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I've recently been working on my thesis in Children's Literature and I'm looking at Hergé's interest in psychoanalysis and it's playing out in the Tintin series.

Essentially the relationship between Tintin and Haddock is believed by many to be the dual nature of Hergé playing out on the page, a therapeutic exercise exorcising his demons.

What I'm trying to prove can best be explained through Freud's theory of the Family Romance Neuroses.

The theory in a nutshell is, at the earliest stages a child idolizes his parents as perfect, strong, wise and ultimately infallible, this lasts only a short time until the child realizes the fallibility of his parents as humans who are imperfect.

The child reactively convinces himself (for the purposes of Tintin I'm focussing on male) that he is an orphan or 'foundling' – Freud's term – of great lineage, the earlier notion is reversed and the Oedipal complex sets in.

Tintin represents the Foundling, functioning with pre-oedipal strategies (ignorance of sexuality, an incarnation of good with seemingly no interest in any vain pursuits, wealth).

The second stage of Freud's theory is the Bastard. After a child gains some knowledge of sex, he acknowledges that the maternity is unquestionable but the paternity is not. He changes his reactive fantasy to that of his mother's impregnation by some great man who has betrayed him and left him in the clutch's of the evil father.

The Oedipal complex allows him to laugh and be gleeful of his father's supposed cuckholding and humiliation. Further he sets to avenge his betrayal (Napoleon) conquer society and accumulate. This is of course Haddock, the vain, lazy, drinking, wealth seeking, etc.

It is at the stage of Bastard that the father is likely to exercise castration over the son, attempting to restrict the first sexual encounters of the son. Interestingly, while Tintin is completely asexual and flees whenever the only female character of consequence Castifiore approachs, Haddock is less successful and unconsciously seems attracted to her.

He also suffers castrating for it. A flower she offers to smell yields a stinging bee, the parrot she gives him bites his nose.

Now I see this as Hergé's inner struggle playing out on the page – Tintin is the meticulous perfectionist artist Hergé was
Haddock is the jet-set celebrity, who left his wife for a younger woman.

Does anyone have any opinion on any of this?

I apoligize for the lack of brevity.

Does anyone know of any good information on this kind of thing?

Quite frankly, I never saw it like that (or at least didn't take the time to over analize the comic that way).
But it's an interesting point, I think I'll start rereading the comics under a new light...

I think you might have the wrong forum guv'...

Great snakes that's complex! Interesting but complex. My brain hurts....

More specifically speaking, I'm wondering if anyone can think of examples of instances throughout the series where you can make an inference towards Hergé’s interest in psychoanalysis and his work with Tintin.

I haven't had opportunity to read Tintin in Tibet recently, but I have been reading that Hergé was at the time extremely affected by Jungian psychoanalysis, and this is thought to have played a strong hand in shaping the book.

Hergé was a perfectionist and a gifted artist but why is it that Tintin appeals to such a diverse audience?

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Yikes, Alph-Art!

There's no question that deep things underlie the work of most good writers, and when comparing their biographies to their work, there's also no question that life experience is somehow played out, or mirrored in the work. (Indeed, on that deeper level, writers don't always know what they're doing when they do it. That discovery can come later.)

But I don't think any artist who isn't stupefyingly pretentious would consciously come from a place as dense as the thesis you describe. (I hasten to add, that's not a slam at you.) Especially a populist like Hergé.

For Hergé was at heart just a storyteller who was fascinated by genres, a fascination he sometimes combined with his feelings about then-current events. And his underlying thematic message, rarely very deep and never impenetrable, shifted from story to story.
What didn't shift - and I believe this is at least part of the answer to your question as to why Tintin appeals to such a diverse audience - was Tintin as a credulous everyman, very specific in certain respects, yet in others a kind of tabula rasa.
Tthis lack of grounding is what enabled him to be used with such versatility - in detective stories, stories with mysticism and fantasy, science fiction stories, political allegories, etc. His (and Hergé's) natural curiosity combined with his lack of biographical definition to let him go anywhere.

Haddock shares this versatility as a by-product of being a foil for Tintin's adventurousness, because he speaks for us as a participating observer.

In a way, I suppose, Tintin represents the ideal we strive for; while Haddock stands in for the flawed humans we really are. Could there be a more complete or universal balance than that...?

