Raquel Burger's Profile

Iranian Revolution

In 1956, the shah of Iran, in response
to widespread discontent, initiated his "White Revolution," a reform movement aimed at
modernizing Iran's economy while promoting
the country internationally by establishing its role as the "arbiter of East and
West"—that is, as a diplomatic mediator between the Arab world and the West.
However, in the course of pursuing these goals, he attempted to weaken the hold
of Islamic culture, encouraging, for example, large numbers of students to study
abroad and giving greater rights to women, including the right to wear
nontraditional clothing. These reforms drew the fire of many Muslim clergy. In
response, the shah's regime became increasingly intolerant of dissent. His
secret police achieved international notoriety for their brutality and torture,
while the number of people imprisoned grew to nearly 50,000. Throughout this
period the shah was a staunch defender and ally of the United States, who played
a role in maintaining him in power. By 1978, fueled by the preaching of the
Muslim clergy, in particular the exiled Ayatollah Khomeini, discontent had
reached a feverish pitch. In 1978, the shah's police fired on a group of
demonstrating seminarians. As a result, millions of Iranians began to participate in demonstrations,
leading to a critical strike by workers in the oil fields. The shah placed the
country under military rule, but the protests continued unabated. On January 16,
1979, the shah was forced to flee to Egypt. The following month the Ayatollah
returned from exile welcomed by delirious crowds, proclaiming the Islamic
Republic of Iran.

The Iranian Revolution was a remarkable success, but even
more remarkable was its nature. Instead of the usual right-wing or left-wing
coup that was the mark of every other major 20th-century revolt, this was a
religious revolution, establishing a
theocratic government with ultimate control in the hands of the Ayatollah.

Satrapi, Marjane

Born in Rasht, Iran, a decade before the Iranian revolution, Marjane Satrapi has become one of the
most outspoken and insightful voices on Iran. Her primary medium has been the
graphic novels through which she portrays her experiences as a child under the
shah's reign, as an adolescent during the revolution, and her subsequent life as an Iranian
expatriate. Using a stark, black-and-white style, she crafts autobiographic
accounts that reveal the complicated and often contradictory aspects of being
Iranian. Through her novels Satrapi has joined other prominent contemporary
Iranian authors like Shahrnush Parsipur, Gelareh Asayesh, Afshin Molavi,
Firoozeh Dumas, and Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi who address Iranian
identity.

After graduating from college Satrapi began searching for ways to continue
her artistic career. Encouraged by some of her artist friends to tell her
stories of Iran, she discovered the perfect medium—graphic novels. Her first
influences were Art Spiegelman's Maus series, in which she recognized the
possibility of telling stories that could recontextualize a reader's
assumptions. Consequently, Satrapi produced her first two graphic novels,
Persepolis I (2003) and Persepolis II (2004), which garnered her
immediate critical acclaim and secured her deserved prominence as a
novelist.

First published in France as a serial, Persepolis I portrays Satrapi's early years
in Iran until her departure for Vienna at the age of 14. This novel interweaves
Satrapi's personal history with that of her country to reveal the idiosyncrasies
of both. Persepolis II, also
published in France as a serial, continues Satrapi's narrative as she navigates
the complex worlds in which most Iranian expatriates exist. Together these
novels form a compelling revelation of Iranian life both on the individual and
the national levels.

Evidence that Satrapi intended these two novels to function as a continuous
commentary on Iranian life appears in many places. The covers of each novel, for
example, manifest Satrapi's agenda: The first novel portrays a young Satrapi,
covered and resigned, while the second novel portrays Satrapi as a young woman,
uncovered yet still resigned. Also, each novel's last panel repeats itself, but
with significant differences: Each panel portrays Satrapi waving good-bye at the
airport in Teheran, the first in 1984 to her parents as she goes to her freedom,
the second in 1994 also to her parents; but in this panel, she also waves
good-bye to her grandmother, who, she notes, will soon die. Such similarities
and differences inform Satrapi's larger agenda in crafting these two novels to
reveal the conflicts of being Iranian.

When asked why she wrote her Persepolis novels, Satrapi responded: "If
people are given the chance to experience life in more than one country, they
will hate a little less. It's not a miracle potion, but little by little you can
solve problems in the basement of a country, not on the surface. That is why I
wanted people in other countries to read Persepolis, to see that I grew up just like
other children" ("On Writing Persepolis").

Satrapi continues this mission with her latest graphic novel,
Embroideries (2005). Unlike her two previous novels, this work centers on
the dialogue among several Iranian women while at tea. Among those gathered are
Satrapi's mother, grandmother, aunt, and friends. These women freely comment on
virtually every aspect of Iranian life, from love to cosmetic surgery. Again,
Satrapi uses the stark black-and-white style that she had used in her Persepolis series to telling effect. Her
exclusive focus on women's perspectives on Iranian life, however, enables
readers to see how one-dimensional most depictions of Iranian women are;
instead, readers see the various strengths and weaknesses of these women. In
this way Satrapi duplicates her earlier agenda in her Persepolis series to revise narrow views on
Iranian life.