Satrapi at Politics and Prose followup

Tom Spurgeon linked to this site which reproduces a State Dept information piece on Satrapi, quoting from her talk at Politics and Prose on Halloween. This struck me as slightly odd, but not inappropriate. She's certainly an articulate advocate for her point of view.

Since works by the US Gov't are in the public domain, here's the whole piece:

06 November 2006
Book About Wartime Iran a Statement Against Dictatorships:
Graphic novel explains experiences of Iranians during revolution and war


Washington -- Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis, a four-volume series that first was published in 2000, has become one of the most influential graphic novels in the past 10 years and is a cornerstone of curricula being taught at U.S. universities, including the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, the premier institution for training U.S. Army officers.

The series, which tells the story of Satrapi's life in revolutionary and wartime Iran, has educated and inspired a wide range of readers, including pro-democracy activists from China to Chile.

“Suddenly it became the story of all dictatorships and it put me in a situation that suddenly, despite myself, I became the voice of a generation or the population,” Satrapi said in Washington October 31.

She said she wrote the book to help outsiders understand the Iranian people and their experience during the revolution and war with Iraq, adding that with the current tensions between Iran and the outside world, “there is a lot of need of this book today.”

“This whole work … [was] to try to show the human part of us, to say hey, these people that are so much misjudged, they are human beings exactly like you with family stories, with hopes, and you can identify with them and it might be you today.”

She said a whole generation of Iranians went through this, and now after a period of reflection “it is the right moment” to talk about these events.

Satrapi is among a growing number of women of Persian heritage living in the United States and elsewhere who are seizing upon the opportunity to tell their own stories, taking advantage of new freedoms and an increased feeling of comfort in their new societies. (See related article.)

For more coverage, see Women in the Global Community and The Arts.

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

and here's a second article from the same session:

06 November 2006
Iranian Women in Exile Finding Voices Through Literature: Lack of censorship spawns creative outlet for women to tell their own stories
By Stephen Kaufman
Washington File Staff Writer


Washington -- Women of Persian heritage living in the United States and elsewhere are seizing upon the opportunity to tell their own stories, taking advantage of new freedoms and an increased feeling of comfort in their new societies, and the literary world in turn has begun to respond with interest.

Persis Karim, associate professor of English and comparative literature at San Jose State University in California, said that in the past five years to six years there has been “an explosion” of memoirs written by women of Iranian heritage that discuss the loss and nostalgia from having to leave their home country, as well as taboo topics such as sexuality and love.

Speaking at the University of Maryland November 2, Karim attributed the surge of activity in the United States to “a real desire for people to narrate their own story, and a curiosity on the part of Americans -- readers and publishers -- to know something about Iranian women in particular.”

Women in the Iranian Diaspora are “remak[ing] themselves anew,” and Karim said they feel more of an urgency than men to represent themselves to the outside world. She said this stems in part from a reaction to the media’s depiction of Iranian women concealed by veils and seemingly without a voice. But they also want to represent themselves “because they, in some ways, never had that opportunity.”

Karim said the freedom in the Diaspora to write without censorship “is a really important part” of the new wave of literature, and in her compilation, Let Me Tell You Where I Have Been, she includes poems and stories by women written without the knowledge or approval of their families, including topics that explore wide-ranging sexual themes that are typically restricted in Iran’s conservative, traditional culture.

“[W]hat’s exciting and interesting about it is people are writing about sexuality and marriage and love in ways that are very difficult, particularly at the present moment, to write about in Iran,” she said. “It’s a very interesting moment in terms of the literature.”

These women are asking “hard questions about American culture and about Iranian culture,” and Karim said “they’re willing to do it in writing and I think obviously, with the issue of censorship not being there, it affords them some of those opportunities.”

PATRIARCHAL CULTURE SEEN AS INHIBITING DEMOCRACY

Marjane Satrapi, a graphic novelist living in France, has achieved tremendous international recognition, especially for her book, Persepolis, which tells the story of her life in revolutionary and wartime Iran. (See related article.)

Her book Embroideries concerns the situation of women and the topic of sex in Iran, which she describes as “a big taboo in any country in which you don’t have democracy.” Satrapi was speaking in a Washington bookstore October 31.

