Question 1

Do I need to read both volumes of Persepolis?

Accepted Answer

Persepolis was published in France in four volumes, which were later collected into two English-language volumes: Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood (covering Satrapi's years from childhood through her departure for Vienna) and Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return (covering her years in Vienna and her return to Iran and her eventual emigration). Both volumes together constitute a complete work; reading only the first volume gives you Satrapi's childhood and the Islamic Revolution but leaves her story at the moment she leaves Tehran. The complete Persepolis — both volumes — is the recommended reading, and most editions published in English after 2007 contain both volumes in a single collection. The story is continuous across both volumes and should be read in order.

Question 2

Why does Persepolis use black-and-white art?

Accepted Answer

Satrapi's use of black-and-white line art — simple, bold, and highly stylized — is one of the defining aesthetic choices of Persepolis and was deliberate rather than practical. Satrapi has said that the stark black-and-white style reflects the moral clarity that the young Marji seeks in a world that is becoming increasingly morally complex; as the revolution progresses and the world becomes less simple, the art remains simple, creating a tension between the complexity of what is being depicted and the clarity of how it is depicted. The style also draws on a long tradition of Persian miniature painting and shadow theater, giving the work a distinctly Iranian visual vocabulary that is not quite Western comics and not quite traditional Persian art. The contrast between the simplicity of the drawing style and the gravity of the subject matter — revolution, war, exile — is itself a formal argument about how children perceive and process historical events that adults find overwhelming.

Question 3

Is Persepolis accurate as a historical account of the Islamic Revolution?

Accepted Answer

Persepolis is a memoir — it is Satrapi's personal experience and perspective, not a historical document — and some elements of it have been disputed or contested. Satrapi has been explicit that she is telling her own story, from her own (privileged, secular, politically engaged) family's perspective, and that other Iranians would tell the revolution differently. The book has been banned in Iran, where it is considered a distorted and anti-Islamic portrayal of the revolution; it has also been criticized by some Iranian scholars and readers who feel that Satrapi's upper-middle-class background shapes what she depicts in ways she does not fully acknowledge. At the same time, the broad outlines of what Satrapi depicts — the revolution, the imposition of the hijab, the Iran-Iraq War, the execution of political prisoners, the restrictions on cultural life — are historically documented. Persepolis should be read as a memoir (a subjective account of lived experience) rather than a history, but as a memoir it is one of the most vivid and formally accomplished accounts of life in revolutionary Iran available to English-language readers.

Persepolis Reading Order

Complete Persepolis Book List

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood

Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

Embroideries

Persepolis — Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to read both volumes of Persepolis?

Why does Persepolis use black-and-white art?

Is Persepolis accurate as a historical account of the Islamic Revolution?

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