From a book I'm reading

From "Reading Lolita in Tehran" by Azar Nafisi
"That first day I asked my students what they thought fiction should accomplish, why one should bother to read fiction at all. It was an odd way to start, but I did succeed in getting their attention. I explained that we would in the course of the semester read and discuss many different authors, but that one thing these authors all had in common was their subversiveness. Some, like Gorky or Gold, were overtly subversive in their political aims; others like Fitzgerald and Mark Twain, were in my opinion more subversive, if less obviously so. I told them we would come back to this term, because my understanding of it was somewhat different from its usual definition. I wrote on the board one of my favourite lines from the German thinker Theodor Adorno:
"The highest form of morality is not to feel at home in one's own home."
I explained that most great works of the imagination were meant to make you feel like stranger in your own home. The best fiction always forced us to quesotin what we took for granted. It questioned traditions and expectations when they seemed too immutable. I told my students I wanted them in their readings to consider in what ways these works unsettled them, made them a little uneasy, made them look around and consider the world, like Alice in Wonderland, through different eyes."

Anish Kapoor in Paris

Yups, I was in Paris recently.

And I got to see the latest Anish Kapoor exhibit in the Grand Palais at Paris.

It was very unique and thought provoking. The Grand Palais itself is a lovely structure, built in 1900. Anish Kapoor's work dominated the structure, and I was glad that I made the effort to see it. I almost didn't - thinking I'd trade in my last evening at Paris and watch television instead in my hotel room. Even when I write this it sounds so stupid!! What was I thinking!!

I took a guided tour - and believe it or not, I got the nicest girl from the museum to translate for me! Plus there was a talk by Anish Kapoor which I also attended. I got back to the hotel pretty late - 10:30 PM, but it was well worth the visit, the effort and the walk back to my hotel down Champs Elysees!! :)