Tintin in the Congo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Tintin in the Congo (Les aventures de Tintin, reporter du Petit Vingtième, au Congo) |
|
 Cover of the English edition of the black-and-white (Petit Vingtième) version |
|
| Publisher | Le Petit Vingtième |
|---|---|
| Date | 1931 |
| Series | The Adventures of Tintin (Les aventures de Tintin) |
| Creative team | |
| Writer(s) | Hergé |
| Artist(s) | Hergé |
| Original publication | |
| Published in | Le Petit Vingtième |
| Date(s) of publication | June 5, 1930 - June 11, 1931 |
| Language | French |
| ISBN | ISBN 2-203-00101-1 |
| Translation | |
| Publisher | Egmont  Little, Brown/Hachette  |
| Date | 2005 |
| ISBN | ISBN 1-4052-2098-8 ISBN 9780316003735 |
| Translator(s) | Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper and Michael Turner |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, 1930 |
| Followed by | Tintin in America, 1932 |
Tintin in the Congo (French: Tintin au Congo) is the second of The Adventures of Tintin, a series of classic comic-strip albums, written and illustrated by Belgian writer and illustrator Hergé, featuring young reporter Tintin as a hero.
It appeared between June 1930 and June 1931 in Le Petit Vingtième (the children's supplement to the Belgian newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle). The story was published as an album in 1931, in black and white form. It was re-drawn in 1946, with additional changes in 1975.
It has provoked controversy, particularly in modern times, with complaints from people who feel the depiction of Africans is racist, and from animal rights groups who feel Tintin engages in cruel behaviour. Hergé later said that he was influenced by the naïve, colonialist views of the time. At the time he was much influenced by his employer, Wallez, who decided that the Belgian youth needed to know more about the values of colonialism.[1]
Hergé was very young and only in the beginnings of his career when he drew this volume, later describing it as "the sin of his youth." Hergé himself did not intend to be offensive or malicious towards the people of the Congo. Indeed, today it is the most popular album in Africa, and has been praised by Congolese citizens.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Storyline
Tintin in the Congo begins with Tintin and Snowy departing from Antwerp on a ship bound for the Belgian Congo. Snowy has several accidents on board the ship, including an encounter with a stowaway, but eventually they arrive safe and well at Matadi. Here, they rent a Ford Model T and hire a guide named Coco. They set out into the depths of the Congo, where Tintin hunts numerous animals.
Upon returning to Coco, Tintin finds that his car has been stolen by a man whom Snowy recognizes as the stowaway. They recover the car but the man escapes. Through dark means he find out the man's name, Ben Ojserkis.
Later on, Tintin, Snowy, and Coco find their way to a village. However, the man who stole the car joins forces with the village doctor, and unsuccessfully tries to dispose of Tintin several times. In his last attempt, the criminal (Tom) tries to hang Tintin above a river full of crocodiles so that they can eat him, but Tintin is rescued by a Belgian missionary.
Tintin and Snowy are taken to a missionary station where the ever-persistent Tom once again tries to get at Tintin, who resolves to end this, and in their final struggle, it is Tom that is eaten by crocodiles, though that was not what Tintin intended. Tintin finds a letter giving Tom instructions to kill him. The letter is signed A.C., which stands for Al Capone, who is operating a diamond smuggling ring in the Congo. Tintin reveals the operation, and the gang is captured.
Finally, Tintin can get back to enjoying the Congolese wildlife. However, he and Snowy end up getting chased by a herd of buffalo. Before they are trampled, a plane swoops down and saves them. They are to be taken home in order to prepare for their next adventure, Tintin in America.
[edit] Controversy
Tintin in the Congo has often been criticised as having racist and colonialist views, as well as several scenes of violence against animals. Hergé later said that he was portraying the naïve, colonialist views of the time. Later on in his life, Hergé regretted this album and regarded it as "the sin of his youth." [3] The depiction of Africans was felt by some to be racist, as they have exaggerated features and show signs of ignorance of Europeans, shown in one case in their perception of European warfare.[4] However, this can also be simply taken as humour derived from stereotypes, which Hergé employs frequently throughout the series with Europeans as well.
When the album was redrawn in 1946, Hergé removed several references to the fact that the Congo was at that time a Belgian colony. When the album was to be published in Scandinavia, the publishers objected to a scene on page 56 of the colour album, in which Tintin blows up a rhinoceros with a stick of dynamite. (However, it should be noted that hunting game - particularly exotic animals - was a common practice in that era). They asked the page to be redrawn, and Hergé complied.
