Persepolis

Marjane Satrapi was born in Iran in 1969 and lived through some of the most difficult years of the nation's history. Satrapi's family was a politically-active one with members critical of both the Shah of Iran and the Islamic regime that came to replace him. In Persepolis, Satrapi tells the story of her own childhood but also explores the complexities of Iranian history, the politics of imperialism, the strictures of religious fundamentalism, and the possibilities for survival in exile.

Like Maus, Marjane Satrapi's graphic narrative, Persepolis, is a memoir that marries text and image to tell a story of historical and personal rupture. Persepolis tells the story of Satrapi's childhood experiences during the time of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and her later exile from her homeland. How is Satrapi's story different from the usual coming-of-age narratives we are used to reading in novels and short stories? How does the visual aspect of Persepolis allow Satrapi to show/ not show the graphic violence perpetrated during the bloody revolts and warfare that took place in Iran during the time she was growing up? Persepolis has recently been made into a film. Is Persepolis the graphic narrative already somehow cinematic?