ORDEALS OF FREEDOM: for Azar Nafisi, the greatest works of literary imagination plumb the suffering inherent in choosing how to live.

EVEN NOW, Azar Nafisi has trouble believing it. "This book will never get anywhere," she told her publisher of her 2003 memoir, Reading Lolita in Tehran (Random House). And yet, a little over a year later, Nafisi▓s story of clandestinely teaching forbidden works of Western literature to a group of seven women in her native Iran is a New York Times bestseller and a critical success.

In the book, Nafisi recalls her Tehran living room as a refuge from the restrictions placed on women by the radical Islamic government ≈ a "self-contained universe, mocking the reality of black-scarved, timid faces in the city that sprawled below." Now living in Washington, DC, Nafisi is free to live and teach as she chooses ≈ and she continues to teach the Western classics she▓s always loved.

Q: How has your life changed since the publication of the book?

A: It▓s really difficult to pinpoint it. The most important level for me is that I have been encouraged in terms of what I would call my passion, which is literature, because I have been able to connect to so many people. And before that, this sort of connection was much more limited, and I did not have a good assessment of how much these works that meant so much to me would mean to others. The other part of it is that my life right now seems to be revolving around this book. It▓s like having a new baby in the house: I keep running after it. So I have to rearrange my life, and that is the other change.

Q: Did you ever expect the book to be so successful?

A: I didn▓t, partly because I▓m very pessimistic about any form of success, usually. And I usually try not to even think about it. But when I did think about it, I would drive my editor crazy, saying, "This book will never get anywhere. Nobody will want to talk about Gatsby at this point in life." It was very unexpected, to tell you the truth. It still feels sort of not true.

Q: To what do you attribute its success?

A: Part of it, which I guess at least to marketing people would have been more obvious, was the fact that people are very curious about the part of the world I▓m writing about. I think the surprising aspect of it was not that people are curious, because a lot of books do come out about the region, but that people were saying things like, they didn▓t know that they had so much in common. I think it was what I usually call the shock of recognition. That you read because you▓re curious, and you celebrate differences, but you▓re always surprised by how universal certain things are. And I think that that aspect of it made people read the book. And the other aspect which has been amazing, and I▓m so thankful for it, was really just the books. I mean, I discovered all sorts of people who would write or come in meetings and tell me, "We▓re re-reading Lolita," or talking about Austen, and then also they themselves are beginning to talk about the books that they loved. So that part of it was really the unexpected part, that in these days, when we all are complaining about how people don▓t read ≈ and apparently people read less; I don▓t know ≈ that people are genuinely interested in books and in literature.

Q: What motivated you to write the book in the first place?

A: Well, you know, I▓d become obsessed. That is how I write. Part of this was because when I was writing my other book on Nabokov ≈ and I was writing that in Iran; it was published in ▓94 ≈ I started writing the book on Nabokov as a sort of literary-criticism type of a book. But I kept wanting to talk about the different stages in my life when I read Nabokov, and how each stage made me look at him differently, and how each stage he affected me or influenced my life. And I couldn▓t do that in Iran; I couldn▓t write about the fact that the first book I read by Nabokov was given to me by my boyfriend when I was very young, and I was very much in love. So all through the writing of that book, I kept thinking about this strange relationship between fiction and reality, and how each of them constantly gives insight into the other. So the seeds of it were sort of born out of my other book. And I guess that these are the two obsessions of my life, at the time ≈ living in Iran and fiction. So when I got the chance, as soon as I came to the US, I started talking about these things all the time, and writing. I was lucky that my editor discovered me at one of these talks.

Q: What did you want readers to take away from the book?

A: God, you know, it▓s very difficult for me to say, because as a writer, you like to be surprised by your readers. Sometimes they add things that you hadn▓t thought about, but they▓re unconsciously there. The only thing that I hope from the readers would be an appreciation of imagination. And I also hope they will become more curious about the kind of reality I▓m talking about. I think that real knowledge comes out of genuinely being curious about other people, and not wanting to only read about things that you already know or things that reassert you. So these are the two things I hope my readers will take away, or give back to the book: that curiosity and that empathy.

Q: I was reading a recent New York Times interview with you, and you said, "One thing I can▓t live with, which I would criticize, is to be in competition with my book." What did you mean by that?