Among other themes in Embroideries, she discusses the issue of virginity and the cultural importance and pressure that it places on women.

“[It] is the first key to the open door of freedom and democracy because until this problem is solved, of course we cannot talk about democracy,” she said, explaining that she was seeking to discuss “in a nonaggressive way” the right of women to enjoy sexual gratification.

“I really certainly believe that the biggest enemy of democracy is the patriarchal culture,” Satrapi said. Authoritarian and oppressive leaders cannot stop democracy, she argued, but the culture can. In many countries, “half of the society is repressed by the other half of the society,” and it is often enforced through popular notions that women are less intelligent than men or are too sensitive by nature to accomplish what men can.

Democracy is “an evolution,” she said. In Iran, although women “have half of the rights of the men,” 70 percent of Iranian students are women. Satrapi suggested change could occur when educated women become economically independent, but until then “our government is really not representative of us.”

LIFE IN EXILE CREATES BOTH NOSTALGIA AND CREATIVE OPPORTUNITIES

Karim said Iranian Americans are beginning “to write themselves back into the narrative” of the recent events in Iran, and their work is marked by a confidence in English language expression.

“What I see coming through in the writing is a real attempt to grapple with how one situates oneself between that culture in Iran and the United States and/or other countries,” she said. Many younger Iranian Americans are claiming their cultural heritage, but are “also recognizing that they do stand outside of it to some degree.”

Simultaneously, she said, there is “a whole generation of young people growing up in the United States who are influenced and interested in Iranian culture and who are trying to find ways to address that interest.”

Karim said life in the United States, a country of immigrants, has created what she termed “hybrid literature.” The situation of living in a new place gives space for people to “reinvent themselves and maybe revisit their traditions and create new bodies of knowledge based on the experience of immigration.”

It also creates room to depart from the burden of tradition, addressing the writers’ desire to “create something new, with a new language, [and] a new experience.”

Literature by Iranian-American women is also “part of a conversation that’s much bigger than just the United States,” she said, because Iranians now are living all over the world.

“I think that that inability to comfortably go back to Iran without problems or concerns, or feeling somewhat cut off from that ability to have regular engagement with the culture … makes people want to talk about it and write about it and see themselves in some relationship to it,” she said.

For more information, see Women in the Global Community and The Arts.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

International Journal of Comic Art out now

The new issue of the International Journal of Comic Art is out now. An academic journal published and edited by John Lent, the current issue has an excellent piece on Grant Morrison and Dave McKean's Batman graphic novel, Arkham Asylum by Howard University professor Marc Singer. It's also got an interview with Harvey Pekar, Josh Neufeld, Dean Haspiel and Ed Piskor by yours truly from last year's Small Press Expo. The Exhibition Reviews section which I edit has my comments on recent local shows "Drawing Back" at Provisions Library, "Miguel Covarrubias" at the Cultural Institute of Mexico, and "Mightier than the Sword: The Satirical Pen of Kal" at the Walters Art Museum.

Buy your copy today!

Nov 7 - Richard's Poor Alamanac snuck in Post

This is a day late because my modem refused to recognize my internet service last night. The Post snuck a Richard Thompson cartoon, "An Introduction to Electronic Voting", in color on the front page of Style yesterday. The panel usually appears on Saturday.

Matt Wuerker becomes staff cartoonist on Nov 21

Tom Spurgeon at the Comics Reporter picked this bit up from the AAEC website - local freelance cartoonist Matt Wuerker, whose work is infrequently seen in the Washington Times, and in political ads in the Washington Post, will become the staff cartoonist of the new Capitol Leader paper. The AAEC also reports that you can see Wuerker's Flash-animated cartoons here.

Cartoon America - ABC News review

Tom Spurgeon pointed this out on his Comics Reporter blog.

ABC News covered the exhibit with a report by LAURA MARQUEZ - "Vietnam War Jabs and Washington Spending: The Art of Editorial Cartoons - New Exhibit Traces History of Political Drawings, Reflecting Little Changes in Washington."

The two-page article also links to a slideshow Cartoons Through War & Scandal.

Course: Super-Mensch: The Story of Jews and Comic Books

Steve Bergson pointed this one out on his Jewish Comics group.


