Azar Nafisi
Azar Nafisi
Azar Nafisi is an Iranian writer and professor of English literature. She has resided in the United States since 1997 and became an American citizen in 2008...
NationalityIranian
ProfessionWriter
thinking issues want
A bad author can take the most moral issue and make you want to just never, ever think about that moral issue.
thinking islam needs
I think Islam is in a sense, in crisis. It needs to question and re-question itself.
causes tehran dies
It takes courage to die for a cause, but also to live for one.
stronger dies
The more we die, the stronger we will become
I'm a perfectly equipped failure.
reality fiction epiphany
What we search for in fiction is not so much reality, but the epiphany of truth.
iran causes symptoms
Khatami is a symptom and not the cause of change in Iran.
reality limits fairy-tale
Every fairy tale offers the potential to surpass present limits, so in a sense the fairy tale offers you freedoms that reality denies.
art betrayal lying
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. This 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 shabbiness of the subject matter.
order imagination needs
You need imagination in order to imagine a future that doesn't exist.
teacher believe eye
I believe in empathy. I believe in the kind of empathy that is created through imagination and through intimate, personal relationships. I am a writer and a teacher, so much of my time is spent interpreting stories and connecting to other individuals. It is the urge to know more about ourselves and others that creates empathy. Through imagination and our desire for rapport, we transcend our limitations, freshen our eyes, and are able to look at ourselves and the world through a new and alternative lens.
attitude evil world
None of us can avoid being contaminated by the world's evils; it's all a matter of what attitude you take towards them.
memories rain path
I am suddenly left alone again on the sunny path, with a memory of the rain.
portable status
I would like to think of my own status as what you called 'citizen of the world' or a 'citizen of a portable world,' if not of the world.