A: This is an age where sometimes we pay more attention to people as personalities, rather than people in terms of what they do. Especially for a writer; maybe even in the case of a movie star or an entertainer ≈ even in those cases I think that they would prefer to be known more by the work that they do, rather than who they are. Now, if you become too sensational or too much in the public eye as a personality and not as a writer, people maybe read your book because they know you, or they see you, or they think you▓re an intriguing person, rather than pay attention to the work that you do. And I sometimes worry that that might happen to me, or I▓m giving in to it without realizing. It▓s very difficult to separate yourself from your book. I▓d rather my book or what I write be the center of the attraction, rather than me.

Q: How did you choose which books to read with your private class in Tehran? A: I wanted to discuss with them this idea of how books relate to our lives and to the reality we live in ≈ in an indirect way, not that they should be replicas or formulas for our reality. And I also wanted to choose books that were, on purpose, not obviously moralistic or political, and show them how when they are true to themselves, they can become interesting. And the third thing was that because I was teaching a group of girls, I wanted to also emphasize books that were transgressive in a way, especially in terms of the female protagonist. I know that some people might think that Austen is not transgressive, but I definitely do. So most of these books have at their centers a character that says no to the norms around her, and the conflict of the plot is around that issue. That was basically how I chose, but you know, it▓s so difficult! So many books! Q: Do you go back now and re-read the books you read with your private class in Tehran? A: Oh yes. Q: Does it feel different reading them here? A: Of course Austen I just read all the time; it▓s a ritual. And many of these books of course I▓m teaching here now. It was interesting, how my American students reacted. For example, my American students were more tuned in to the way women are portrayed in these novels, in a more critical manner. And a lot of them had read these books in high school. A lot of them mentioned that re-reading them within this new context made them re-think it. But the readings themselves keep bringing new issues. I don▓t know if it▓s because I▓m living here or because the books themselves yield hidden parts that I hadn▓t thought about. More than ever before we need to read books that are great in terms of works of imagination. And I think that one thing that tuned me in was that point Saul Bellow kept making about sufferings of freedom, ordeals of freedom. And these books constantly address the ordeals of freedom. The choices we make, how we need to be constantly awake and sensitized. And the dreams we follow, and how following a dream is more important than reaching it, because once you reach it, like Gatsby, it might be completely tainted. This is a good time in the West to re-celebrate these works. Q: Have your former students in Tehran read your book? A: Many of them have. Of course my private class, the ones that I have been in touch with; two of them I haven▓t heard from in a while. But the rest I have been in touch with have all read it. I made a point of sending the book to them. Q: What did they think of it? A: Well, the ones that have read it, they say they like it. I was joking with Yassi, actually, that she should be writing a book called The Real Story Behind Reading Lolita in Tehran. Q: What are you reading right now? A: Boy, I▓m reading so many different things right now. Mostly fiction. I just finished reaching Colm TСibМn▓s The Master on James, which was such a fine book. It▓s a beautiful book. I also finished re-reading Margaret Atwood▓s The Blind Assassin, which I▓m trying to choose for my next term. I was sent this wonderful book, which is called The Life of Poetry, by Muriel Rukeyser. God, I can▓t believe I▓m reading all of these books. Q: Do you ever have a day without reading or writing? A: It▓s really seldom. As a writer I have to train myself to just do a bit of writing anyway. But as a reader, I don▓t think I can get away with it. I mean, really every night, I have to read before I go to sleep. One of the good things when I travel is I do that without any guilt. And I read a lot of different things. I love mysteries, so I love a lot of mystery books when I get a chance. And then novels. But reading this one about the life of poetry made me want to go back to poetry. Oh, one best book that I▓m reading is Mordecai Richler▓s Barney▓s Version. Oh, that book is so funny and poignant. It▓s so much fun. Q: What are you writing now? A: Apart from writings here and there, I▓m sort of trying to now focus on my other book, the next book. In general, it will be about the life of three generations of women, and the topic of loss, and how you retrieve what you lose through the act of writing. That idea came to me when I was finishing this book. I just hope I▓ll be able to have some time to just work on it without worry. Azar Nafisi reads from Reading Lolita in Tehran at the Brattle Theatre, on August 4, at 7 p.m. Call (617) 354-5201. Audi and CondИ Nast will make a donation on Nafisi▓s behalf to the Boston Public Library. Tamara Wieder can be reached at twieder@phx.com