Marjane Satrapi
by Jessie Howell
Fall 2004

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Marjane Satrapi was born in 1969 in Iran and grew up in Tehran.  She studied illustration both in Iran and then later in Strasbourg.  Though she is currently well-known for her two graphic novels, she says the only comic she read as a child was a comic book adaptation of Marx’s Dialectical Materialism.  She has received much publicity for her comic Persepolis, which describes her childhood growing up during the Iranian revolution.  Just recently published, Persepolis 2 is an account of her move to Europe as a teenager to escape the oppressive Iranian regime and her consequential her readjustment to life in Iran when she returns.  Satrapi currently lives in Paris where she regularly publishes illustrations in magazines and newspapers.  She as also published several children’s books.

What is interesting about Satrapi’s work is its accessibility.  It simplifies issues such as war and revolution by portraying them from a child and adolescent perspective.  In dealing with international conflict Persepolis has been compared to Art Spiegelman’s Maus.  Though the two works are different in many ways, they both prove that comics can be a venue for conveying the drama and horror of modern history, and not simply a means of telling trivial stories.

Persepolis, p.1 | Persepolis 2, p.145

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