Azal Nafisi dedication to Paul Wolfowitz – Nick Cohen is wrong

Today’s Observer carries a long article, Don’t you know your left from your right. Within the article there this short piece Feminism’s Friend - why the Wolf is big in Iran.

A cryptic dedication on the title page of Reading Lolita in Tehran, a memoir published by Iranian feminist Azar Nafisi in 2003, encapsulated how warped the liberal left had become.

It is an account of educated Iranian women escaping from the repression of the ayatollahs to talk about Madame Bovary, Pride and Prejudice, The Great Gatsby, as well as Lolita, at a reading circle Nafisi organised at her home each Thursday. Living under theocratic rule was like 'having sex with a man you loathe', she said, and in the work of authors from other continents and other times, she and her friends could briefly get away from the men who abused them.

Once she would have seen the liberal left as her natural ally. But Reading Lolita in Tehran was dedicated 'to Paul' [Wolfowitz], and by 2003 it was no longer surprising that an Iranian feminist should turn to an American neoconservative, for where else was she to look for support? To Western liberals who had never spent a second of their time thinking about the Iranian opposition or protesting against the Iranian regime? To all those graduates of Western universities who thought that their cultural justification for the oppression of women was a proof of their liberalism? Nafisi had had her fill of them. She told an American who interviewed her in Boston, Massachusetts: 'I very much resent it in the West when people - maybe with good intentions or from a progressive point of view - keep telling me, "It's their culture" ... It's like saying, the culture of Massachusetts is burning witches.'

I have no idea what, if any, relationship Nafisi has with Wolfowitz (she may be close for all I know) but was Reading Lolita in Tehran dedicated to him? The only way to find out was to dig out my own copy. The dedication is thus:

In memory of my mother, Nezhat Nafisi
for my father, Ahmad Nafisi
and my family: Bijan, Negar and Dadra Naderi

Cohen is wrong, the book is not dedicated to Paul Wolfowitz

There are three pages of acknowledgements at the end of the book. One of the acknowledgements does reads “Paul (thank you for introducing me to to Persecution and the Art of Writing among many other things.

But is this Paul Wolfowitz? I found a piece on Doug Ireland’s Direland, dated 14 October 2004 concerning the whole issue of the Wolfowitz dedication. It appears that the origin of this issue goes back to an interview given by Christopher Hitchens to the Independent (date not gven)” in which he stated that the book was "dedicated" to Paul Wolfowitz.”

In a later article The Captive Mind Now Hitchens states “one finds a tribute to "Paul (thank you for introducing me to Persecution and the Art of Writing, among many other things)." The title mentioned—but unattributed—is that of a celebrated essay by Leo Strauss (while the "Paul," you may care to know, is Paul Wolfowitz)”

Doug Ireland asked Nafisi herself. Nafisi gave this answer:

"In some strange way I have to be thankful to Mr. Hitchens for providing
this opportunity for a dialogue with you. I am going to be brief and
respond to each of the matters we discussed, but my hope is that we will
not get enmeshed in political squabble… The acknowledgments to my book, [although the individuals I mention belong to very different political spectrums, both liberal and conservative, left and right) are very personal, and I do not wish them to be used to define my political views, or to imply political associations. Without being coy I reserve my right to keep the identity of Paul private and not let my relationships become political inferences either in support or against certain views.'

Hmm there is no dedication to him but there may or may not be a brief acknowledgement to Wolfowitz buried halfway down the penultimate page of the book. Does it matter? There are a lot of other acknowledgements. I have no idea whether they are neocons, liberals, Marxists or apolitical. There is one thing I do know though, Reading Lolita in Tehran is a must read. I can thank Redwine for urging me to read it.

Azar Nafisi Nick Cohen