In memory of Marjane Satrapi, with gratitude
Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian-French author of the graphic novel and co-director of the film adaptation, has passed at the young age of 56.
Persepolis is about to be, once again, a focal point for students in Seattle Pacific University’s Middle East: Film & Literature class. According to the official course description, the class
explores how Middle Eastern and North African filmmakers and literary authors resist Western images and conceptions of these regions. Typical topics include the haunting impact of colonization on local cultures, landscapes, and histories; the intersection of various political identities; and remembrance as a radical act. Texts may include Raffo’s 9 Parts of Desire; Saadawi’s Frankenstein in Baghdad; films from Iran, Israel/Palestine, Algeria, Tunisia.
The campus poster promoting the course announces that the animated film and graphic novel Persepolis will be part of the syllabus as well — as it has been in several previous SPU courses. That is a testament to the lasting power of both the acclaimed film and its graphic-novel source.
So, Persepolis has been on my mind already this week. And thus I was stunned when I woke to the news Marjane Satrapi, the Iranian-French author of the graphic novel and co-director of the film adaptation, has passed at the young age of 56.
You can read the initial report at Reuters, and fuller remembrances at The New York Times and NPR.
Here is a link to the excellent piece on Persepolis that Kenneth R. Morefield wrote for my site Looking Closer back when he first saw the film.
