The Metamorphoses of Tintin

The Metamorphoses of Tintin

Jean-Marie Apostolides

Stanford University Press

1450 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto, CA 94304-1124

9780804760317, $24.95, www.sup.org

The Metamorphoses of Tintin
or Tintin for Adults
 Jean-Marie Apostolidès, Translated by Jocelyn Hoy (Stanford University Press, November 19, 2009) is a must read for all those interested in the series.

In The Metamorphoses of Tintin Jean-Marie Apostolidès tracks the evolution of Tintin’s character, tracing the many changes of Tintin chronologically as well as globally — viewing the adventures as a whole to examine Hergè’s overall vision and as a reflection of twentieth century life.

Tintin's evolution is seen moving from the strong semblance of Herge's own politics, to being more of a general, everyone can enjoy approach. These transformations, according to Apostolidès were both internal (having to do with the development of stories, changing relationships between the characters), and driven by changes in Herge’s political beliefs.

The chapters deal with the childhood of a leader [Tintin], discovering others, the primordial universe (snowy, the human world, the animal world, etc).

In the first four adventures published before the war, Tintin openly responds to the political conflicts of his time by trying to restore political order, which for Hergè meant the rule of colonial monarchies, such as those of England and Belgium.

The end of the second World War, and with it the liberation of Belgium and the rest of Europe, was a turning point in Herge’s portrayal of Tintin.  In the albums after the war, Tintin is no longer cast as the superman boy scout, he becomes transformed as Tintin the detective – Snow tells us “He thinks he is Sherlock Holmes!”.  

The racist references and political overtones are purged. And the politics that does exist takes place in imaginary countries.

Tintin and Alph-Art

Jack Dikian

July 2011

The book was first published in English in 1990 by Sundancer and 2004 by Egmont.

Tonight I got hold of a book that I’ve been waiting for a while. My local book shop ordered the book with little fuss only to then promptly misplace it. However, all is well that ends well and it has definitely been worth the wait. The book? Tintin and Alph-Art.

For those that are familiar with the Tintin series, they will know that this was the intended 24th and final book in the series, by Hergé. Alph-Art was first published in 1986 posthumously in an unfinished state (Hergé passed away in 1983) and republished in 2004 and again in 2010 with further discovered material including the original sketch pad,

The book is unfinished and many of the drawings are basic. The drawings become increasingly simple crude representation of the characters towards the later pages – giving the reader a unique vantage of the authors intention and perhaps, more importantly, how Hergé might have developed his ideas, characters, and refined these to a point that ultimately would become a Tintin adventure that we have come to be accustomed to in his earlier works,

For me, the addition of the work-in-progress papers at the end of this book is an expected bonus. The story itself is very unlike adventures of past. For starters, Tintin doesn’t get to travel to the moon, The Congo, or even a far away exotic land. This story is largely played out in the world of modern art – in Belgium and Rome. Given it is an unfinished work, the story doesn’t end. We are left with Tintin's fate unresolved.

….. Tintin is told that he will die by having liquid polyester poured over him, so that he may be turned into a statue… The "expansion" piece, entitled "Reporter", will then be sold to a museum or a rich collector. Tintin manages to make contact with Snowy (his loyal dog) and writes a note to the Captain. Night passes, and in the morning, Tintin is awakened and led to the place where he will be killed. It is at this point that this adventure ends.