Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Embroideries by Marjane Satrapi


I've had this on my bookshelf forever, having read and enjoyed Satrapi's Persepolis books ages ago, but for some reason, didn't get around to this one. However, Iran is in the news once again and after reading Adrian McKinty's blog posts here and here, which are a form of literary solidarity with the protesters' position, I noticed a copy of Embroideries in the store and had a sudden impulse to read it.

Let me start out by saying that I love graphic novels. I am so happy to have been reintroduced to the form again after many, many years, as I was never a comic book collector. And lord knows, I've never been hip enough to have caught on to all the great things people were doing with comics until, what, maybe ten years ago?, when everyone else had the same blinding insight.

I know a lot of people who get frustrated with the form--for them, it's over too quickly. But I really just love the marriage of word and image. I think it's one of the great sins of modern publishing that the divorce of these two has been so complete in all 'serious' modern fiction. Illustration is suspect. But for godssake, why? The most we can hope for these days is a decent cover.

I think one of the reasons I was slow to check out this particular Satrapi was that, in some half-conscious way, I thought of it as 'slight'. After the political work of Persepolis, I suppose I thought she was coasting when writing and illustrating this shorter tale of a group of women coming together to 'ventilate their hearts'--ie, gossip and tell tales. And of course, in this I betray my own subtle indoctrination into the idea of the importance of men's business, and the triviality of women's business.

As we read about what to all intents and purposes is an Iranian women's consciousness raising session, it's true that it's possible to feel that the subject matter is a little bit dated. Haven't we all been through this already? Well, yes and no. Perhaps women's predicaments are universal, but the way they are articulated are particular and local. The position of educated Iranian women must be one of the most delicate and excruciating of all. And let me just say that you will never view the word 'embroidery' in exactly the same way again.

Satrapi is sometimes criticized for the apparent artlessness of her images. There is a lot that is very, very simple in her drawing. But her use of the possibilities of the form are far from naive. She uses the space quite dramatically and effectively.

Check it out.

6 comments:

  1. sounds interesting. I dont know who these people are who crit her drawings, I think they're pretty good.

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  2. I think probably it's just that they are not elaborate like some of the other well-known styles. But I don't think anyone could argue that they aren't highly distinctive. You would not mistake her work for anyone else's, for instance.

    Unless of course there's a whole school of Iranian graphic novelists that we know nothing about. Which, come to think of it, is probably the case.

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  3. I haven't criticized the artlessness of her images, but the flat style in Persepolis did not do much for me. I prefer the richer graphic style of Top Ten or George McManus’ Bringing Up Father. (That’s just one of the first pages I happened to find. Some of his panels of New York City, when he had Maggie and Jiggs visit there, are truly gorgeous.)

    I love the marriage of words and image, and I've long been fascinated with narrative art that reads like a comic strip. Look at Trajan's Column, for instance.

    I also have sympathy with the suggestion that graphic novels are over too quickly, which is why I buy mine in editions that collect several issues.
    ==============
    Detectives Beyond Borders
    “Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home”
    http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/

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  4. Seana, scroll down to the bottom of this string for the most surprising comment I have ever received on my site. It comes from Santa Cruz, or at least from someone who works there.
    ==============
    Detectives Beyond Borders
    “Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home”
    http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/

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  5. I jumped on over to the blog comment--that's pretty amazing. I have to wonder how Maestro Granger got wind of your post. Certainly wasn't through me. I wasn't even in town at the time of that performance.

    As to Satrapi, yes, I think the flatness is a problem for some people, and they do want the image to be in some way more gorgeous. But I think it is a very effective way to depict a society living under a repressive regime--I'm sure all that black is not accidental. And I do think the way she uses space sometimes to create an effect can be quite stunning and memorable.

    I suppose a lot of people think her work looks naive, while my guess is that her style is deliberate.

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  6. Or deliberately naive, which may have been what bothered me. In any case, I bought the book, so it's always available for my reconsideration.
    ==============
    Detectives Beyond Borders
    "Because Murder Is More Fun Away From Home"
    http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete