Customer Reviews

Tintin and the Secret of Literature

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This interestingly written catalog of things Tintin for his grownup fans sticks to the strips (including the tightly packed panels you lingered over, or not) with excursions historical, heretical and philosophical. You won't drown in Derrida and Bataille, just get your feet wet. The interpretations build on the familiar adventures they visit and revisit and on themselves as well, all in a style that's as clear, fast-moving and full of surprises as Tintin's. It's an easy read even for those of us who think la Théorie belabors the agnosticism of language (as of any human belief system) with its metaphors like money, which has no absolute backing but works contingently, perfectly, until trust panics and collapses. It's hardly news that naïve realists think words come with guarantees--refer self-evidently to objects in a real world--and are disappointed, that is, ils font tintin. Again, this is for adults. Its vocabulary level, intricacy and adult themes are not for children.

I read all the Tintin books first, or, as I found out in Mr. McCarthy's excellent book, all the ones I had known about, even the infamous Tintin in the Congo book that's no longer available in English (I "read" the German version), but I soon discovered that I'll have to read them all again, for McCarthy has given me a new set of eyes in which to view the books. I've not read other books by this author, but I plan to. I'd recommend this book in particular to anyone who wants to find a way of meaningfully interpret what they read. And McCarthy bases his ideas not just on what he thinks is happening in the Hergé books, but also on the known history of the great Belgian graphic artist. (As a note to other readers, I read the Granta Books edition, which has a different cover than the one being sold by Amazon.)