Sattouf was born in 1978 in France, to a French mother and Syrian father. He spent his childhood in Libya and Syria, before returning to France. From 2004 to 2014, he worked for the satirical French weekly Charlie Hebdo, which has been the target of two terrorist attacks, in 2011 and 2015.
In his book “The Arab of the Future”, Sattouf narrates his experiences as a child in Libya, Syria and France in the 1970s and 1980s. Unlike Marjane Satrapi’s “Persepolis”, which gives the impression that all Iranians have always been in favour of music, dance, parties, alcohol, sexual freedoms and gender equality, and that only the Iranian government is hostile towards Western freedoms and rights, Sattouf’s work uncovers with frankness and honesty the extreme brutality, cruelty and backwardness that govern the daily life and social relationships in many Muslim countries.
Although the language of “The Arab of the Future” is plain and its pages contain more cartoon than text, Sattouf has been very successful in transferring his knowledge of the political history of Middle East to the reader. The book’s political facts, together with Sattouf’s sociological perspective in recounting the daily violence prevalent in Muslim societies make the reader to distance himself/herself from the irrational idea that suggests many Muslim countries such as Libya, Syria or Iran suddenly, and without any societal cause got there where they are today.
“The Arab of the Future” has been translated into 16 languages.
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