Tag Archives: tyranny

Les Misérables Aided Civil War Soldiers

By Robin Bates | Published: December 5, 2021

Hugo’s “Les Misérables” was a hit with Civil War soldiers. An article explores the reasons why.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , | Comments closed

Satan and Trump, Gifted Demagogues

By Robin Bates | Published: February 20, 2018

Satan in “Paradise Lost” is a gifted leader who manipulates people for his own selfish ends–like a certain American president.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , | Comments closed

Gatsby in Iran: A Dream Betrayed

By Robin Bates | Published: July 3, 2009

The Iranian authorities allowed Nafisi to teach “The Great Gatsby” because they regarded it as an expose of American materialism and decadence. And certainly it has that dimension. But Nafisi focused more on how the work explores the betrayal of dreams. Both countries have experience with that betrayal.

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , | Comments closed

Iranian Women Identifying with Lolita

By Robin Bates | Published: July 2, 2009

The kicker in the book title Reading Lolita in Iran is the shock of imagining people risking their freedom to read Nabokov’s scandalous masterpiece about an elderly writer who falls in love with twelve-year-old “nymphet” Dolores Hayes. What would anyone get out of that experience? The surprises keep on coming in Azar Nafisi’s book as […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , | Comments closed

Reviewing Lolita in Tehran

By Robin Bates | Published: July 1, 2009

  Yesterday’s mention of Azar Nafisi’s Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books gave me an excuse to go back and reread that marvelous book. The work embodies the central premise of this website: that literature can come to our aid when we need it most, helping us negotiate even the most difficult of […]

Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , | Comments closed