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illiterate_literate's review
3.0
Чудесна книга за четенето, книгите, литературата и границите, които сами си поставяме.
За съжаление българското издание е пример защо не трябва редактор и коректор да са един и същ човек и за неизпълнената роля на отговорния редактор – пълно е с технически грешки – изобилие или липса на интервали, различно изписване на едно и също име, незатворени кавички, изречения без точки или главни букви в средата на изречения; на места преводът също звучи странно.
За съжаление българското издание е пример защо не трябва редактор и коректор да са един и същ човек и за неизпълнената роля на отговорния редактор – пълно е с технически грешки – изобилие или липса на интервали, различно изписване на едно и също име, незатворени кавички, изречения без точки или главни букви в средата на изречения; на места преводът също звучи странно.
jeninmotion's review against another edition
3.0
3.5; the literary criticism is good (I especially liked the Babbit section) but the fear of trigger warnings is such a deliberate Boomer misunderstanding of why they exist to be parody.
shays's review against another edition
3.0
Disclaimer: I received a free review copy of this book at ALA Annual 2014.
The Republic of Imagination is a peculiar book that combines close reading with memoir and political discourse to create an unusual hybrid work. read more
The Republic of Imagination is a peculiar book that combines close reading with memoir and political discourse to create an unusual hybrid work. read more
jdscott50's review against another edition
4.0
Nafisi’s part-memoir/part literary criticism is a response to a challenge. An Iranian reader approached her claiming Americans do not value books as much as Iranians. Nafisi’s uses this book to disagree with that reader. She states that America has always been shaped by its literature. It serves as a reflection, a guide, and a warning. The imagination, that creates literature, is the same imagination that creates hope, new ideas, and the future. She warns that those who fail to nurture this imagination, whether in schools or in the national dialog, will be faced with a bleak future.
Nafisi chooses three books (pre-1960) that have best reflected America: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Babbit by Sinclair Lewis, and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. The first choice is an obvious one, but Nafisi does something different with it. She mirrors her own life and that of her best friend Farah who would die of cancer before this book’s publication. Huckleberry Finn becomes a metaphor not just for a changing America breaking free of its past. It is also that of Nafisi breaking free of a totalitarian Iran and facing an unknown life without her friend.
The second book she chooses, Babbit, is an apt choice. However, Nafisi’s book loses a bit of her momentum. Many reviewers have mentioned that readers can stop at about page 118 when the first segment of the book ends. I think it is worth continuing but with a caveat about the next section being more of a culture critic rather than a memoir. It fits her introduction to the book, but it is a sharp contrast to the segment with Huckleberry Finn.
Babbit is a criticism of the mundane conformist, the enemy of imagination. Instead of thinking for oneself, one just thinks with the crowd, doesn’t stand out. The segment of Nafisi dressing down the public education system is the United States is on target but seems a bit overwrought. The themes from Lewis’s work would inspire more American Literature deploring the plight of mediocrity and conformity that invades the country too often.
The last book, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Nafisi explores the misfits and how it relates to modern technology. She juxtaposes how connected we are through technology, but how that makes us also very far away, separate and alone. It’s this concept of alienation that dominates the last section of the book.
Overall, Nafisi’s memoir is heartfelt but drifts too much into academic literary criticism. While the book connection is clever both for Babbit and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, it creates more disaffection for the reader. There is too much judgment of modern society and it comes off as rather cranky instead of illuminating. Her points, altogether, are valid. We must continue to strive for the new and use our imagination to create a better world. When she gets on that topic alone the message is very powerful. We should not cut off access to art and literature as these things inspire and empower us. Without it, the world becomes very dark.
