Marjane Satrapi was 11 years old when the Islamic Revolution swept across her homeland of Iran. Her first memoir “Persepolis” was an autobiographical comic tale of a restless girlhood during the revolution and subsequent Iran-Iraq War. Its bittersweet images of little girls playing games about martyrdom won her widespread critical acclaim.
Now Marjane is back with a sequel detailing her teenage adventures in the West, an experience that her liberal-minded parents hoped would help her avoid the restrictions of Iran. But freedom in Vienna brings its own difficulties and it isn’t long before sex, and drugs, and a life on the streets leads her back home to Iran.
Marjane Satrapi’s illustrations of her own personal clash of civilizations also brings new insights into the cultural clumsiness of both Eastern and Western cultures.
Guests:
Marjane Satrapi, author of “Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return,” and “Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood”