Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis:
Reading Discussion 6: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL
You were asked to read the introduction and the first four chapters of Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. In the 20th century, the term “graphic novel†has come to mean a narrative work (very often fiction, but also nonfiction as well) that tells its story in images, i.e. comic-strip-type pictures. Unlike the comic strip, it is not a serial publication but is instead published in book form.
Persepolis is in fact a work of fiction in graphic form, but it clearly relies heavily on Satrapi’s own personal, cultural, political, and historical experiences. The novel is based upon allusions that Satrapi makes to Iranian political history.
Please share your perceptions of the novel in response to this discussion thread:
What did you like? What did you not like? Was there any portion of the first few chapters that you did not understand? How effective were Satrapi’s drawings in communicating some of her key points about Iranian political history? Is there anything else you’d like to share about this work?
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