French-Iranian author Marjane Satrapi, author of 'Persepolis', dies at 56 • Hacker News Board

Re: French-Iranian author Marjane Satrapi, author of 'Persepolis', dies at 56

#71

Post by philipallstar » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 3:52 PM UTC

everdrive wrote: post #26

philipallstar wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this is talking about the hyper-oppressive, aggressive government of modern-day Iran, and not how it was pre-Islamic rule.

Agreed, and there really is nothing positive to say about the modern-day Iranian government. The Persian culture has not been fully stamped out, though, and I think there is a lot of good there even if proper regime change may not be realistic.

Of course - glad to hear that. The news of all the protest deaths in January is devastating.

Re: French-Iranian author Marjane Satrapi, author of 'Persepolis', dies at 56

#72

Post by tetrisgm » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 3:53 PM UTC

Poor woman. Somehow despite growing through hardships, it’s the loss of her husband that broke her.

May she be at peace now, and her work cherished.

Re: French-Iranian author Marjane Satrapi, author of 'Persepolis', dies at 56

#73

Post by ndiddy » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 3:55 PM UTC

p-e-w wrote: post #29

internet_points wrote: post #21

The graphic novel was very good, showing what Iran must have felt like to iranians before the revolution, and the sadness at having lost that way of life. I highly recommend reading it.

At least to the kind of Iranians who were sending their children to French schools, yes. But of course the other kind of people very rarely have someone writing international bestsellers on their behalf, so this is all we’ll get.

I think it's a very well written personal memoir that shows what the revolution felt like to someone growing up in the Iranian urban upper class. It portrays the revolution as there being a hope for change, prior to religious men with beards and guns inexplicably showing up because that's what did happen from her perspective. I don't see anything necessarily wrong with this. The revolution was split between college-educated urban secular leftists and a much larger portion of religious conservatives, and the latter eclipsed the former so quickly that her viewpoint is probably legitimately what it looked like for her and her family. It doesn't try to do any political analysis of what motivated the Islamists or why they gained power because it's her personal story, it's not trying to be some sort of objective history of the Iranian revolution. I think it does what it set out to do very well, and it's an excellent story of the tragedy of just trading one oppressive dictatorship for another.

Re: French-Iranian author Marjane Satrapi, author of 'Persepolis', dies at 56

#74

Post by gedy » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 3:56 PM UTC

rustyhancock wrote: post #61

srean wrote: post #56

Has there been any study that analyses the frequency of natural death of one shortly after death of his/her partner. How different is that compared to what one would expect assuming statistical independence and based image and health adjusted mortality curves.

Does it say what happened? Died of sadness did make me wonder about something self inflicted.

Yes, I also took it to be a tactful-as-possible way to say that.

Re: French-Iranian author Marjane Satrapi, author of 'Persepolis', dies at 56

#75

Post by EB-BarringtonII » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 3:59 PM UTC

Tade0 wrote: post #62

EB-BarringtonII wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

The haircuts were an official announcement from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance: https://www.bbc.com/news/10527088 And it didn't stop here: https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-32587418 A few of my friends went there and I talked with a few Iranians whose families moved out. Yeah, the people are welcoming and you can have an amazing experience there, but it's still a theocratic regime. All the things you di…

> there are seven official allowed haircuts for men > The haircuts were an official announcement from the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance

(you just moved the goalposts from "officially allowed" to "an official announcement")

In your link to a BBC article from SIXTEEN YEARS ago, the closest it comes to saying "officially allowed" or "official announcement" is...

"published a guide".

There is no "officially allowed" list of seven haircuts in Iran.

It literally does not exist, and yet you are now trippling down on your disinformation.

Re: French-Iranian author Marjane Satrapi, author of 'Persepolis', dies at 56

#76

Post by Tangurena2 » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 4:03 PM UTC

everdrive wrote: post #9

NordStreamYacht wrote: post #4

What's the connection with France? Even Khomeini was in exile in France until the shah was deposed.

There were two large exile groups subsequent to the Iranian revolution: France and Albania. MEK has a large presence in both. I don't know enough of the history to say whether France was chosen because there was _already_ an affinity or not, but interestingly "merci" is one of the common ways to say "thank you" in Persian.

There was (might still be) a large Iranian population in Los Angeles. Enough to have a Farsi language UHF station and for the city to get a nickname of Tehrangeles.

Re: French-Iranian author Marjane Satrapi, author of 'Persepolis', dies at 56

#77

Post by srean » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 4:04 PM UTC

klaussilveira wrote: post #60

srean wrote: post #56

Has there been any study that analyses the frequency of natural death of one shortly after death of his/her partner. How different is that compared to what one would expect assuming statistical independence and based image and health adjusted mortality curves.

Yes: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widowhood_effect

Thanks.

Re: French-Iranian author Marjane Satrapi, author of 'Persepolis', dies at 56

#78

Post by watwut » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 4:06 PM UTC

conductr wrote: post #49

p-e-w wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve always wondered how much of the second part is truth and how much is fiction. That a teenage girl from Iran, living by herself in Central Europe with essentially no local connections, would become a drug dealer to her classmates, and on top of that somehow be let off the hook for it by the headmaster, stretches credibility a little bit.

Idk, I didn’t read this book. But I lived a similar version of that reality in a conservative southern US town. My home life was challenging. I sold drugs and generally was a rebellious troublesome teenager. All the officials in my school and local law enforcement gave me kind slaps on the wrist compared to what they could/should have. I had to assume they were trying to get me to a point of adulthood without having…

> gave me kind slaps on the wrist compared to what they could/should have

I think that slaps on the writs that lead to adjusted member of society are waaay better then felony crimes charges that lead to life of in-out of prison with much harder way to integrate.

People who are treated like you was have overall much better results then people who have book thrown on them as youg.

I genuinely dislike troublesome teenagers, but I also think that your story is a success story of the "dont destroy them" approach.

Re: French-Iranian author Marjane Satrapi, author of 'Persepolis', dies at 56

#79

Post by srean » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 4:08 PM UTC

gedy wrote: post #74

rustyhancock wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it say what happened? Died of sadness did make me wonder about something self inflicted.

Yes, I also took it to be a tactful-as-possible way to say that.

Same here but was curious about stats of broken heart syndrome anyhow.

Re: French-Iranian author Marjane Satrapi, author of 'Persepolis', dies at 56

#80

Post by MyHonestOpinon » Thu, Jun 04, 2026, 4:10 PM UTC

estebank wrote: post #64

mc32 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess kind of like Gabriel Garcia and Mexico, though I don't think Columbians would like anyone to describe him as having been Mexican (ex as Mexican-Columbian) in any way though he lived there for the majority of his life and had become very well integrated into the elite circles of Mexico city -that said, he never renounced his Columbian citizenship and I think he also considered himself Columbian and not Mexican…

Nitpick: it's Colombia, not Columbia. And the last name is Garcia Marquez. Splitting half of the last name is not generally done. It sounds like calling somebody called McDonald just Mac.

Just expanding on this. In hispanic countries we have two last names. One you get from your father side and the other one you get from the mother side. When the first last name is very common like Lopez, Garcia, Perez, etc. it is common practice to keep the second last name when you are talking about them. Otherwise it sounds too plain. Like Gabriel Garcia could be anyone, but Gabriel Garcia Marquez is a renown author.