Khamenei reveals himself as an ‘#AvidReader’ of fiction

The Iran’s supreme leader has declared himself to be an “#AvidReader”, unveiling a hitherto unsuspected passion for the works of the Soviet authors Mikhail Sholokhov and Alexei Tolstoy.

Writing on his English-language Twitter feed @khamenei_ir, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that while he is “not into cinema and visual arts”, when it “comes to poetry and novels, I’m not just a typical audience”.

The Ayatollah is certainly far from being a typical reader. Khameini has been the most powerful figure in Iran since the death in 1989 of the founder of the Islamic Revolution, Rouhollah Khomeini, and wields the final say over the country’s international and domestic policy. He is ultimately responsible for a regime in which censorship is ubiquitous, and where – according to PEN International – more than 20 writers are currently held in Iranian jails.

The 75-year-old religious leader told his 100,000-plus Twitter followers he has “read many novels & poems”. He added that when it comes to the October Revolution of 1917, the works of Sholokhov, who won the Nobel prize in 1965, and Alexei Tolstoy – an émigré who became a supporter of the Soviet regime – “are interesting”.

“Tolstoy is a powerful writer,” wrote the Ayatollah in a series of tweets. “I like Alexei #Tolstoy, an amazing writer; till 1925 he was anti-revolutionary then he grasps #revolution, returns home to write The Ordeal.”

A distant relative of Leo Tolstoy, Alexei Tolstoy was a former nobleman who became a major Soviet artist. The Ordeal, a trilogy, covers the October Revolution and the civil war, the author writing of it that “I not only acknowledge the Revolution – with such acknowledgement alone it would not be possible even to write a novel – I love its dark majesty, its world-wide scope. And that is the task of my novel – to create this majesty, this scope in all its complexity.”

“I’ve read so much on Oct. Rev.,” tweeted Khamenei. “#Sholokhov’s The Quiet Don is good but #Tolstoi’s The Ordeal is better in depicting a #revolution.”

Better known in English translation as And Quiet Flows the Don, Sholokhov’s epic, portraying life in a Cossack village, is the reason he was awarded the Nobel. Announcing him as winner, judges cited “the artistic power and integrity with which, in his epic of the Don, he has given expression to a historic phase in the life of the Russian people”.

Daniel Kalder, an author who has written a series of pieces about dictators and literature for the Guardian, called the authors “very interesting choices, especially the Alexei Tolstoy”.

“Both Sholokhov and Tolstoy were very pro-regime writers, but Sholokhov was recognised internationally, and won the Nobel prize, so everyone knows him as a good writer. Alexei Tolstoy though is a very interesting figure. He was on the ‘wrong side’, anti-Bolshevik, became an émigré, and then he returned,” said Kalder. “He was so skilled at giving the regime what it wanted that he made it through Stalin’s repressions. He was able to adapt, and it looks like his text is too.”

Kalder described The Ordeal as “readable”. “People think of Soviet books as being propaganda but The Ordeal is definitely a page-turner. It’s set in the heat of the revolution in St Petersburg – you see the old world destroyed, and two sisters adapting to the new world. It’s super melodramatic – everything is dialled up to 11 in terms of drama and emotions.”

The author, who is currently writing a book exploring dictators and their literature, said he could “see why the Ayatollah, having witnessed himself the destruction of a society and a new one replacing it”, would find the book appealing.

“The sheer unexpectedness of it as a choice makes it sound real,” he added. “This stuff would have been circulating in Iran but what is interesting about it is that it seems the theocratic regime did not object to these books, even though they were written by people who were overtly atheist Marxists. They were able to overlook that and see its revolutionary value.”

For Cathy McCann at PEN International, there’s a bitter irony in Khameini presenting himself as an enthusiastic reader.

“In spite of pledges made by President Rouhani to protect and promote freedom of expression, the new administration has not made any significant improvements in this respect to date,” she said. Although some “cosmetic” gestures have been made, she continued, “dozens remain behind bars and arrests are continuing. Writers facing persecution continue to flee Iran in large numbers, and many report continued harassment by the authorities towards family members who remain in the country.

“In the light of this, Ayatollah Khamenei’s comments are an insult to all readers and writers in Iran.”

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/27/ayatollah-khameini-avidreader-fiction-sholokhov