My point is, rather, that each text stakes its truth claims in part on the supposed objectivity guaranteed by the techniques of literary mimesis—that is to say, they create believable, three-dimensional worlds for the characters to inhabit and in which readers can immerse themselves—and in part on the expectations engendered by the rules of the genre to which the text belongs. These features are then underwritten, as in the cases of Reading Lolita in Tehran and The Kite Runner, by the supposed authenticity of the author as a spokesperson hailing from that region of the globe under scrutiny. Significantly, only The Kite Runner claims to be a novel. Reading Lolita in Tehran is subtitled A Memoir in Books.

Peter Morey, Islamophobia and the Novel, loc. 214