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Hergé, Son of Tintin
Tintinology [tin-tin-ol-uh-jee] noun — The study of the works of comic creator Hergé and the cultural impact of Tintin, his best-known and most influential character.
The adventures of Tintin and his dog, Snowy, have captivated people worldwide since they first appeared as an insert in the Belgian Catholic newspaper Le Vingtième Siècle in 1929. Available for the first time in English, this insightful biography delves deep into the psyche of Tintin creator Georges Remi and his public persona Hergé.
Author of the critically acclaimed Tintin and the World of Hergé and the last person to interview Remi, Benoît Peeters tells the complete story behind Hergé's origins and shows how and why the nom de plume grew into a larger-than-Remi personality as Tintin's popularity exploded. Drawing on interviews and using recently uncovered primary sources for the first time, Peeters reveals Remi as a neurotic man who sought to escape the troubles of his past by allowing Hergé's identity to subsume his own. As Tintin adventured, Hergé lived out a romanticized version of life for Remi.
Millions have traveled alongside Tintin and Snowy through books, animated television series, theatrical performances, exhibitions, documentaries, and movies, including Steven Spielberg's fall 2011 The Adventures of Tintin. Now Tintinologists have the opportunity to better understand the complex and sometimes dark personality of Tintin's creator and his carefully crafted public persona.
424 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2002
11 people are currently reading
93 people want to read
About the author
Benoît Peeters
153 books46 followersBenoît Peeters is a French comics writer, novelist, and comics scholar.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
January 29, 2020
A masterful work. Thoroughly researched, and, I think, the definitive biography on Hergé to date.
I grew up reading Tintin and was always seeking deeper insights into the books, the character, and the author. Naturally, I'm at a disadvantage not being able to read French, but over the years I have read a number of insightful books. I read this book immediately after finishing Pierre Assouline's also interesting, Hergé: The Man Who Created Tintin and the two paired well together.
But make no mistake, if you are only going to invest the time to read one, this book by Benoît Peeters is the superior of the two. The depth of his research, the comprehensive notes at the end, and the very detailed look at Hergé's life make this book outstanding.
Hergé is a fascinating character. A great artist, and at times, a clearly tortured soul. I can't help but admire the man, despite some of his flaws.
One minor note: like Assouline, Peeters criticizes Tintin and the Picaros. Surely it wasn't the best Tintin book ever written, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it in my youth and even today. I am surprised that I appear to be in the minority in appreciating it. Peeters also criticizes the modernized version of The Black Island, which I also feel is unwarranted. Overall however, Peeters clearly has a deep love for both Tintin and, I think, Hergé.
One more thing: I obtained this book as a gift as soon as it was published, why then did it take me many years to actually read it? The lack of a digital copy. Sad but true, if big, thick books do not exist digitally, I'm less likely to read them.
Tina A. Kover deserves credit for doing a fine translation of what was no doubt a difficult book to do, especially with all of the subtle differences in the Tintin character names and book titles.
I grew up reading Tintin and was always seeking deeper insights into the books, the character, and the author. Naturally, I'm at a disadvantage not being able to read French, but over the years I have read a number of insightful books. I read this book immediately after finishing Pierre Assouline's also interesting, Hergé: The Man Who Created Tintin and the two paired well together.
But make no mistake, if you are only going to invest the time to read one, this book by Benoît Peeters is the superior of the two. The depth of his research, the comprehensive notes at the end, and the very detailed look at Hergé's life make this book outstanding.
Hergé is a fascinating character. A great artist, and at times, a clearly tortured soul. I can't help but admire the man, despite some of his flaws.
One minor note: like Assouline, Peeters criticizes Tintin and the Picaros. Surely it wasn't the best Tintin book ever written, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it in my youth and even today. I am surprised that I appear to be in the minority in appreciating it. Peeters also criticizes the modernized version of The Black Island, which I also feel is unwarranted. Overall however, Peeters clearly has a deep love for both Tintin and, I think, Hergé.
