You don't read Gatsby, I said, to learn whether adultery is good or bad but to learn about how complicated issues such as adultery and fidelity and marriage are. A great novel heightens your senses and sensitivity to the complexities of life and of individuals, and prevents you from the self-righteousness that sees morality in fixed formulas about good and evil. Azar Nafisi
About This Quote

This statement is one of the most profound sentences in all literature. It comes from F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby. He was telling us that we should read Gatsby in order to learn that adultery is not just a simple issue of good or bad, but is actually complicated and involves many people involved in the story.

Source: Reading Lolita In Tehran

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  2. Most great works of the imagination were meant to make you feel like a stranger in your own home. The best fiction always forced us to question what we took for granted. It questioned traditions and expectations when they seemed to immutable.
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  5. Our personal fears and emotions are at times stronger than public danger. By keeping them secret, we allow them to remain malignant. You need to be able to articulate something if you want it to go away, and to do that, you must acknowledge that...
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