I’m
hearing good things about the paperback release of The Republic of Imagination:
A Life in Books, by Azar Nafisi. The
Boston Globe said: “Nafisi links the freedom of imagination that unites all
readers to the founding ideals of our country and the personal values we claim
as Americans.” That’s a mouthful.
The
author, whose earlier book became a No. 1 New York Times bestseller that sold
over a million copies, takes us on a journey with her current book. Her
publisher, Penguin Random House says to the book “is an impassioned and utterly
original tribute to the vital importance of fiction in a democratic society.”
Perhaps
the back cover copy describes it best:
“Azar Nafisi's
bestseller Reading Lolita in Tehran ended with her arrival in America with her
young family, crying little more than the beloved books that helped her survive
in revolutionary Iran. The Republic of
Imagination give us the next chapter in Azar’s journey, as she settles into her
new life as a teacher in Washington, DC, and wonders what it means to become an
American citizen. She turns for an
answer to the writings of the Founding Fathers and to her favorite American
novels – beginning with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.
The best
novels, Azar reminds us, can transport us across time and space, picking us up
and plunking us down in a radically unfamiliar world, like Dorothy in the Land
of Oz. But they are not just a means of
escape. Through books, we learn to step
int other people’s shoes and to imagine ourselves confronting difficult
choices. In this passionately argued and
deeply personal book Azar challenges us to find in fiction the inspiration –
and the courage – to lead a more meaningful life.”
Here are
sone excerpts from the book:
“The
majority of people in this country who haunt bookstores, go to readings and
book festivals or simply read in the privacy of their homes are not traumatized
exiles. Many have seldom left their
hometown or state, but does this mean that they do not dream, that they have no
fears, that they don’t feel pain and anguish and yarn for a life of
meaning? Stories are not mere flights of
fantasy o instruments of political power and control. They link us to our past,
provide us with critical insight into the present and enable us to envision our
lives not just as they are but as they should be or might become. Imagination knowledge is not something you
have today and discard tomorrow. It is a way or perceiving the world and
relating to it.”
“Although
literacy is the first and essential step toward the kind of engaged citizenry
necessary of a thriving democracy, it is not enough, for it is only the means
to an end. What we learn and how we
learn it is just as important.”
“I believe
all great art and literature, all great deeds of humanity, rely on this fragile
and most enduring hope. One function of
art is to be a witness and historian of man’s endurance, to provide ‘conclusive
evidence that we have lived.”
“Stories
endure – they have been with us since the darn of history – but they need to be
refreshed and retold in every generation through the eyes and experiences of
new readers sharing a common space that knows no boundaries of politics or religion,
ethnicity or gender – a Republic of Imagination, that most democratic republic
of all. For every writer deprived of the
freedom of speech, millions of readers are also deprived of the freedom to read
what they might have told us. That is
why the voice of a poet who endured and resisted tyranny should be the voice of
conscience, reminding us of what is essential: “Since there are no laws that
can protect us from ourselves, no criminal code is capable of preventing a true
crime against literature,” Joseph Brodsky said in his Nobel Prize acceptance
speech. “Though we can condemn the
material suppression of literature – the persecution of writers, acts of
censorship, the burning of books – we are powerless when it comes to its worst
violation: that of not reading the books.
For that crime a person pays with his whole life; if the offender is a
nation, it pays with its history.”
Is freedom linked to fiction? Luckily, for America, freedom is not a fantasy, but a living reality. Unfortunately, for others, freedom is something others can only dream of.
Is freedom linked to fiction? Luckily, for America, freedom is not a fantasy, but a living reality. Unfortunately, for others, freedom is something others can only dream of.
DON'T MISS THESE POSTS
Sweet 16 Is Imperfect For One
Writer
I Never Read Jackie Collins, But
She Was Great
From Which Narrative Do Writers
Live By?
When will we read the same book?
Book Marketing in 2015
Can Writers Paddle To Success?
The 7
Tenets of Author Branding
How to
make a blog post go viral – or at least get opened
Don’t
say this to the media when promoting your book
Brian
Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and
not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email
him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in
the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2015
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.