One more thing: I obtained this book as a gift as soon as it was published, why then did it take me many years to actually read it? The lack of a digital copy. Sad but true, if big, thick books do not exist digitally, I'm less likely to read them.
Tina A. Kover deserves credit for doing a fine translation of what was no doubt a difficult book to do, especially with all of the subtle differences in the Tintin character names and book titles.
November 27, 2017
Anyone who has read Pierre Assouline's "Herge," should also read this one.
Whereas Assouline's was a book about the historical context out of which both Herge, Tintin, and the Franco-Belgian comic-book culture came about, "Herge, Son of Tintin" is a more intimate psychological portrait of both the man, and the process of his having "put [his] whole life into Tintin." In short, Peeters has written a book about how Tintin made Herge the man, the person, and he spares the reader none of the tensions that arose between the Belgian cartoonist and his larger-than-life creation, and within his personal life.
Historical context matters. But so do the nature of the work process within that context, personality, temperament, and any person's individual choices. How the nature of any work shapes an individual person and vice-versa is best summed up by this quote from Frederick Douglass: "A man is worked upon by what he works on. He may carve out his circumstances, but his circumstances will carve him out as well."
Whereas Assouline's was a book about the historical context out of which both Herge, Tintin, and the Franco-Belgian comic-book culture came about, "Herge, Son of Tintin" is a more intimate psychological portrait of both the man, and the process of his having "put [his] whole life into Tintin." In short, Peeters has written a book about how Tintin made Herge the man, the person, and he spares the reader none of the tensions that arose between the Belgian cartoonist and his larger-than-life creation, and within his personal life.
Historical context matters. But so do the nature of the work process within that context, personality, temperament, and any person's individual choices. How the nature of any work shapes an individual person and vice-versa is best summed up by this quote from Frederick Douglass: "A man is worked upon by what he works on. He may carve out his circumstances, but his circumstances will carve him out as well."
February 23, 2018
Como leer semejante tocho y aún así que te atrape a cada vuelta de pagina. Lo conocíamos todo de Hergé? Ni de coña! Su vida es un novelote donde se entre mezcla la historia de 50 años del siglo XX en Europa. Ahí es nada.
La prosa a cargo de Benoit Peeters hace el resto. Purita magia en forma de biografía. La mejor biografía que he leído? Seguramente
La prosa a cargo de Benoit Peeters hace el resto. Purita magia en forma de biografía. La mejor biografía que he leído? Seguramente
January 15, 2022
Uma biografia escrita sem grandes juízos de valor por parte do autor, mas que nos revela que na vida de Hergé ficaram muitas pontas soltas.Não consigo perceber se foi por vontade própria do biografado, ou por vontade dos editores ou outras forças externas.
Pistas são muitas e o próprio autor refere que o que não faltam são livros sobre o criador e a sua obra.
Tintim foi dos primeiros livros que li na infância e por isso tinha muita curiosidade em ler esta obra.
Merece bem a sua leitura, mas vai-me obrigar a uma releitura dos álbuns de Tintim e com certeza que os vou ler com outros olhos.
Pistas são muitas e o próprio autor refere que o que não faltam são livros sobre o criador e a sua obra.
Tintim foi dos primeiros livros que li na infância e por isso tinha muita curiosidade em ler esta obra.
Merece bem a sua leitura, mas vai-me obrigar a uma releitura dos álbuns de Tintim e com certeza que os vou ler com outros olhos.
May 20, 2021
A very enjoyable, thorough biography - probably the third book I've read on the world of Tintin.
It makes very good use of letters between Herge and his fiance / wife and dwellson the depressive episodes that I suspect would have been underplayed elsewhere. More generally, it reminds me again of how lost we'll be in future with biography, where so much is electronic and the thoughtful, confessional letter - even from the most awkward writer - is no long part of the furniture.
Besides being a great portrait, it's a very good picture of the creative process and the frustrations of the artist; at points Herge is terrifically bored with Tintin and feels he has nothing to add; at others he's whipping up potential ideas and scenes, but lost of the binding agent and relying on friends and trusted scenarists. We observe how something starts as a hunch - e.g. sending Tintin to the moon or setting an entire story in one house - and turns into a masterpiece of sorts. It sounds - as was - extremely labour-intensive.
