There Is Little Consolation In The Fact

I See People Who Talk About America, And Then Undermine It By Not Paying Attention To Its Soul, To Its Poetry. I See Polarization, Reductionism And Superficiality.

I Finally Returned To Iran In 1979, When I Got My Degree In English And American Literature, And Stayed For 18 Years In The Islamic Republic.

It Is Only Through Literature That One Can Put Oneself In Someone Else’s Shoes And Understand The Other’s Different And Contradictory Sides And Refrain From Becoming Too Ruthless. Outside The Sphere Of Literature Only One Aspect Of Individuals Is Revealed. But If You Understand Their Different Dimensions You Cannot Easily Murder Them.

Empathy Lies At The Heart Of Gatsby, Like So Many Other Great Novels-the Biggest Sin Is To Be Blind To Others Problems And Pains. Not Seeing Them Means Denying Their Existence.

I Have A Recurring Fantasy That One More Article Has Been Added To The Bill Of Rights: The Right To Free Access To Imagination.