Super-Mensch: The Story of Jews and Comic Books
Oct. 30 - Nov. 27 ,
(5 sessions)
7:00 - 8:15 PM
Members: $55, non-members: $65


Since the inception of the comic book industry, Jews have been involved as writers, artists, and visionaries. In fact, many heroes and villains have been based on the Jewish-American experience. We will look at how the relationship between Jews and comic books began, how it has grown, and what we can expect for the future.

Richard "Kap" Kaplowitz is a lifelong comic book collector and student of the industry. His son sells comics for "Kap's Komics" online and at comic book shows.

Monday classes at St. Margaret's Episcopal Church, Dupont Circle, 1830 Connecticut Ave, NW, two blocks north of the Dupont Circle's north Metro exit. Street parking is available.

Nov 3 - Fluggenock poster spotted

Driving home tonight, I spotted a Mike Fluggenock poster on the lightpost base at 21st and Massachussets Ave, NW. Fluggenock's a local anarchist who puts his cartoon work on the web for anyone to print and use. The poster I saw, pictured above, can also be downloaded here.

DC needs more Fluggenocks.

Dec 13 - Booksigning - Neal Gabler on Walt Disney

Gabler's signing his new biography on Disney at 7 pm at Politics and Prose.

Salon's run an excerpt of this recently.

And apparently there's been some criticism of the book? Anyone know anything?

Nov 30 - Booksigning - Matt Diffee

Matt Diffee signs The Rejection Collection at Politics and Prose at 7 pm. These are the cartoons the New Yorker didn't want. I'll be going to this one.

For further information,

The Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco has an exhibit of the cartoons through March - 655 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105 - 415-CAR-TOON, http://www.cartoonart.org

Reviews of the book:

Dernavich, Drew. 2006.
Back to the drawing board: A new anthology collects cartoons that were too dirty, too wacky, or just too dumb to make it into The New Yorker.
Boston Globe (October 15).

SCHILLINGER, LIESL. 2006.
Crossing the Line, Laughing All the Way.
New York Times (October 22): ST13

Washington Post editorial cartoonist Coffin in GWU magazine

I got my alumni copy of GW Magazine from George Washington University last night and my wife pointed out that there's an article on 19th century Washington Post editorial cartoonist George Yost Coffin in it by Lyle Slovick, one of the University's archivist. Coffin's papers are in the Gelman Library. It's a good article and worth reading.

Nov 3 - Aardman Animation's Flushed Away opens in DC

Reviews of the new movie by the Wallace & Gromit studio can be found in the Post, Washington Times, Sally Kline's in the Examiner and an Associated Press bit in the Express. In spite of the subject matter (rat flushed down the toilet into the sewers), I'm looking forward to seeing this.

Also in the Post is a review of Class of 3000, a new animated tv show.

Nov 2 - Cartoonists in City Paper

The cover story in the City Paper is illustrated by my friend Rob Ullman - Rob regularly illustrates the Savage Love column in the paper, although he's based in Richmond. He was up here recently for SPX and the City Paper's festival so I bought some more art from him. Most of the illos can be seen on the website, but look much better in the paper.

Also, Josh Neufeld, another nice guy who does some good travel comics called Vagabond, has an illo in the paper too.

Mike

Nov 2 - Zadzooks on comics-related video games

In this article, he reviews a Peanuts videogame as well as the dvd for the animated Monster House.

Snoopy's dogfight with Red Baron
By Joseph Szadkowski
WASHINGTON TIMES November 2, 2006

Nov 2 - Cartoon America opens, mentioned in newspapers

I'll try to post a few pictures and quotes from the opening later, but in the meantime, the Express has a small article by Arion Berger on the exhibit, with an illustration by E. Simms Campbell. The Examiner has a blurb on the inside front cover with a completely inappropriate picture of people looking at life-size Hanna-Barbera characters. Nothing in the Post yet.

Nov 2 - Cartoon America opens at Library of Congress

I was privileged to go to the preview opening today, and hear remarks by collector and cartoonist Art Wood, Librarian of Congress James Billington, curator/author Harry Katz and noted cartoonists Jules Feiffer, Ann Telnaes and Kal, as well as meeting the Post's Richard Thompson ... and all of this occured in the gilded 'members' room of the Library of Congress. A very attractive room that was. Anyway, I'll try to post more on this in the next day, or so, but here's the press release for this absolutely fantastic exhibit. The Nast original alone is worth making the trip downtown to see. Martha and Sara have done another fine job. And don't forget that they've got a Herblock exhibit on the floor above as well.


Library of Congress Exhibition "Cartoon America" Opens Nov. 2
Exhibition Features America's Best Cartoons from the Art Wood Collection

"Cartoon America: Highlights from the Art Wood Collection of Cartoon and Caricature" will open at the Library of Congress on Thursday, Nov. 2, in the Great Hall of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. S.E., Washington, D.C. On view through Jan. 27, 2007, the exhibition is free and open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday-Saturday.

The exhibition will feature 100 masterworks of such celebrated artists as political cartoonists Thomas Nast, Rube Goldberg, Bill Mauldin and Patrick Oliphant; comic strip creators Winsor McCay, George Herriman, Chic Young, Milt Caniff, Charles Schulz and Lynn Johnston; humorous gag cartoonists Peter Arno and William Steig; caricaturists Al Hirschfeld and David Levine; animation drawings and cels from Walt Disney Productions and Hanna-Barbera; and illustrations by Edwin A. Abbey, John Held and Michael Hague.

Drawings selected for the exhibition reflect the primary collecting interests of J. Arthur Wood Jr., a connoisseur of popular graphic art. Wood's collection of more than 36,000 original cartoon drawings * the Art Wood Collection of Cartoon and Caricature * is now housed in the Library's Prints and Photographs Division. The collection came to the Library in 2003 through a gift-purchase agreement made possible in part by a generous contribution from H. Fred Krimendahl II, a member of the Library's Madison Council, and the generosity of Wood himself.

The collection, spanning three centuries, is distinctive and unparalleled because of the depth of holdings in political cartoons and comic strips and the specific landmark pieces in all major genres. It stands out as a jewel among the Library's special collections, illuminating the history of American cartoon art forms and greatly enhancing the Library's extensive holdings of cartoon art.

According to exhibition co-curators Sara W. Duke and Martha H. Kennedy, the exhibition presents stellar examples from Wood's collection that reflect the vitality of an innovative, indigenous art form. The exhibition features the major genres of cartoon art: political cartoons, illustration, comic strips, gag and single-panel cartoons, illustration, and animation drawings and cels. An overview of highlights includes:

* Political cartoons by leading practitioners of the "ungentlemanly art," who comment pointedly on corruption, war and public figures from the 19th century's Gilded Age to recent times. Their visual editorials reflect diverse viewpoints conveyed in a wide variety of artistic approaches, including the classic cross-hatching techniques of Harper's Weekly cartoonist Thomas Nast and Washington Star cartoonist Clifford Berryman, the broad crayon strokes of Rube Goldberg and Bill Mauldin, and the painterly styles of contemporary cartoonists Paul Conrad and Patrick Oliphant.

* Rare early comics in large, multi-panel formats include portrayals of the Yellow Kid and Buster Brown, two early famous comic strip characters created by Richard Outcault. Family strips such as "Bringing Up Father" by George McManus, "Gasoline Alley" by Frank King and "For Better or for Worse" by Lynn Johnston chronicle the humorous ups and downs of family life. Selections include adventure strips "Secret Agent X-9" by Alex Raymond and "Terry and the Pirates" by Milt Caniff; artfully innovative strips "Krazy Kat" by George Herriman and "Dream of the Rarebit Fiend" by Winsor McCay; and timeless classics "Popeye" by Elzie Segar and "Peanuts" by Charles Schulz. All transport viewers to other, self-contained, captivating worlds.

* Gag cartoons by Peter Arno, Barbara Shermund, George Price and others lampoon behavioral quirks and foibles that madden and amuse readers of The New Yorker and other popular magazines.

* Caricatures of Stokely Carmichael, by David Levine, and of performers Jimmy Durante and Paul Whiteman, in a 1935 staging of "Jumbo" by Al Hirschfeld, offer incisive insights and display witty and magical use of the pen.

* Treasures of animation art include a Walt Disney Productions cel of Mickey Mouse from "Fantasia"; a delightful drawing of Dumbo the elephant bathing himself; a storyboard drawing for "Bambi" by Tyrus Wong; a presentation drawing of all of the Seven Dwarfs; and a beautiful animation cel of Snow White for Disney's groundbreaking first full-length animated feature "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937).

