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255 reviews for:
Leggere pericolosamente. Il potere sovversivo della letteratura in tempi difficili
Azar Nafisi
4.13 AVERAGE
255 reviews for:
Leggere pericolosamente. Il potere sovversivo della letteratura in tempi difficili
Azar Nafisi
4.13 AVERAGE
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
I'm not sure how I feel about the inevitable wave of 'pandemic memoir' we're about to receive, but I found this collection of letters/essays to be an interesting snapshot of the last few years. A collection of letters/essays that discuss influential and incendiary works of literature, I found the discussion around reading 'dangerously' prescient as we're facing yet another era where so many books are being challenged and even banned.
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
An interesting discussion of literature. The theme of the book is on both the value of humanizing the supposed other, and how literature helps to humanize
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
medium-paced
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
I have never read any of Nafisi's other books before this one. Honestly I had assumed Reading Lolita in Tehran was something completely different than what I managed to figure out what it was contextually within the book. I really enjoyed all her essays, and now have some new books to read. I appreciate her way of thinking towards reading, and this has definitely given me a new view on reading that I didn't have before. I forgot that reading is one of the more subversive acts a person can do. and I am thankful that she has reminded me of this.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
informative
slow-paced
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Book banning is on the rise according to the American Library Association. New York Times best-selling author Azar Nafisi's new book, Read Dangerously, is an antidote to these turbulent times. As a lecturer and Fellow for Johns Hopkins University, she informs us on how best to use literature to combat hate. Written as a series of letters to her dead father, she uses literature to map out the troubles in the world. By reading, we arm ourselves with imagination. One of the few tools that can defeat fascism.
She writes five letters between 2017 and 2020. She discusses the death threats Salman Rushdie received for writing The Satanic Verses. She points out how fast his book was targeted. She further elaborates on how so many other books are targeted for banning even though they do not even remotely criticize a government or group. She takes a moment to point out how little this happens in the United States which turns out to be ironic considering what’s happening now in this country. Banning books is an early sign of a fascist state. She also includes Fahrenheit 451 in this section. The governments need to attack ideas, criticism, different ideas, and imagination itself.
The second letter references Hurston and the need for dignity. The need to participate in society as you are and not to sacrifice your identity for an opportunity. The third letter focuses on writers who write about war. How one side will try to dehumanize the other to make it easier to kill them, but getting to know them is to get closer to peace. The fourth letter discusses Atwood and her book The Handmaid’s Tale. She points out how eerily similar the events in the book follow events in Iran after 1979. Even though the book has sci-fi elements, Atwood points out there is a historical element to each part, something that has already happened.
The general theme circles back around the power of imagination. A fascist government wants you to worry about your survival or how you may be targeted. They want you to focus on how things could be worse, be lucky they are not. However, imagination gives us hope. We can imagine a better world, make fun of those who would oppress us, and point out how there is no message or power behind the hate. Imagination tells us that things can be a whole lot better and to fight for that better future.
Favorite Passages
Introduction
In Iran, like all totalitarian states, the regime pays too much attention to poets and writers, harassing, jailing, and even killing them. The problem in America is that too little attention is paid to them. They are silenced not by torture and jail but by indifference and negligence. I am reminded of James Baldwin’s claim that “Neither love nor terror makes one blind: indifference makes one blind.” In the United States, it is mainly we, the people, who are the problem; we who take the existence of challenging literature for granted, or see reading as solely a comfort, seeking out only texts that confirm our presuppositions and prejudices. Perhaps for us, the very idea of change is dangerous, and what we avoid is reading dangerously.
…
Reading does not necessarily lead to direct political action, but it fosters a mindset that questions and doubts; that is not content with the establishment or the established. Fiction arouses our curiosity, and it is this curiosity, this restlessness, this desire to know that makes both writing and reading so dangerous.
…
First Letter
We enter dangerous territory when we blur the lines between fiction and reality, or weaponize fiction to further an agenda—be it political, religious, or personal. The totalitarian mindset breaks the borders between fiction and reality, and, in the same manner, it imposes its own fictions and mythologies on the realities of its people, speaking and acting on their behalf.
…
We need the poet to constantly question things as they are, to jolt us out of our comfort zones, to make us to look at the world through the eyes of others and seek to understand experiences that are not our own.
