Customer Reviews

Tintin in the New World

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

One of the more pretentious novels I've read in quite a while, this postmodern pastiche of German writer Thomas Mann's novel The Magic Mountain and the popular comic character Tintin is likely to leave fans of both exceedingly disappointed, and general readers bored to death. Basically, Tuten (who was a friend of Tintin's creator, Hergé) started with the notion that the man-boy reporter remained essentially emotionally immature and shallow over the course of his twenty or so adventures. So, he places Tintin, Snowy, and Captain Haddock in Macchu Picchu with a number of characters from The Magic Mountain and has them talk at each other endlessly. The book is subtitled "A Romance", presumably because in it, Tintin falls in love for the first time. There's also an overarching thread where Tintin is apparently supposed to play some role as prophet. The problem is that Tuten is attempting to play with the idea of Tintin as a "real" man, with anger, lust, disillusionment, etc. but the entire book is absolutely stagey, talky, and unreal. Most of it reads like a bad play, with endless monologues in language not heard in at least half a century. It's an interesting idea transformed into a very dull book-an experiment that wouldn't have merited a second look from any editor had it not been for the Tintin affiliation.

Whereas other readers seem to have encountered frustration in their hope of reading something of a continuation of or sequel to Herge's books, it was a great pleasure for me to find in this novel a much more humanized Tintin, one who truly struggles. Who suffers lust, and despair. It is an extraordinary piece of work, not to be downplayed for its more complex reflections on youth, love, justice and revolution. Tuten commands growth, and thus Tintin is raised into a full-grown man. Of course this doesn't explain what I truly love about the novel, which is its language. Among my favorite passages are those of Tintin's sidekick Snowy, astute but ever true to his role of loyal canine companion.
"It's his fit...the misery-mama fit that comes over all of them, young and old...these human creatures moan all their lives over for that lost den and those delicious wet teats..."
Much of the novel is also in dialogue (between Thomas Mann's Herr Peeperkorn, Clavdia Chauchat, Naphta and Settembrini), which reads quickly, is absorbing and witty.
As with Tuten's other novels, there is playfulness, laughter and sadness.
To give readers new to Frederic Tuten a better idea of what they're in for, there is a wonderful story online, the Odyssey as experienced by Popeye: [...]

An updating of the TINTIN mythos would seem to be an ideal subject for a novel. After all, Tintin, in his cartoon incarnation, has always been the consummate adventurer, traveling the world in search of criminal activities, international intrigue, and bizarre villains. His stories should be required reading for the young, and the opportunity to visit Tintin in a new format is well nigh irresistible.

What a disappointment, then, that TINTIN IN THE NEW WORLD is less than enthralling. Frederic Tuten has presented the reader with a conflicted Tintin, a confused man-boy who has so far been unable to grow as a person. While this dilemma is always an interesting literary path, Tuten, despite a true talent for a well-turned phrase, cannot bring all the elements together to a cohesive whole.

The story begins as Tintin, along with his faithful dog Snowy and his old companion Captain Haddock, is sent to Machu Picchu on a vaguely defined mission. Once there, they meet several characters from author Thomas Mann's THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN. (Not having read MOUNTAIN, I cannot comment on Tuten's reinterpretation, but they do seem to be a deeply enlightened group of people) Tintin then begins a journey he has never traveled before, a trek into self-enlightenment, as he finds himself falling in love, taking a life, and becoming a being who is 'more' than he was.

Clearly, this is not the Tintin of old. Tuten has reinvented him as a classically tortured soul, desperate to find the meaning behind his exploits. But Tuten never finds an acceptable middle ground between the old and the new. He counts on the reader having a previous knowledge of Tintin, rather than coming upon the novel uninformed. But, despite what the book jacket would have us believe the uninitiated will not understand who Tintin is at all. He is not clearly defined as a character, which will confuse the newcomer, and irritate the fan. And his eventual rebirth as a man and possible messianic figure comes completely out of left field.

There are many fine points to be discovered within the novel's pages. Tintin's extended dream that occurs after his first sexual experience is a truly astonishing exploration of his psyche. It is lyrical, brave, and romantic. It stands alone and independent of the whole, which is TINTIN's greatest failing. It has so many good moments, that it is all the more disappointing in its ultimate failure. It is a courageous attempt of a novel, worth reading despite its eventual collapse under its own weight.

Though there seems to be a rift between people who appreciate this book (as I do) and those who had hoped it would be an Adventures of Tintin novel, I happen to love them both. Embarrassingly enough, I did not realize the other characters were lifted from The Magic Mountain, but that's a testament to the fact that I didn't need to. I was a comic book kid, and always particularly savored Tintin- the Tintin albums fed my wanderlust and my romanticized notions about foreign lands, and I also thought he was a cool kid. I still do. In this novel, Tintin is a man. Probably an amalgam of Tintin and Tuten, who knows. He has flaws, figures things out the hard way. I cringed in pity at parts, cheered him on just like I did the old Tintin. Can't wait to see the movie in a few weeks, and to see yet another interpretation.

