tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5281402533658280011.post5234718185843328960..comments2023-04-26T05:55:06.006-07:00Comments on Frivolous Fragments: on reading a "treacherous, deceitful and pernicious book"Ffflaneurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04697821220291240079noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5281402533658280011.post-67862859750293236422009-09-05T07:14:12.791-07:002009-09-05T07:14:12.791-07:00oh Roxana - that got me into a fou rire !
Arles ...oh Roxana - that got me into a <i> fou rire </i>!<br /> Arles versus Frankfurt - Hum. Well. What can I say. :-)<br /><br /><br />Yes, those little checkboxes are lovely aren't they? couldn't resist (it's also easier to play around with checkbox-gadgets than to compose a post!)--- <br /><br />Have just now finished Persepolis, and am already missing it... such an enchanting mix of wit and drama ... such an engagingly stubborn heroine!Ffflaneurhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04697821220291240079noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5281402533658280011.post-46866068064518673982009-09-04T16:14:51.518-07:002009-09-04T16:14:51.518-07:00the funny thing is that i was in france (this expl...the funny thing is that i was in france (this explains my long silence here, dear fff, on a trip i can spare the time to read your delicious ponderous fivolities, but it is impossible to write a meaningful answer - and i will let you imagine the feeling of satisfaction i had reading your Frankfurt musings while i was enjoying the southern splendour of Arles :-P) when i followed the link to Graham's analyse of Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis - and i had just discovered the book, offered by a friend with a must-read recommandation - what a coincidence, no? :-) couldn't believe my eyes... <br /><br />and now another must-read on my list, RLT! <br /><br />(confession: i have always hated deconstructivism :-)<br /><br />question-note: do you really think that anybody who is an ardent follower of your blog could ever find a post here 'too'- whatever that may be? :-) they are lovely, though, those small checkboxes! the only word to which i could attach a 'too' here is 'seldom', as in: posting too seldom, of course :-)Roxanahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05650840495095863057noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5281402533658280011.post-5978112635419460582009-08-22T08:59:08.080-07:002009-08-22T08:59:08.080-07:00thank you for your comment, Robin. I agree with yo...thank you for your comment, Robin. I agree with you that, though <i>"neo-cons have tried to co-opt her for their purposes"</i>, the book itself does not inspire one to bomb Iran, but rather to <i>"get us to think about these books, and the urgency of books in a new way".</i> <br /><br />You wrote in one of your posts: <br /><i>"In times of upheaval, look to literature for guidance, which acknowledges humans in their full complexity and refuses to reduce them to simple political prescription"</i><br />RLT celebrates literature exactly for that reason and so how could it then be about pushing any <i>"simple political prescription" </i>...? <br /><br />I for one was inspired by RLT, not quite to bomb Iran, but to read (at last) Henry James, and also to get myself a copy of Marjane's Satrapi Persepolis (also about life in Iran). <br /><br />Ah yes, Jane Austen, amazing Jane Austen indeed. Fay Weldon did a wonderful job (in her "on first reading Jane Austen") to show how, well, <i> subversively humane </i> JA could be.Ffflaneurhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04697821220291240079noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5281402533658280011.post-86414534507029214732009-08-22T06:05:02.710-07:002009-08-22T06:05:02.710-07:00I came across your blog when you responded to mine...I came across your blog when you responded to mine (betterlivingthroughbeowulf.com) and am very glad that I did. This is a wonderfully thoughtful response to Nafisi. If there is one thing we have learned from the past eight years, it is that angry ideological responses--whether coming from the Bush administration or from leftist Columbia professors--stifle thought and undermine constructive attempts to build a better society. One thing that struck me about Nafisi's book is how she criticized herself and her fellow activists for their ideological blindnesses during the Iranian revolution--a number who fought against the shah were then executed by the mullahs. She shows how literature can function as a thoughtful check against such thoughtless extremism.<br />You are right, she's not a great writer. (The book repeats itself a number of times.) But the stories she tells are gripping, and she gets us to think about these books, and the urgency of literature, in a new way. If neo-cons have tried to co-opt her for their purposes (she seems to provide them with a twofer since she can also be used in the Bennett Western Civilization culture wars), that is their doing My own politics are liberal and I came out of her book inspired--not to go bomb Iran but to keep an eye out for issues of social justice in my reading. Whoever would have thought that Jane Austen, seen as somewhat conservative in our own culture, could become a liberation manifesto for young Iranian women?<br />Incidentally, I think the the Columbia professor is writing more out of professional jealousy than anything else. His own books haven't gotten the widespread attention that Reading Lolita in Tehran has. I come from academe and have seen people act this way.Robin Bateshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05942485756039767444noreply@blogger.com