MYTHOLOGICAL SCENARIO OF INITIATION IN MARJANE SATRAPI’S PERSEPOLIS

Abstract

Purpose. The aim of this article is to carry out a semiotic reconstruction of the mythological scenario of initiation in the graphic memoir Persepolis. The research objectives include: reviewing scholarly reception of Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical work and identifying key directions in Persepolis studies; analyzing the range of core mythologemes in the text within mythological frameworks relevant to their semantics; describing a three-stage algorithm for reading the initiation myth-scenario – separation, trial, reward; and identifying stylistically representative intermedial markers in the text. Methods. The reconstruction of the mythological initiation scenario is conducted using mythosemiotic modeling and mytho-analysis. The study also employs elements of narratological, textual, imagological, and stylistic analysis, as well as intermedial methodology as the principal approach. Results. Three initiation cycles of the Persepolis narrator are reconstructed. Each cycle of the modeled mythological initiation scenario follows an identical algorithm – Separation → Trial → Reward – explicitly represented in the text through recurring images and motives. The mythologemic representatives of the three cycles are identified, including images corresponding to the following myth-models: hydromorphic (water), pyromorphic (fire), terramorphic (earth), solar (sun), floristic (flowers), aeromorphic (wind, air), theistic (God), attributive (breadbird, veil), and oromorphic (prison wall, stairs, basement). These myth-models predominantly convey ambivalent semantics and represent central motives of the narrative. The visual language of the text is analyzed; together with the verbal code it deciphers the semantics of initiation. The visual component of the work most fully reflects Satrapi’s distinctive authorial style. Conclusions. Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis reveals a neo-mythological dimension of the graphic narrative, in which hidden archetypal structures emerge and unexpected figurative-motivational connections unfold. Intermedial and mythosemiotic analysis of the comic positions it as a complex, multilayered form of contemporary cultural representation that challenges entrenched stereotypes of comics as a low genre of mass literature.