Modern fiction brings out the evil in domestic lives, ordinary relations, people like you and me -- Reader! Bruder! as Humbert said. Evil in Austen, as in most great fiction, lies in the inability to "see" others, hence to empathize with them. What is frightening is that this blindness can exist in the best of us {Eliza Bennet} as well as the worst {Humbert}. We are all capable of becoming the blind censor, or imposing our visions and desires on others.
📖 Azar Nafisi
In modern literature, particularly in works like "Reading Lolita in Tehran," the hidden malevolence in everyday life and relationships is highlighted. This reflects how fiction exposes the darker aspects of human interactions, revealing that even ordinary individuals can harbor harmful tendencies. The quote emphasizes the struggle with understanding and empathizing with others, suggesting that characters from different moral spectrums can exhibit a similar blindness toward those around them.
Moreover, this inability...
