Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 24, 1995 TAG: 9507240141
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: PARIS LENGTH: Medium
Was Tintin, France's most beloved comic book character, a closet alcoholic masquerading as an innocent adventurer?
Author Bertrand Boulin thinks so. His new book suggests Belgian cartoonist George Remi meant for the round-faced Tintin to amuse children but also to subtly educate adults about alcoholism.
The very idea of making a wino out of Tintin - as cherished to the French as Charlie Brown is to Americans - has stirred widespread media attention.
The argument also stirred Remi's widow, Fanny Vlamynck, who owns the copyright to Tintin. She went to court to successfully block publication in France of Boulin's book, ``Tintin et L'Alcool'' (Tintin and Alcohol).
Her lawyer says Boulin built a bogus case from a few isolated frames of the Tintin cartoons that were begun in 1929 by Remi, who drew under the name of Herge.
Besides, the suit said, Boulin stole the pictures he used to illustrate his book.
That was the argument that won over a Paris court this month, which ruled that ``Tintin et L'Alcool'' reproduced 1,141 drawings without permission. The ruling does not affect publication in other countries.
Herge's widow and Tintin aficionados do not deny the Tintin cartoons may have overtones about drinking, but they do not want Tintin pigeonholed as a boy with a drinking problem.
Wearing golf pants and recognized by a golden tuft of hair on his forehead and his beady, curious eyes, Tintin travels accompanied by a dog and a drunken sailor. His adventures take readers, young and old, on historical adventures to places like the Russia, the Congo, America and Tibet.
Boulin defends his work, and says he is not casting a negative shadow over Tintin.
``I knew Herge and have an immense admiration for him,'' Boulin told the weekly Le Journal de Dimanche. He has declined comment to other news organizations.
Boulin contends that Herge was a great analyst of alcoholism and that the illness was ``a theme central to his work.''
Among the problems associated with alcoholism that crop up in Tintin cartoons are frustration, dependency, guilt, hallucination, delirium and dreams, the author says. He cites situations in which Tintin characters drink whiskey or rum and notes that Tintin himself drinks to drunkenness twice during his adventures.
Boulin's critics say he is stretching themes in Tintin stories to promote a narrow social cause.
``But even if alcoholism is an undeniable theme in Herge's work, we are not inclined to favor an interpretation which reduces the greater work,'' said Philippe Goddi, secretary of the Herge Foundation.
Dr. Eric Hispard, a specialist in the treatment of alcoholics, supports Boulin. He considers Herge the world's first expert on alcoholism.
``He described alcoholism and its consequences with incredible precision at a time when no one knew anything about it,'' he told Le Journal du Dimanche.
Hispard said he realized Tintin was a ``gold mine for studying alcoholism'' while reading to a sick child.
He began using Tintin in treating his alcoholic patients, who included Boulin. Boulin emerged from the treatment ``dry,'' and decided to write his book to help others overcome their addiction.
``To ban this book is censorship, morally and medically,'' Hispard said. ``Herge could not have put such things into his work without having decoded the problem.''
Boulin's publisher, Editions Chapitre Douze, is appealing the court ruling. It contends Moulinsart, the company that supervises Tintin copyright matters, was given the chance to deny reproduction rights.
``Moulinsart did not answer the author after he requested permission to reproduce the illustrations. All they said was that they did not want Tintin to be associated with alcohol,'' Olivier Simon, an Editions Chapitre Douze spokesman said in an interview.
by CNB