Tintin Forums

Hi there,
I am a final year student who has the pleasure of writing my thesis on Tintin and I have a few questions regarding information for it. I hope you can help.

Firstly I'll just explain that I plan on discussing Hergé's representation of the real world in the Tintin series. The dissertation is in French and, as such, I can only really use French language sources.

I will be discussing three books in particular - Tintin in the Congo, The Blue Lotus and King Ottokar's Sceptre. I plan on addressing the racism question in Congo, Hergé's change of style and method in Blue Lotus and his representation of the rise of dictatorships in Europe in Sceptre.

Essentially, I am looking for any academic writing, theses or books in French that cover any of these issues. If not, is there any similar website to this in French that could send me in the right direction?

Finally (and this could be tough). I have tried online to find the picture that you often see which compares a photograph of a Chinese street to a drawing that Hergé did that is almost identical. I have seen it for myself in the museum in Louvain-la-Neuve and in one documentary which I cannot remember. If anybody has seen it online could you tell me where you found it?

Sorry for all the questions and the long post but any help but really be appreciated! Thanks again.

This street photo is included in "Tintin The Complete Companion" by Michael Farr. The French edition of this book, "Tintin, le rêve et la réalité : L'histoire de la création des aventures de Tintin", might have the photo as well, so you could scan it from there. The book also includes references to the subjects you want to raise about the three books you're focusing on: racism, change of style and fascism.

The book is available on amazon.fr.

Bonne chance.

To be frank, that sounds a bit odd. Can't exactly see how or why the language you write should limit the source material you can use?


That sounds like three different topics. Not much of help, but out of curiosity: how are you planning to combine the three and fit them into one thesis?

There was a similar thread recently which might help you out a bit: https://www.tintinologist.org/forums/index.php?action=vthread&forum=8&t opic=3662.

But since you're fluent in French, you shouldn't have problems finding the source material. Unfortunately my French is next to useless, so can't offer much advice (However, I'd assume that searching the databases of national libraries of Belgium & France should give you a good idea what's available).

Oh, and I'd appreciate if you could post your literature list when you're done, would be interesting to see. Good luck with your work!