Favorite Passages:
Although literacy is the first and essential step toward the kind of engaged citizenry necessary for a thriving democracy, it is not enough, for it is only a means to an end. What we learn and how we learn it is just as important. Regardless of their ideological inclinations, autocracies like those wreaking havoc in Iran, China, Zimbabwe, Saudi Arabia, and North Korea are afraid, and justifiably so, of the aftermath of literacy--namely, knowledge, the bit of the forbidden fruit, with its promise of a different kind of power and freedom. That is why the Taliban destroys schools and wishes to murder young teenage girls like Malala who are brave enough to publicly articulate their passionate desire for education and freedom. p. 15
For homelessness and despair, for the injustices and suffering imposed on us by the fickleness of life and the absoluteness of death, imagination has no cure. But it finds a voice that both registers and resists such injustice, evidenced by the fact that we do not accept things as they are. So much of who we are, no matter where we live, depends on how we imagine ourselves to be. p. 50
Nafisi chooses three books (pre-1960) that have best reflected America: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Babbit by Sinclair Lewis, and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers. The first choice is an obvious one, but Nafisi does something different with it. She mirrors her own life and that of her best friend Farah who would die of cancer before this book’s publication. Huckleberry Finn becomes a metaphor not just for a changing America breaking free of its past. It is also that of Nafisi breaking free of a totalitarian Iran and facing an unknown life without her friend.
The second book she chooses, Babbit, is an apt choice. However, Nafisi’s book loses a bit of her momentum. Many reviewers have mentioned that readers can stop at about page 118 when the first segment of the book ends. I think it is worth continuing but with a caveat about the next section being more of a culture critic rather than a memoir. It fits her introduction to the book, but it is a sharp contrast to the segment with Huckleberry Finn.
Babbit is a criticism of the mundane conformist, the enemy of imagination. Instead of thinking for oneself, one just thinks with the crowd, doesn’t stand out. The segment of Nafisi dressing down the public education system is the United States is on target but seems a bit overwrought. The themes from Lewis’s work would inspire more American Literature deploring the plight of mediocrity and conformity that invades the country too often.
The last book, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Nafisi explores the misfits and how it relates to modern technology. She juxtaposes how connected we are through technology, but how that makes us also very far away, separate and alone. It’s this concept of alienation that dominates the last section of the book.
Overall, Nafisi’s memoir is heartfelt but drifts too much into academic literary criticism. While the book connection is clever both for Babbit and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, it creates more disaffection for the reader. There is too much judgment of modern society and it comes off as rather cranky instead of illuminating. Her points, altogether, are valid. We must continue to strive for the new and use our imagination to create a better world. When she gets on that topic alone the message is very powerful. We should not cut off access to art and literature as these things inspire and empower us. Without it, the world becomes very dark.
Favorite Passages:
Although literacy is the first and essential step toward the kind of engaged citizenry necessary for a thriving democracy, it is not enough, for it is only a means to an end. What we learn and how we learn it is just as important. Regardless of their ideological inclinations, autocracies like those wreaking havoc in Iran, China, Zimbabwe, Saudi Arabia, and North Korea are afraid, and justifiably so, of the aftermath of literacy--namely, knowledge, the bit of the forbidden fruit, with its promise of a different kind of power and freedom. That is why the Taliban destroys schools and wishes to murder young teenage girls like Malala who are brave enough to publicly articulate their passionate desire for education and freedom. p. 15
For homelessness and despair, for the injustices and suffering imposed on us by the fickleness of life and the absoluteness of death, imagination has no cure. But it finds a voice that both registers and resists such injustice, evidenced by the fact that we do not accept things as they are. So much of who we are, no matter where we live, depends on how we imagine ourselves to be. p. 50
queerbillydeluxe's review against another edition
4.0
I think I liked Reading Lolita more, but I loved a lot of what Nafisi had to say here--particularly her views on Common Core and trigger warnings.
estellabelle92's review against another edition
5.0
Recommended by my 16-year-old son who has to read it for his college comp class, "Hey, mom, have you read this? I think you would like it." Well, I read her "Reading Lolita in Tehran" which I enjoyed but I had yet to pick this one up. Boy, was my kid right. He knows me. The introduction, alone, was worth the price of admission.
I've read Huckleberry Finn and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, plus several by Lewis, but not Babbit, and I know I read James Baldwin in school, but not sure which titles. Definitely am adding Babbit and Baldwin to my TBR pile.
If you love books and reading, this work is for you.
I've read Huckleberry Finn and The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, plus several by Lewis, but not Babbit, and I know I read James Baldwin in school, but not sure which titles. Definitely am adding Babbit and Baldwin to my TBR pile.
