Chicken With Plums is the newest work by Marjane Satrapi that I have read. She is best known for Persepolis which is in turn best known for being a movie, rather than a graphic autobiography.
If I were to try and put my finger on what aspect of Marjane Satrapi’s work is her greatest achievement, it is that she has made the most alien of cultures the most warm and inviting place. It is one of the greatest banes of our times that we are simultaneously expanding horizons while shrinking perceptions meaning we are probably as bad or worse than preceding generations when it comes to knowing neighbouring cultures.
India and Persia (or Iran, which is where she comes from and where she writes about) are joined at the hip in many ways, more than just playing Prince of Persia. Yet I feel I know so little of the country, and am guilty of holding the same stereotyped images of countries in the middle-East as anyone else. This is where Marjane Satrapi comes through with a metaphoric serving of chicken with plums for her readers.
What do I mean by that?
Have you ever eaten chicken with plums? I haven’t. But now I know that somewhere in the world there exists such a dish and that is loved by many. I also know that just as there is a chance it will not appeal to my taste buds, there is a chance that it might. The important thing is to know that some people like it, just as they like cigarettes and music, low cut dresses and celebrities, and teenage crushes and, well, you get the picture.
The idea of literature is to share. Simple. We don’t write to conceal but to reveal. And the idea of reading is to understand. We don’t read to just not let what is being said enter our brain and mind and soul. This is why it is important to read a book like this. Learn about Naseer Ali Khan and his wife and children. About Iran’s cultural revolution. And about Marjane Satrapi who is the greatest myth-busting, a-stereotypical comic book creator that I have come across.
And try chicken with plums someday. If I try it before you I will tell you how it is.
If I were to try and put my finger on what aspect of Marjane Satrapi’s work is her greatest achievement, it is that she has made the most alien of cultures the most warm and inviting place. It is one of the greatest banes of our times that we are simultaneously expanding horizons while shrinking perceptions meaning we are probably as bad or worse than preceding generations when it comes to knowing neighbouring cultures.
India and Persia (or Iran, which is where she comes from and where she writes about) are joined at the hip in many ways, more than just playing Prince of Persia. Yet I feel I know so little of the country, and am guilty of holding the same stereotyped images of countries in the middle-East as anyone else. This is where Marjane Satrapi comes through with a metaphoric serving of chicken with plums for her readers.
What do I mean by that?
Have you ever eaten chicken with plums? I haven’t. But now I know that somewhere in the world there exists such a dish and that is loved by many. I also know that just as there is a chance it will not appeal to my taste buds, there is a chance that it might. The important thing is to know that some people like it, just as they like cigarettes and music, low cut dresses and celebrities, and teenage crushes and, well, you get the picture.
The idea of literature is to share. Simple. We don’t write to conceal but to reveal. And the idea of reading is to understand. We don’t read to just not let what is being said enter our brain and mind and soul. This is why it is important to read a book like this. Learn about Naseer Ali Khan and his wife and children. About Iran’s cultural revolution. And about Marjane Satrapi who is the greatest myth-busting, a-stereotypical comic book creator that I have come across.
And try chicken with plums someday. If I try it before you I will tell you how it is.
