Books | An Iranian Metamorphosis
by BHAKTI SHRINGARPURE
19 Oct 2012 21:58Comments
[ spotlight ] Warscapes, an online magazine, features a conversation with Iranian cartoonist Mana Neyestani; an introduction is excerpted below. His graphic novel, Une Métamorphose Iranienne (An Iranian Metamorphosis), was published recently.
It is unclear whether Neyestani was always painfully shy and anti-social, but it would not be a stretch to say that he is marked by his many months of solitary confinement in Tehran's Evin prison, notorious for housing political and intellectual prisoners. The innocent use of an Azeri word by a cockroach character in one of his cartoons led to rioting amidst ethnic Azeris in Iran. Police opened fire on the protesters, and some were killed. Neyestani was imprisoned without trial.Please click here to read the interview.Neyestani's autobiographical graphic novel begins in the labyrinthine prison and continues with the cartoonist's journey to find refuge in a friendly country after fleeing Iran upon being granted a provisional release from prison. After endless paperwork, time and money spent on visas, he and his wife traveled from Dubai to China, and finally to Malaysia, where the graphic novel ends.
The visa rejections continued, however, until France finally accepted Neyestani's plea for asylum. He agreed to chat with me about his work and life from Paris where he now lives with his wife, Mansourieh, and their beloved cat.
SHARE
via RSS
In order to foster a civil and literate discussion that respects all participants, FRONTLINE has the following guidelines for commentary. By submitting comments here, you are consenting to these rules:
Readers' comments that include profanity, obscenity, personal attacks, harassment, or are defamatory, sexist, racist, violate a third party's right to privacy, or are otherwise inappropriate, will be removed. Entries that are unsigned or are "signed" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. We reserve the right to not post comments that are more than 400 words. We will take steps to block users who repeatedly violate our commenting rules, terms of use, or privacy policies. You are fully responsible for your comments.