As to Haddock/parent...
I suppose one might examine the various functions Haddock fills, on a symbolic level, as befits the given story. He is at times the caring parent (e.g. rescuer, advisor), at times the representative of passion over reason (forming a triumvirate with Calculus [reason] and Tintin, who has a foot in each camp; kissin' cousins to Kirk-Spock-McCoy) and at times the classic "buddy" in adventure, the contrasting comrade-in-arms. And being bearded and older he does seem to be an emotional landing place, not only for Tintin but for "children of all ages," who (unconsciously and consciously) attach a kind of paternal significance to him.
As well they/we may, for though it is unspoken, he is Tintin's hero as much as Tintin is ours. Tintin looks to him for companionship, company, advice - even approval. And even though he may grumble about it, Haddock gives him all that, and unconditionally.
He'd sacrifice his life for Tintin, unquestioningly.
Note too that in time he not only represents parent in deed, but in fortune. His inherited Marlinspike Hall very quickly becomes a welcoming home for all (even Castafiore!), and often home base for the Tintin stories in general.
No one deserving - which is to say no one he loves (though the concept dare not speak its name), nor even anyone he ever feels compassion for (e.g. the Gypsies in Castafiore Emerald) -- is ever turned away.

I very much appreciate your response. To put my first comment into context, the paper I'm writing (or trying to write) is attempting to explain the success of Tintin. Some preliminary research in several academic journals (the ones that no one reads) take a few different lines on this. Most critics seem to agree that Tintin does represent that impossible ideal which most of us dream as Pelaphus mentioned. But many academics drone on and on of symbolism and imagery as well as the brilliance of the characters and structure and Herge's discipline to this.
The most interesting article that I found was one by Jean-Marie Apostolides (Volume 13 of Children's Literature Review 1985 pp 94-107) entitled "Tintin and the Family Romance." This article goes into that psychoanalytical imagery, Freudian and Jungian allegory and makes an interesting case for the Foundling and Bastard roles of Tintin and Haddock. I was extremely surprised by this but did find it interesting if only partly compelling.
Apostolides seems to think that the artistic harmony and significance on the series rests on this brilliant aspect (it only affects readers subconsciously according to him) While it is easy to disregard the supposition that it is this that makes the books great, I think that partially it is true. I think it is likely that Herge consciously and unconsciously did cast Tintin and Haddock as the dual nature of himself and of us all. Prior to Haddock's arrival it is worth saying that Snowy was the voice of caution, luxury and vanity and Snowy's character seems to anticipate and then be eclipsed by Haddock. Not that that's all that Haddock and Snowy are, but unlike Tintin these characteristics do occur in them. I think that this makes Haddock the most human character in the series and probably most peoples favorite.

But yes obviously this is academic drabble and has little practical utility. The books are simply fun and intelligent and that's why everyone likes them but what makes them so intelligent? I think that in a very small way the psychoanalytical elements do and my first post was a bit of an inquiry to other Tintin fans to see if anyone else had ever noticed anything like that.

But again the point you've made that the appeal lies in the strength of Tintin's character and Herge's populist charm is clearly the major reason so many have become fans of Tintin's adventures.

thanks

All these theories are interesting, and make a good deal of sense- but where have people gained the idea our Captain is vain?

While conceit is marked continually in Snowy, it appears in the Captain rarely- if ever.

(Or am I just seeing him in my usual rose-tinted light? I'd back up the claim he is most readers' idea of a fantasy friend/parent)...

Alphart wrote
I haven't had opportunity to read Tintin in Tibet recently, but I have been reading that Herge was at the time extremely affected by Jungian psychoanalysis and this is thought to have played a strong hand in shaping the book.

Actually Herge was affected by strange personal obsessions more than by psychoanalysis, and thus went to Switzerland to try and solve them by consulting Jungian Prof. Ricklin in Zurich, who advised him to ...drop his Tintin stories.

Herge actually dropped Ricklin but went on with Tintin, as if his heroes could stand for a psychoanalysis, a psychoanalyst, or a confident... Hence some mystery about Tintin, imho...

That could be said for any writer though... However much their work may torment them (I write, I should know), they always come back to it...