From “a law student at the London School of Economics”:
Mr Goldberg,
Under the heading “Wolfie, Lolita, Strauss, Women….”, you post a reader’s email mentioning that, in Reading Lolita in Tehran, author Azar Nafisi cryptically acknowledges “Paul” for introducing her to Leo Strauss’ Persecution and the Art of Writing. The email goes on to claim that the “Paul” in question is Paul Wolfowitz.
The Corner, I fear, has been Rathered.
The origins of this controversy began when closet neo-con Christopher Hitchens, speaking to Britain’s Independent tabloid (formerly a newspaper) (http://news.independent.co.uk/people/profiles/story.jsp?story=564559), claimed that Reading Lolita in Tehran was “dedicated” to Paul Wolfowitz. In fact, the book’s dedication reads as follows:
“In memory of my mother, Nezhat Nafisi
For my father, Ahmad Nafisi,
And my family: Bijan, Negar and Dara Naderi.”
In a subsequently published article in Slate (http://slate.msn.com/id/2105821), Hitchens revised his earlier claim, saying, “on the pages devoted to ‘Acknowledgements’ …one finds a tribute to ‘Paul’… ‘Paul,’ you may care to know, is Paul Wolfowitz.”
I mean no disrespect to Christopher Hitchens or the author of the letter you posted, both of whom I’m sure are lovely people, but there is no persuasive evidence that Azar Nafisi was thanking Paul Wolfowitz; unless, of course, he is the only “Paul” to have read Leo Strauss.