpass present limits, so in a sense the fairy tale offers you freedoms that reality denies. In all great works of fiction, regardless of the grim reality they present, there is an affirmation of life against the transience of that life, an essential defiance. The affirmation lies in the way the author takes control of reality by retelling it in his own way, thus creating a new world. Every great work of art, I would declare pompously, is a celebration, an act of insubordination against the betrayals, horrors and infidelities of life. The perfection and beauty of form rebels against the ugliness and shabiness of the subject matter. This is why we love "Madame Bovary" and cry for Emma, why we greedily read "Lolita" as our heart breaks for its small, vulgar, poetic and defiant orphaned heroine.

soldier convicted of mistreating prisoners at Abu Ghraib: "To me there is no difference between Lynndie England and Azar Nafisi. In 1995 Azar Nafisi states that Azar Nafisi was no longer able to teach English literature properly without attracting the scrutiny of the faculty authorities so Azar Nafisi quit teaching at the university and instead invited seven of her female students to attend regular meetings at her house every Thursday morning. She publiAzar Nafisid an autobiography Things I've been silent about: memories of a prodigal daughter (2008) focusing on the impact on her throughout her life of her relations with her parents (her mother peevish and cold her father affectionate and companionate) and of decades of political upheaval in Iran including the father's incarceration under the Shah on trumped-up charges of financial irregularities.

Her field is English language literature. Nafisi's 2003 book Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books has been translated into 32 languages.