If you love books and reading, this work is for you.
syebba's review against another edition
4.0
A fabulous reasoning as to why fiction is not only good to read, but absolutely necessary for the betterment of readers and mankind. This means that I will soon be reading 'Babbitt' and 'The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.'
Favorite quote: "Every novel has at its core a choice by at least one of its protagonists, reminding the reader that she can choose to be her own person, to go against what her parents or society or the state tells her to do and follow the faint but essential beat of her own heart."
Favorite quote: "Every novel has at its core a choice by at least one of its protagonists, reminding the reader that she can choose to be her own person, to go against what her parents or society or the state tells her to do and follow the faint but essential beat of her own heart."
bssmmle's review
5.0
Вдъхновяваща книга за всеки читател, писател, преподавател по литература и не само. Обяснение в любов на литературата чрез езика на литературата, с всичките и препратки към различни произведения, и сходство и съперничество между големите имена на американската литература, като личности и теми на произведенията им. Авторката на книгата, като пластове на ястие, представя като "храна за размисъл" на читателя си въпроси, и бяга от готовите формулировки, звучащи академично и начетено. В книгата, авторката задава много въпроси към читателя, и го оставя сам да отговаря. Доста дълго след привършване на книгата, въпросите остават в съзнанието (читателят може да поиска и да препрочете вече прочетени книги, за които тя говори). Пластовете на изследването на авторката са много и разнообразни: за значението на написаното слово за писателя и личните му демони; за значението за читателите му, било то противници или почитатели; за значението му за неговите сънародници, които задължително го учат в училище; както и за натурализираните американци, които го учат в университета, по избор; за въпроса, доколко творбата и идеите на писателя са типично американски или глобални; за значението на писателя и творбата му за народи много далеч от американските културни порядки. На кое е по-точно огледало американската литература за която се говори в книгата? Дори да не си американец, ако си чел историите на Марк Твен за Том Сойер и Хъкълбери Фин като дете, знаеш за какво говори авторката. Дали или по-скоро Нали има смисъл съкровените мисли на "номадите" по душа да се изричат на глас и в романи на автори отвъд Океана, в страна, създадена точно от такива номади преди векове?
Мен лично като писател, търсещ вдъхновение, и като страстен читател, следният цитат ме впечатли дълбоко. На последната страница от книгата, авторката цитира друга писателка Едуидж Дантикат: "Твори опасно, за хора, които четат опасно...и знай, че независимо колко обикновено може да звучат думите ти, някой ден, някъде, някой може да рискува живота си, за да ги прочете".
След тази книга съм вдъхновена да прочета няколко американски класици, за част от които не бях дори чувала.
- Синклер Луис "Бабит";
- Карсън Маккълърс "Сарцето е самотен ловец";
- Фонкнър "Светлина през август";
- Джеймс Болдуин "От планината възвестявай!"
- Джийн Рис "Безкрайното Саргасово море";
Тази книга твърдо определи следвата, трета под ред книга от списъка ми за тази седмица, посветена на най-великите автори, писали някога.
Мен лично като писател, търсещ вдъхновение, и като страстен читател, следният цитат ме впечатли дълбоко. На последната страница от книгата, авторката цитира друга писателка Едуидж Дантикат: "Твори опасно, за хора, които четат опасно...и знай, че независимо колко обикновено може да звучат думите ти, някой ден, някъде, някой може да рискува живота си, за да ги прочете".
След тази книга съм вдъхновена да прочета няколко американски класици, за част от които не бях дори чувала.
- Синклер Луис "Бабит";
- Карсън Маккълърс "Сарцето е самотен ловец";
- Фонкнър "Светлина през август";
- Джеймс Болдуин "От планината възвестявай!"
- Джийн Рис "Безкрайното Саргасово море";
Тази книга твърдо определи следвата, трета под ред книга от списъка ми за тази седмица, посветена на най-великите автори, писали някога.
amandaquotidianbooks's review against another edition
3.0
I gave this book three stars not because I like it, but because it made me think and the thoughts were not wholly unpleasant.
Part memoir, part literary evaluation, part political criticism, I don't know what this book intended to be, but this is what I found.
Part memoir, part literary evaluation, part political criticism, I don't know what this book intended to be, but this is what I found.