In July 2007, the UK's equal-rights body, the Commission for Racial Equality, called on high-street shops to remove the book from their shelves after a complaint by David Enright, a human rights lawyer who came across the book in the children's section of the high-street chain Borders while shopping with his African wife and two sons. The shop later moved the book from the children's section to the area reserved for adult graphic novels. Borders said that it was committed to let its "customers make the choice." The retailer WHSmith said that the book was sold on its Web site but with a label that recommended it for readers aged 16 and over.[5][6][7][8][9] By 14 July, following widespread media coverage, sales of the book rocketed by 3,800%, with the book having climbed to 5th place on Amazon.co.uk's best-seller list, up from 4,343rd four days earlier.
In August 2007, a complaint was filed in Brussels, Belgium, by a Congolese student named Bienvenu Mbutu Mondondo, who was studying political science, and claimed the book was an insult to the Congolese people. Public prosecutors investigated but the Centre for Equal Opportunities and Opposition to Racism warned against political over-correctness.[10]
[edit] Notes
- This is not the first album in which the Thompsons appear. Their first appearance was in Cigars of the Pharaoh. They were added to Tintin in the Congo when it was redrawn in 1946.
- Tintin is mouthless in the original black and white edition from 1930.
- As with the previous adventure, Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, Le Petit Vingtième staged a triumphant return of Tintin and Snowy to Brussels on Thursday 9 July 1931. They were accompanied by ten Congolese people and met by Hergé himself and Quick & Flupke. The event was reported in the newspaper.
- In the Portuguese magazine O Papagaio the story was called Tim-Tim em Angola (Tintin in Angola). In that version he works for O Papagaio. It was coloured locally and featured a yellow female Snowy, renamed Rom-Rom.
- When Egmont took over publishing of the Tintin books in the UK, it did not include Tintin in the Congo in its reprints, although it did include Tintin in the Land of the Soviets, until 2006, when a Collector's Edition in colour, including a brief foreword by translators Leslie Lonsdale-Cooper and Michael Turner, along with a large banner that could be removed from the front cover, was printed.
- In the original version, Tintin hunts the rogue elephant at night, but in the colour version, it appears that it is daylight all the time, making Tintin's joke about the sun giving him a bright idea—after the rogue elephant has chased him and Snowy up a tree-somewhat superfluous.
- In Tintin in the Congo, Tintin becomes a sorcerer for the Babaoru'm Kingdom. The name comes from Baba au rhum, a confection very famous in France and Belgium. Another instance of the use of the name is in the French edition of the comic series Astérix, in which one of the four fortified Roman camps surrounding Asterix's village is called Babaorum.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.tintinologist.org/guides/books/02congo.html "Tintin in the Congo"
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRy5B-gZB-E&feature=related "Interview with Michael Farr, Part 2"
- ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRy5B-gZB-E&feature=related "Interview with Michael Farr, Part 2"
- ^ page 29 of the collectors' edition of Tintin in the Congo, published by Egmont UK, 2006
- ^ ""Bid to ban 'racist' Tintin book," BBC News Web Site". http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6294670.stm. Retrieved on 2007-07-12.
- ^ ""Tintin Book Embroiled in Race Row," Sky News Web Site". http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1274908,00.html. Retrieved on 2007-07-12.
- ^ "'"Racist" Tintin is banished to the adult section of bookshops on the Daily Mail website". http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=467757&in_page_id=1770. Retrieved on 2007-07-12.
- ^ "'Ban "racist" Tintin book, says CRE' on the Telegraph website". http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/07/12/ntintin112.xml. Retrieved on 2007-07-12.
- ^ "CRE statement on the children's book Tintin in the Congo, on the CRE Web site". http://www.cre.gov.uk/Default.aspx.LocID-0hgnew0vq.RefLocID-0hg00900c002.Lang-EN.htm. Retrieved on 2007-07-12.
- ^ "Investigation into racism in "Tintin"". Expatica. 2007-08-07. http://www.expatica.com/actual/article.asp?subchannel_id=24&story_id=42631. Retrieved on 2007-08-07.
[edit] External links
- Tintin in the Congo at Tintinologist.org
