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Tintin in America (The Adventures of Tintin) (Paperback) (Paperback)
by Herge
| Category:
Adventure, Fiction, Ages 9-12, Children's book |
| Market price: ¥ 128.00
MSL price:
¥ 118.00
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In Stock |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
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Author: Herge
Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers
Pub. in: November, 1979
ISBN: 0316358525
Pages: 62
Measurements: 11.7 x 8.9 x 0.2 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BC00131
Other information: 1st American ed edition
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- MSL Picks -
Tintin in America, the third volume in the Adventures of Tintin series, is the earliest Tintin story available from its American publisher, most likely due to the fact that its two predecessors (Tintin au pays de Soviets and Tintin au Congo) are widely considered to be just too politically incorrect. If you are a political correctitude sort of person, you will likely find Tintin in America to be lacking in that area as well, but it is important to remember that it is a story steeped in its time, and more importantly, fictional.
What Tintin in America lacks in the indefinable quality some of the later adventures possess (The Calculus Affair, The Castafiore Emerald, and Flight 714, to name a few), it makes up in its suspense factor. Danger looms around every corner in this story (Gangsters! Indians! A meat-canning factory!), and it doesn't matter how many times you've read it before - you will still need to get through the entire story each time you read it!
To sum up: Somewhat awkwardly composed and rife with stereotypes that seem ridiculous nowadays, Tintin in America is nevertheless a compelling and fun read.
Target readers:
Kids aged up 6
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- Better with -
Better with
The Adventures of Tintin: The Castafiore Emerald, Flight 714, Tintin and the Picaros (3 Complete Adventures in 1 Volume, Vol. 7)
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Hergé (pseudonym of Georges Remi), Belgian author and illustrator, created Tintin in 1929 and produced 24 volumes of the internationally famous bande dessinée by the time of his death. Known as the father of the modern European comic book, Hergé's impeccable style and superb use of color won him international acclaim after the Second World War, and the books have been translated from the original French into some 40 languages.
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Tintin in America has our hero coming to America, which is a land of Chicago gangsters and Native Americas. The art here is a bit more cartoonish than what comes later, but the most important difference is that this is basically Tintin and Snowy on their own with the wonderful cast of colorful supporting characters that end up populating the Tintin universe nowhere to be seen at this point. That may explain why Snowy "talks" a lot more in this early Tintin adventure than is his habit in later volumes. This is not a great Tintin adventure, but it is certainly an interesting one because of the way Herge presents America to his readers. Tintin arrives in Chicago to clean up the city ruled by gangster bosses and Al Capone is not happy to see the world famous reporter. Tintin survives so many attempted gangland hits that you lose count of them, and it is a toss up whether there are more last second escapes or scenes where Tintin pulls a gun on a gangster. The perils of Tintin continue even when our hero and his faithful terrier companion make their way out West and become involved with some of the quaint customs of the local natives.
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Darragh o'donoghue (MSL quote), Dublin, Ireland
<2007-01-04 00:00>
Although it begins with a precise date (1931) and location (Chicago) and features a real historical figure (Al Capone), Tintin In America is Herge's tribute to the mythical America of dime novels and silent serials (especially gangster stories and Westerns). There's a real 'Perils Of Pauline' quality to Tintin's misadventures, which see the young reporter and his faithful terrier Snowy attempt to clean Chicago of gangsters, and which includes trapdoors, underground passages, falls from cliffs broken by handy branches, tethering to railway lines etc. On their arrival, the pair are plunged into a hectic series of mishaps - they are kidnapped by a mob stooge in a steel-shuttered limousine; sawing their way out, they are met by police, and give chase; just as the nabbed hood is about to squeal, he is knocked out by a boomerang, whose owner they pursue in a gun-stuttering chase which ends in the first of many vehicular accidents. Throughout, Tintin will be gassed, dumped into Lake Michigan, shot at by a professional sniper, captured by Red Indians, have his brakeless train dynamited, and be thrown into a mincer. Welcome to America!
