In an essay adapted from her book Read Dangerously, Azar Nafisi discusses the importance of reading works that challenge our perceptions and ways of thinking.
“The miraculous aspect of great books is their ability to both reflect and transcend the prejudices of the author as well as their time and place,” Nafisi writes. “Fiction arouses our curiosity, and it is this curiosity, this restlessness, this desire to know that makes both writing and reading so dangerous.”
This is especially important in times of extreme political polarization. “Democracy depends upon engagement with our adversaries and opponents,” Nafisi writes. “I turn to fiction because responding to these questions, and dealing with our adversaries, first and foremost requires understanding, and for that we need the imaginative power that fiction cultivates.”
