After today's class and Friday's class, I decided to take a look back on Satrapi in Persepolis and whether it could be an Autobiography or not. Pascal says that an
autobiography is the “reconstruction of the movement of a life” and a
“shaping of the past” (Pascal 9). Saying Perspolis is an autobiography is a far stretch, but I believe that there are two aspects of Persepolis that prevent its being an autobiography by the definition above. Pascal defines the difference between autobiography, memoirs
and reminiscence. He says “in the autobiography proper, attention is
focused on the self, in the memoir or reminiscence on others” (Pascal
5). Reading this definition, Persepolis fits within the category closer to a memoir/reminiscence because of its interplay. To be exact, the interplay between Marji and Satrapi and
other characters. Satrapi’s using a comic box life format to insert her opinions throughout the story could possibly fit into the
definition of an autobiography. Although as we look into the lives of
others, including her uncle, her parents, and victims of violence, changes the focus to the others included in her book.
Pascal also claims that
autobiography is “historical in its method, and at the same time the
representation of the self in and through its relations with the outer
world” (Pascal 8). Meaning the focus of the autobiography is on
the life of the person it is written about and how they change because
of the world around them, for example, Marji. After looking at the introduction of 'Our Nig' in class today, I also took some time to look at Satrapi introduction. I noticed it says that “I believe that
an entire nation should not be judged by the wrongdoings of a few
extremists” and "this is why writing Persepolis was so important to me” (Satrapi Introduction). Based on this exigency, the focus is not
on Marji’s life, it is on the people of Iran and the world around them. This leads to why I think that although Persepolis shares many similarities with
autobiographies, its narration and exigency preclude it from being one.
You completely hit the nail on the head with this argument. I agree with your thesis, and found it very interesting that half of your argument for genre was based in part on exigence (“I think that although Persepolis shares many similarities with autobiographies, its narration and exigency preclude it from being one”). If I understand you correctly, it was exigence that helped determine what you concluded to be the genre of the text. Just as you, the reader, found genre through exigence; so author chooses their genre to best fit their exigence. The definition of each type of genre is directly related to what the author wants to say. Pascal says “[An autobiography] is a review of a life from a particular moment in time, while the diary, however reflective it may be, moves through a serious moments in time” (Pascal, 3). An author’s exigence for writing an autobiography could be to show his/ her character development from adolescence through adulthood. On the other hand, the author would be more inclined to write in a diary format if he/she wanted to emphasize very specific, important events that resulted in the change of his/her character. Then there is memoir, which Satrapi used (as you stated in your post, “Reading this definition, Persepolis fits within the category closer to a memoir/reminiscence because of its interplay. To be exact, the interplay between Marji and Satrapi and other characters”) because her exigence was more directed towards and focused on the people around her. The resulting change in her person is autobiographical, but the entirety of the work is not. An author’s exigence is the most important clue in determining genre, for both the author and the reader.
ReplyDeleteI agree with much of what you said, but I also think that Satrapi's work could almost be considered more of a diary, at least in Pascal's sense. For instance, he states that "... the diary ... moves through a series of moments in time." (3). We know this is accurate, as Satrapi's jumpy nature indicates. She is consistently moving from place to place, time to time, in both the narrator's shoes and the firsthand viewpoint.
ReplyDeleteTo contrast this, she does reflect historically in hindsight on events contemporary to her childhood. In Pascal's words, "... they [the autobiographers] alter earlier judgements and detect significances which escaped them at the time." (4) Satrapi, in her narrator's role (not Marji's), is consistently pointing out significant points to the reader that she may not have noticed were significant at the time (like when she went to demonstrate for the first time, following her parents, which turned out to be violent; all of this was foreshadowed previously, upon closer examination of the context).
I believe that in some ways, like you said it could be seen as autobiographical and in other ways it could not. The author depicts her life as Marjane throughout the entire graphic novel and through the comic box layout she gives an inside view on what Marji is thinking and feeling as the story progresses. This could very well reflect on Satrapi's real life hence making it autobiographical.
ReplyDeleteHowever, on the other hand it could also be argued that since the story is not only based on the main character marjane, it is not necessarily an autobiography. The author focuses on a lot of other characters such as the parents, grandparents, friends etc...Therefore the story is not solely based on Marjane hence making it stray away from an autobiographical type novel.