The simple-minded pleasures of these melodrama clichés are supplemented by a sophisticated and often quite savage critique on modern America (having tackled Bolshevik Russia in the previous adventure), an America on the brink of globalizing superpowerdom, a critique that invokes the past to indict the present. The Red Indian sequence at first seems in dubious taste, with the warriors easily manipulated by a gang leader into mutilating Tintin - their knee-jerk savagery and comical rituals are the sad clichés of many a Western. But in the book's most perturbing sequence, Tintin accidentally hits oil on their land; they are speedily thrown off the reservation, and oil wells, banks and a new city erected in its place; a brilliant, shocking encapsulation of the long and terrible history that underlies bright modern America. The gangster epidemic is linked to police and presidential corruption, while the tendency of famed American democracy and justice to degenerate into mob rule and lynching is unflinchingly pinpointed, as are the ecological crimes of big business. In fact, Herge sees American capitalism as a form of cannibalism - a sausage-grinding plant is a front for disposing of gangland enemies, their flesh mingled with animal meat for sale (the leader of the gang is a dead ringer for Foucault!). Conversely, Tintin is at one point rescued by a labor strike! One frame must have registered on the young Jean-Luc Godard, in which Tintin passes a landscape of car-wreckage overlooked by advertising hoardings. The irony of the story is that America, once so new, innocent, a beacon of hope where the world's oppressed could find refuge, has become as corrupt as the Old World, to which Tintin must return ito protect HIS innocence.
Herge's satirical instinct does not preclude a great love for the LOOK of America, with its precisionist skyscraperscapes, and vast prairie spaces. Herge deliberately streamlines his animation, drawing in bold, uncluttered strokes and strong, bright colours, giving some indication of the size and modernity of America, as well as its anonymity, conformity and assembly line mentality. The nocturnal scenes, in which the overall brightness becomes deeply mysterious, are particularly beautiful. I dare anyone who views the flabbergasting scene of Tintin clambering across an endless skyscraper not to feel dizzy. Within his frames, Herge creates an extraordinary dynamism of movement. I particularly love it when characters walk on the border of the frame, as if getting ready to leap from it.
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Thomas Wikman (MSL quote), Dallas, TX
<2007-01-04 00:00>
As a child, I read all of the Tintin books in Swedish, except the first one Tintin in the Soviets. As an adult living in the U.S., I am reading most of them again to my children, but this time in English. Herge's first three Tintin books are not as good as his later books, and this was his third book. Tintin in Congo is the only Tintin book that I have read that is worse than this one. Tintin in America portrays America with an old fashioned European prejudice that is unrealistic and unflattering. His portrayal of the Indians is borderline racist, and the plot is essentially "gangster tries to kill Tintin, Tintin miraculously escapes" repeated a couple of dozen times. In a sense Tintin is a super hero with "luck" as his super power, and this becomes tiresome. The plot is silly, and the book is certainly not a history lesson.
Kids seven and below could enjoy this book, older kids will consider it stupid. If Herge instead had written Tintin in Sweden at this time, all the Swedes would have been blond, stupid, and quiet. There would be polar bears and reindeers in the streets, Samis would have been portrayed in an insulting way, and Tintin would have been repeatedly attacked by gnomes. Just to put this book in a Swedish perspective (for fellow Swedes). Humor has changed since 1932, and so did Herge's soon after (1934).
Having said that, the book is still entertaining, in its own way, and my kids have asked me to read it a few times, which I have. If you or your kids like Tintin books then buy it, but don't let this one be your first. Herge's master pieces came later in history. My favorites are Tintin in Tibet, Blue Lotus, "Flight 714", The crab with the golden claw, and The Seven Crystal Balls/Prisoners of the Sun, but I really like all of the later ones. |
Lawrance M. Bernabo , USA
<2007-01-04 00:00>
I read Tintin in America relatively late in my journey through the Adventures of Tintin, which might not be fair since this early work by Herge certainly pales in comparison to some of our beloved heroes later and greatest adventures (e.g., Land of Black Gold or Explorers on the Moon). From that perspective you notice that the art is a bit more cartoonish than what comes later but the most important difference is that this is basically Tintin and Snowy on their own. The wonderful casts of colorful supporting characters that end up populating the Tintin universe are not to be seen at this point, which might explain why Snowy "talks" a lot more in this early Tintin adventure than is his habit in later volumes.
While this is not a great Tintin adventure, Tintin in America is certainly an interesting one because of the way Herge presents America to his readers. In a manner that reminds me of Babe's fanciful vision of the big city in "Babe: Pig in the City," Herge presents the U.S. as half Chicago gangsters and half Wild West cowboys and Indians. Tintin arrives in Chicago to clean up the city ruled by gangster bosses and Al Capone is not happy to see the world famous reporter. Tintin survives so many attempted gangland hits that you lose count of them, and it is a toss up whether there are more last second escapes or scenes where Tintin pulls a gun on a gangster. The perils of Tintin continue even when our hero and his faithful terrier companion make their way out West and become involved with some of the quaint customs of the local natives.
The final word would be that if you have heard people raving about Herge and Tintin, and then you start at the "beginning" (in terms of what is readily available of the Adventures of Tintin) you might be wondering what all the fuss is about. Do not fear. Tintin in America represents the early days when Herge was still finding his way and learning his craft. The best is yet to come after this one and the best is pretty good. Get with the program and stick to it. |
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