…
The most seductive aspect of a totalitarian society is the security it offers. The truth is uncomfortable, and a dictator promises an abdication of responsibility from it.
….
We don’t need a supreme leader to deprive us of our hard-earned freedoms. When we stop reading, we pave the way toward book burning; when we stop caring, we make way for someone else to take over control; when we prefer personality to character, and reality show or virtual reality to reality itself, then we get the kind of politicians that we deserve.
…
Second Letter
I did not like the possibility of being arrested, humiliated, and flogged. I did not like the prospect of being expelled from my job or having my books censored and banned. But there was something greater than fear—or more magnetic than fear—that was driving me: an instinct for self-preservation. I knew that giving in to them meant self-negation. It meant a public abdication of who I was. It had nothing to do with being an intellectual or sophisticated. It was a matter of self-worth and what Hurston called “self-revelation” and, of course, a matter of preserving dignity.
…
War, by nature, dehumanizes the enemy. Story gives the enemy a voice, forcing us to confront him as a human being, to look him in the eye. And through this process, we restore our own humanity.
…
Living in a totalitarian society is similar to living in a disaster zone. Individuals experience a different kind of fear: the constant anxiety that the way you look, the way you act, the way you think or feel is illegal and punishable. At any moment, you could be reprimanded, arrested, or jailed simply because of who you are.
…
Writing requires empathy, opening up oneself to other people’s hearts and minds. It implies not just how things are but how they could be, which is the essence of hope.
…
Fourth Letter
HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT THE role that ordinary, often decent, people play in bringing about a totalitarian state? Such systems may seem to appear out of nowhere, like a bolt of lightning. But, really, this is because many choose not to see the warning signs, even when they become all too obvious. Slowly, over time, there is a buildup. At first, the rulers may target people and things that are unsavory to us, and that we dislike or disapprove of—as they did in Iran, when they executed officials of the former regime. So we shrug them off, or we might even approve, but our time will come when they take away what pleases us, what is important to us.
..
Dear Baba, do you notice how, under totalitarianism, banal rituals like putting on body lotion or holding hands with a loved one in the street suddenly become strange and extraordinary? Ordinary people wanting to have a decent, normal life learn that nothing is normal—not really, we only carry the illusions of normalcy. If we don’t pay attention, if we don’t guard against this loss of normalcy, it is easy to lose. This is what we see Offred doing her best to guard against as she tries to avoid the numbing of feelings and emotions that a totalitarian system imposes on us.
…
Memory becomes one of the most potent weapons against the cruelty of totalitarian regimes and concentration camps.
…
Readers become keepers of memory, keepers of truth.
…
Conclusion
READERS, OF COURSE, HAVE NO formal organization to promote truth, to bring about change. But they number in the billions. They range across the spectrums of profession, background, gender, race, ethnicity, religious affiliation. Collectively, their power would be immense. Every bookstore, library, museum, or theater that closes; every book that is censored or removed from schools and libraries; every art, music, or literature program canceled in our schools and other institutions—these should all remind us of our responsibility.
She writes five letters between 2017 and 2020. She discusses the death threats Salman Rushdie received for writing The Satanic Verses. She points out how fast his book was targeted. She further elaborates on how so many other books are targeted for banning even though they do not even remotely criticize a government or group. She takes a moment to point out how little this happens in the United States which turns out to be ironic considering what’s happening now in this country. Banning books is an early sign of a fascist state. She also includes Fahrenheit 451 in this section. The governments need to attack ideas, criticism, different ideas, and imagination itself.
The second letter references Hurston and the need for dignity. The need to participate in society as you are and not to sacrifice your identity for an opportunity. The third letter focuses on writers who write about war. How one side will try to dehumanize the other to make it easier to kill them, but getting to know them is to get closer to peace. The fourth letter discusses Atwood and her book The Handmaid’s Tale. She points out how eerily similar the events in the book follow events in Iran after 1979. Even though the book has sci-fi elements, Atwood points out there is a historical element to each part, something that has already happened.
The general theme circles back around the power of imagination. A fascist government wants you to worry about your survival or how you may be targeted. They want you to focus on how things could be worse, be lucky they are not. However, imagination gives us hope. We can imagine a better world, make fun of those who would oppress us, and point out how there is no message or power behind the hate. Imagination tells us that things can be a whole lot better and to fight for that better future.
Favorite Passages
Introduction
In Iran, like all totalitarian states, the regime pays too much attention to poets and writers, harassing, jailing, and even killing them. The problem in America is that too little attention is paid to them. They are silenced not by torture and jail but by indifference and negligence. I am reminded of James Baldwin’s claim that “Neither love nor terror makes one blind: indifference makes one blind.” In the United States, it is mainly we, the people, who are the problem; we who take the existence of challenging literature for granted, or see reading as solely a comfort, seeking out only texts that confirm our presuppositions and prejudices. Perhaps for us, the very idea of change is dangerous, and what we avoid is reading dangerously.
…
Reading does not necessarily lead to direct political action, but it fosters a mindset that questions and doubts; that is not content with the establishment or the established. Fiction arouses our curiosity, and it is this curiosity, this restlessness, this desire to know that makes both writing and reading so dangerous.
…
First Letter
We enter dangerous territory when we blur the lines between fiction and reality, or weaponize fiction to further an agenda—be it political, religious, or personal. The totalitarian mindset breaks the borders between fiction and reality, and, in the same manner, it imposes its own fictions and mythologies on the realities of its people, speaking and acting on their behalf.
…
We need the poet to constantly question things as they are, to jolt us out of our comfort zones, to make us to look at the world through the eyes of others and seek to understand experiences that are not our own.
…
The most seductive aspect of a totalitarian society is the security it offers. The truth is uncomfortable, and a dictator promises an abdication of responsibility from it.
….
We don’t need a supreme leader to deprive us of our hard-earned freedoms. When we stop reading, we pave the way toward book burning; when we stop caring, we make way for someone else to take over control; when we prefer personality to character, and reality show or virtual reality to reality itself, then we get the kind of politicians that we deserve.
…
Second Letter
I did not like the possibility of being arrested, humiliated, and flogged. I did not like the prospect of being expelled from my job or having my books censored and banned. But there was something greater than fear—or more magnetic than fear—that was driving me: an instinct for self-preservation. I knew that giving in to them meant self-negation. It meant a public abdication of who I was. It had nothing to do with being an intellectual or sophisticated. It was a matter of self-worth and what Hurston called “self-revelation” and, of course, a matter of preserving dignity.
…
War, by nature, dehumanizes the enemy. Story gives the enemy a voice, forcing us to confront him as a human being, to look him in the eye. And through this process, we restore our own humanity.
…
Living in a totalitarian society is similar to living in a disaster zone. Individuals experience a different kind of fear: the constant anxiety that the way you look, the way you act, the way you think or feel is illegal and punishable. At any moment, you could be reprimanded, arrested, or jailed simply because of who you are.
…
Writing requires empathy, opening up oneself to other people’s hearts and minds. It implies not just how things are but how they could be, which is the essence of hope.
…
Fourth Letter
HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT THE role that ordinary, often decent, people play in bringing about a totalitarian state? Such systems may seem to appear out of nowhere, like a bolt of lightning. But, really, this is because many choose not to see the warning signs, even when they become all too obvious. Slowly, over time, there is a buildup. At first, the rulers may target people and things that are unsavory to us, and that we dislike or disapprove of—as they did in Iran, when they executed officials of the former regime. So we shrug them off, or we might even approve, but our time will come when they take away what pleases us, what is important to us.
..
Dear Baba, do you notice how, under totalitarianism, banal rituals like putting on body lotion or holding hands with a loved one in the street suddenly become strange and extraordinary? Ordinary people wanting to have a decent, normal life learn that nothing is normal—not really, we only carry the illusions of normalcy. If we don’t pay attention, if we don’t guard against this loss of normalcy, it is easy to lose. This is what we see Offred doing her best to guard against as she tries to avoid the numbing of feelings and emotions that a totalitarian system imposes on us.
…
Memory becomes one of the most potent weapons against the cruelty of totalitarian regimes and concentration camps.
…
Readers become keepers of memory, keepers of truth.
…
Conclusion
READERS, OF COURSE, HAVE NO formal organization to promote truth, to bring about change. But they number in the billions. They range across the spectrums of profession, background, gender, race, ethnicity, religious affiliation. Collectively, their power would be immense. Every bookstore, library, museum, or theater that closes; every book that is censored or removed from schools and libraries; every art, music, or literature program canceled in our schools and other institutions—these should all remind us of our responsibility.
informative
reflective
medium-paced