Reading Nafisi Reading Lolita: Re-Orientalism in 21st century American Literature

Abstract

Abstract Although Edward Said’s theorization of Orientalism has been widely applied to literary works over the last four decades, it should also be considered how it has been re-theorized and renewed as a result of more contemporary literature. In reaction to Said’s term, scholar Lisa Lau has coined the concept of “Re-Orientalism,” which means that diasporic authors are representing the people from the Orient in the West while they are Oriental themselves, though at the same time they are non-Oriental, or Occidental, because of their current residence. In this thesis, I apply Lau’s theory of Re-Orientalism to one of the most successful diasporic memoirs in 21st century American literature: Azar Nafisi’s Reading Lolita in Tehran. I conclude that Nafisi’s work has distorted the representation of the Other in the West and that it reinforces Western stereotypes.