rodney:
Surely it cannot be any more questionable than 'Tintin in the Congo'?
Not necessarily - but it only needs to be
as questionable - and actually
The Secret Ray may be in some ways more so. It again comes down to Hergé depicting some island natives in a simplistic and patronising fashion, which is as you suggest, dated. We should also remember that “dated†doesn’t actually mean “old, but no longer offensiveâ€: as has been shown by recent activity, such as court cases to have the books withdrawn, Hergé’s depiction of race is still something that offends and upsets many people, and we may perhaps have to temper our thirst for his work if it has the power to hurt people.
As to the publisher “simply†doing something, the controversy surrounding
Congo should demonstrate that nothing in these cases is simple. Methuen did not want to court controversy, so they delayed the release of
Blue Lotus until they felt that the market would accept it, and chose not to do anything with
Congo and
The Secret Ray.
When Egmont took on the works, they decided that they
would put
Congo out, but by that time
Secret Ray had been placed elsewhere, so it isn’t part of their series, even if they wanted it to be.
There is introductory material in the book as it stands, and it is available if you look for it, so I’m not sure what you are questioning, exactly.