Frederic Tuten was the only person in the world who got Hergé's permission to publish a new adventure of Tintin as a novel, which he has done with this book. Of course, you can't compare the Tintin in this novel with the Tintin of the comics of Hergé, because every writer has his own view and interpretation of the character(s). It's like Hergé once told: "Tintin ce'st moi". Because of that, Tuten never could have created a Tintin similar to the Tintin of Hergé. That's why we should review Tuten's book at itself, without comparing it to the Tintin comics. Without telling you the story, I can say that it is well written, contains a few unexpected hapenings, but I don't like the fact that he took a few characters from a book of Thomas Mann. Tuten could have invented them himself, which would have been much more original than he did now. Further, the book is a bit philosophical and psychological, which - in my opinion - invites the reader to think and wonder about the facts written down in this book. I don't regard this book as beeing essential for all the Tintinfanatics, but it sure is enjoyable to read.

This is one of the big books. It's rare you find a novel of this scope, one that sets out to tackle the big questions, and reminds you of what literature is really about. What a fresh idea to bring Tintin, the ageless innocent, face to face with his own ambiguous humanity. Lyrical, funny, erudite, and philosophical, this novel stands among the classics of world literature.

A masterpiece of a distinctly different character from Frederic Tuten's other novels (they each have a flavor all their own). What I loved so much about this particular book was the unexpectedly fused folklore, the exoticized Macchu Piccu/Peru taken on by the fresh-faced boy reporter and the argumentative cast of friends. It's unlike any bildungsroman ever encountered, but once the reader's gained pace, there is a profound sympathy, on par with what one feels for the already-beloved Tintin, but of a different kind. There is bittersweet. A very good novel.

I am getting sick of all those stories that claim reference to Tintin but distort the character so much that they bear no resemblance to it. Breaking Free is definitely the worst, but this comes a close second. It's not that it's not interesting. As a novel, it stands on its own as delivering some thought-provoking philosophy and ideas. I wish though that the author just invented some new characters instead of stealing Tintin and Haddock. The novel reminds me of Candide - a philosophical allegory of sorts. But there is no need to stick Tintin in there.

Frederic Tuten's Tintin in the New World is a glittering conceit glistening with pretension. Tintin, according to the back cover, "has never charted the restless geography of his own mind." Well, Tuten doesn't start now. Like a postmodern Columbus, the author sets sail for Tintin's mental geography but plants his flag in another territory altogether: the posturing world of the New Novel. By way, of course, of Thomas Mann's Der Zauberberg, whose borrowed characters cannot infuse much real magic into Tuten's depredating attempts to fuse real with unreal. The conceit, as I called it, is winning: Tintin and his boon companions Haddock and Snowy find themselves in South America, awaiting further instructions at a mountaintop resort where are also found characters Herge, Tintin's creator, would have loved: the enigmatic Claudia, fat-cat businessmen, and an arguing pair of pedants who become a politicalized Dupond et Dupont. With this confrontation, Tuten attempts to draw shake Tintin's placid, upper-class lifestyle, to finally decide if this "blond elf" is boy or man. Alas, he falls short, beginning with the way in which Tintin finally exits childhood and innocence: he gets laid, leading to a breathtakingly long fantasy of Tintin's future life with Claudia, and his decline. Poor Tuten. He approaches the pitfalls of Tintin's growing up with little of the subtle humor and skill of Herge's comic. The now-pubescent Tintin broods, undergoes physical changes, lashes out at Peeperkorn's descriptions of Claudia's frivolities, and murders him: an act which is far more indicative of the losses of innocence and conscience of growing up than sex. Alas, Tuten handles Tintin with too much seriousness. Several passages are humorous, in the long-winded style: a discourse on Second Empire furniture (such as Tintin's) which allows a destitute young man to arrive is classic and vintage. The book's sheer talkiness overwhelms its attempts to say something, and Tintin changes, not into an adult Tintin, but an unknown, an anonymous, troubled young man. The comic Tintin had plenty of personality for a talking head, enough that wouldn't be affected by growing up. The Tuten Tintin is a different character: mushroom-taker, green-painted jungle messiah, and finally savior of a forgotten New World civilization. This isn't Tintin, though it could be Sting. Tuten deserves points for an impressive effort at melding the fabric of the different worlds of his novel. In the end, however,his tepid breath turns conflation into inflation, and a flabby novel

Ok, here's the thing about Frederic Tuten: being a true pioneer in the world of fiction, most the world has no idea how to read him. Being in the art scene around the Pop movement (and good friends with Roy Lichtenstein among others) he brought that approach and energy to literature. What most of his books do is take a famous historical figure or fictional character and reimagines their life, or some crucial moment in their life, with a wonderful fantastical whimsy that is charming, fun, and deeply fascinating. It is the idea of fictional truth: nothing you read is true but somehow more true than what really happened, or was in the source texts (in this case the Tintin comics). Most of the criticisms have to do with the book not coinciding close enough with the comics, or contradicting the comics in some way - these people are entirely missing the point. Pop art was about appropriating popular symbols in order to make a larger statement. Tuten is not trying to make a statement about Tintin in this story, or even write a Tintin story the way he is known in the comics. He is using the character of Tintin - the archetypal perfect young man, always noble, always good - to examine how even the best of us must face difficult decisions, and can be lead astray. If the idea of a Tintin book that isn't exactly like the comics angers you - perhaps this is not right for you. However, if you have an open mind to the limitless possibilities of fiction, if you want something with imagination and vision, read this book. Then go out and get his others. They are all great.