Cultural mediator with the Arab world

The cartoon character, Tintin, created by the Belgian artist Hergé, has always been criticized for his portrayal of the European colonial vision towards the Arabs, with its highness and its superiority over the peoples that the West considers “uncivilized” “for him, and the dedication of the supremacy of the white man.

Part of this summary is included in the book “The Arab World in Tintin’s Albums” by French researcher and Arabist Louis Blaine, the Arabic translation of which was recently published by the “Arab Center for Research and Political Studies” , which was completed by Lebanese Researcher Saud Al-Mawla.

The book consists of 12 chapters. In the first chapter entitled “Hergé, Tintin and the world”, we find three sub-titles: “Hergé and politics”, “Inner self-exploration” and “Existential synthesis”. According to the author, Hergé used to say that he was Tintin himself, while his life confirms the opposite of this saying: He did not leave Western Europe until he reached an advanced age. , “Tintin looks like the son who had always dreamed of and couldn’t get it, but rather the person he wanted to be. He was created by Hergé and he was his father.

As for the second chapter, “Tintin and the pharaoh’s cigarettes”, the author tells that this album appeared in 1934, and was Tintin’s first free adventure. Hergé was at that time a young man, captivated by the magic of the East, “But what was this magician?” Where does Hergé start? The question is not trivial: as far as it is understood, the imagined East constitutes the opposite of the West and has no clear borders for it. It can include everyone else. That is, anything that the West does not regard as its own or as a direct extension of it. ”

Belgian artist Hergé was enchanted by an “Imagined East”, the antithesis of the West, without clear borders.

Then comes the third chapter, “The crossing between my albums Tintin in the land of black gold, and Tintin and the golden claws”, where the author specifies that the publication of the album “Tintin in the land of black gold “began in September 1939. Tintin’s second adventure in the East arrives, in the middle of Herge with the second German occupation of his country.

According to the author, in the fourth chapter, “Tintin in the land of black gold”, Hergé does not take, in the first editions of the album, any position vis-à-vis the Arabs and Jews of the organization. Irgun. He describes the situation without taking a position. Hergé cannot be considered anti-Zionist or anti-Jewish, “and this is unique in view of the anti-Semitic education he received like all traditional conservative Catholics of his time.”

In chapter five, “Tintin and the sharks of the Red Sea”, the author says that “we are facing a combat album, but it is rather transparent and devoid of any ulterior motives, unlike the rest of the adventures of Tintin in the Arab World The title in itself is a political declaration against trade. “The slave transforms the moral imperative into a political line.

Chapter 6, “Tintin and the art of the alphabet – A search for oneself” declares: “This unfinished album by Hergé combines his passion for art and adventure, and offers us a key to understanding his work. . It is a final testamentary album, telling the story of an abstract artist, probably Jamaican, named Ramo Nash (which means “black radish” in the Flemish dialect).

In the seventh chapter, “The Arabs in the Adventures of Tintin”, the author says that in his adventures, Tintin meets many foreigners, “but we only know a specific number and they become one of the roles. the hero’s main in order to achieve the character’s rank on the videotape.

The author mentions in chapter eight, “The Tintin Arabs”, that Tintin did not visit any of the countries which “made an important contribution to our culture, such as Greece, Spain or Japan”, but d ‘on the other hand, he says he has visited the Arab world four times: “Including one in Morocco and three times in the Middle East: Egypt and Palestine for a short period, and the Kingdom of ‘Saudi Arabia three times,’ adding that Hergé does not mention in his works any Arab country in an apparent way except Morocco. At the time, and not as a part of the Arab world, he probably would not have imagined its existence, or at least understood its cultural significance.

As for the ninth chapter, “Tintin and the Arabic language”, the author declares that Hergé was fascinated by an East which entered the Middle East; It therefore seems paradoxical that he is absolutely not interested in his culture, and chapter X, “The Arabs and Tintin” asks a question: “What would have shocked the Arab readers of Tintin?”

In chapter eleven, the author says: “Was Hergé a racist?” The murder that was common in Europe at that time, especially among the right, where Hergé was moving, and whose catastrophic consequences we know.

In the twelfth chapter, “From the East, the light rises”, the author finds the paradox of Hergé’s relationship with the Arab world in “We are facing a writer who is not attracted to the Arab world. , but which makes it the main stage for the adventures of his hero, as if it were a decree for him.