* America's Golden Age of Illustration (1880s to 1920s) is represented by drawings created by Edwin Austin Abbey, James Montgomery Flagg, Dean Cornwell and their pioneering women counterparts, Nell Brinkley, Rose O'Neill and Katherine Pyle.

Wood, an award-winning cartoonist himself, began collecting original drawings at the age of 12. During a period of 60 years, he contacted and befriended numerous older masters of cartoon art forms, as well as leading contemporary creators in the field, and obtained selections of their work, primarily by gift and some by purchase. During his professional life, Wood worked diligently to establish a museum or gallery to preserve and showcase his collection. He achieved his goal in 1995 with the opening of the National Gallery of Caricature and Cartoon Art in downtown Washington, D.C., but the gallery closed in 1997, due to a lack of sustained funding. Undeterred, Wood turned to the Library of Congress, where he had worked early in his career, to preserve and present his collection.

A companion book titled "Cartoon America: Comic Art in the Library of Congress" will be published by Harry N. Abrams, in association with the Library of Congress. The book is edited by Harry Katz, former head curator of the Library's Prints and Photographs Division. Images of many cartoon drawings in the exhibition will be included among the 275 full-color illustrations in the book, which also surveys the Library's other holdings of related art.

The exhibition and an accompanying brochure are funded through the generous support of the Caroline and Erwin Swann Memorial Foundation for Caricature and Cartoon. The Swann Foundation showcases the collections of the Library of Congress in rotating exhibitions and promotes the continuing Swann Foundation program in the study of cartoon, caricature and illustration, while also offering a provocative and informative selection of works by masters from the past and present.

Nov 1 - articles in today's papers

The Express has an article on Jonah Hex by Scott Rosenberg, and the Examiner has Truitt's regular New Comic Book Releases column and a review of a new Family Guy videogame.

Post goes with Cory Thomas' 'Watch Your Head'

I don't think that La Cucaracha by Lalo Alcaraz got its full tryout time, but yesterday the Post ran this notice:

A NOTE TO COMICS READERS
Washington Post Monday, October 30, 2006; Page C10


Today, "Watch Your Head" by Cory Thomas returns to the comics pages to replace "Boondocks," whose creator, Aaron McGruder, decided not to continue the strip after a six-month sabbatical. Written by Cory Thomas, a Howard University graduate, "Watch Your Head," chronicles the lives of six students at a historically black university. If it looks familiar, it may be because it was the first tryout strip The Post ran in place of "Boondocks" during McGruder's absence.

As always, we welcome reader feedback on this or any other feature on our comics pages. Call our comics hotline at 202-334-4775, e-mail comics@washpost.com or write to: Comics Feedback, The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, DC 20071.

Oct 31 - Satrapi signing and article; DC caricaturist

Marjane Satrapi's signing Chicken with Plums about her musician granduncle tonight at Politics and Prose in the District.

An article about her is in today's Express -

Rosenberg, Scott. 2006.
A life in 8 days: Graphic novelist Marjane Satrapi traces family history.
[Washington Post] Express (October 31): 17

There's also an article of interest in the Post's Health section. Mike Caplanis writes about changing his career from advertising to being a caricaturist.

Truth in Advertising -- And Art
Live Reports from the Midlife Adventure
Washington Post Tuesday, October 31, 2006; Page HE03

Oct 31 - Marjane Satrapi booksigning REPOST

Politics & Prose Bookstore
October 31, 7 pm
Her new book is Chicken with Plums.

Given that it's Halloween, I won't be there unfortunately. She's an entertaining speaker. However, I have ordered a signed copy and an audio cd of the event. These are a nice innovation by P&P - for $7.50 you can get a recording of the talk. I've bought cds of the Attitude 3 group, Scott McCloud and Alison Bechdel in the past 2 weeks. The Feiffer audio was substandard so that's not available.

Oct 29 - two more days to see Simplicissimus!

It's closing on October 31, 2006.
Simplicissimus and the Empire 1896-1914
ADDRESS:812 Seventh St. NW
Washington, DC 20001
Metro: Gallery Place/Chinatown202-289-1200
www.goethe.de/washington