The Novels Were An Escape From Reality

In All Great Works Of Fiction, Regardless Of The Grim Reality They Present, There Is An Affirmation Of Life Against The Transience Of That Life, An Essential Defiance. This Affirmation Lies In The Way The Author Takes Control Of Reality By Retelling It In His Own Way, Thus Creating A New World. Every Great Work Of Art, I Would Declare Pompously, Is A Celebration, An Act Of Insubordination Against The Betrayals, Horrors And Infidelities Of Life. The Perfection And Beauty Of Form Rebels Against The Ugliness And Shabbiness Of The Subject Matter.

I Believe In Empathy. I Believe In The Kind Of Empathy That Is Created Through Imagination And Through Intimate, Personal Relationships. I Am A Writer And A Teacher, So Much Of My Time Is Spent Interpreting Stories And Connecting To Other Individuals. It Is The Urge To Know More About Ourselves And Others That Creates Empathy. Through Imagination And Our Desire For Rapport, We Transcend Our Limitations, Freshen Our Eyes, And Are Able To Look At Ourselves And The World Through A New And Alternative Lens.

In The Past 30 Years, Officials Of The Iranian Regime And Its Apologists Have Labeled Criticism, Especially With Regard To Women's Rights, As Anti-islamic And Pro-western, Justifying Its Brutalities By Ascribing Them To Islam And Iran's Culture.

We All Had To Pay, But Not For The Crimes We Were Accused Of. There Were Other Scores To Settle.

Basically, Fundamentalism Is A Modern Phenomenon. In The Same Way That Hitler Evoked A Mythological Religion Of German Purity And The Glory Of The Past, The Islamists Use Religion To Evoke Emotions And Passions In People Who Have Been Oppressed For A Long Time In Order To Reach Their Purpose.