On the subject of collaboration, it's ultimately fairly generous. It feels - to me -to that Herge was a bit of a sap and easy prey to other's arguments, while staying at Le Soir to work does beg the question'What the hell else was I supposed to do?', backed up with little that is damning beyond that idea that, well, his contributions did perhaps account for the steady sales of the paper. One gets the impression that he wanted to draw and this was how he'd get paid for it. This said, it does rather stand out quite how many of his associates were bad 'uns - his editor, his proximity to Degrelle and - bizarrely - his mentoring of Gabriel Matzneff (later to be exposed as the Jimmy Savile of FRancophone Letters, but at the time just cited as someone 'with a thing for young girls).
Still, he also did plenty of atoning and shows moments of redemption (the loyalty to Chan; the relative sympathy for the underdog, etc). That he eventually turns into a proto-Buddhist also suggests that this isn't an un-reconstructed Catholic conservative diehard. A bit of an innocent and an empty vessel, in some ways: rather like Tintin (by the way, I'd love to find out if Pere Gal was just a Flemish vicar pretending to have Native American ancestry... he sounds very like 'Grey Hawk' or whoever that bloke was who spent half a century in Canada pretending to be a Sioux. It sounds very fishy).
Fascinating man - and very human, after all. This is a great biography with a strong artist's eye. Worth a look.
Very enjoyable
It makes very good use of letters between Herge and his fiance / wife and dwellson the depressive episodes that I suspect would have been underplayed elsewhere. More generally, it reminds me again of how lost we'll be in future with biography, where so much is electronic and the thoughtful, confessional letter - even from the most awkward writer - is no long part of the furniture.
Besides being a great portrait, it's a very good picture of the creative process and the frustrations of the artist; at points Herge is terrifically bored with Tintin and feels he has nothing to add; at others he's whipping up potential ideas and scenes, but lost of the binding agent and relying on friends and trusted scenarists. We observe how something starts as a hunch - e.g. sending Tintin to the moon or setting an entire story in one house - and turns into a masterpiece of sorts. It sounds - as was - extremely labour-intensive.
On the subject of collaboration, it's ultimately fairly generous. It feels - to me -to that Herge was a bit of a sap and easy prey to other's arguments, while staying at Le Soir to work does beg the question'What the hell else was I supposed to do?', backed up with little that is damning beyond that idea that, well, his contributions did perhaps account for the steady sales of the paper. One gets the impression that he wanted to draw and this was how he'd get paid for it. This said, it does rather stand out quite how many of his associates were bad 'uns - his editor, his proximity to Degrelle and - bizarrely - his mentoring of Gabriel Matzneff (later to be exposed as the Jimmy Savile of FRancophone Letters, but at the time just cited as someone 'with a thing for young girls).
Still, he also did plenty of atoning and shows moments of redemption (the loyalty to Chan; the relative sympathy for the underdog, etc). That he eventually turns into a proto-Buddhist also suggests that this isn't an un-reconstructed Catholic conservative diehard. A bit of an innocent and an empty vessel, in some ways: rather like Tintin (by the way, I'd love to find out if Pere Gal was just a Flemish vicar pretending to have Native American ancestry... he sounds very like 'Grey Hawk' or whoever that bloke was who spent half a century in Canada pretending to be a Sioux. It sounds very fishy).
Fascinating man - and very human, after all. This is a great biography with a strong artist's eye. Worth a look.
Very enjoyable
January 28, 2012
How a book by a Belgian cartoonist made its way to a small mining community in Pennsylvania, I haven’t a clue. But this introduction to TinTin confirmed me a fan and contributed to my own early ambitions in drawing. Eventually I even became a reporter like my childhood hero.
Despite my admiration for the character and love of his adventures, I knew relatively little about his creator until much later when I saw a documentary on Georges Remi, better known to the world as Herge.
As TinTin comes to the big screen, I saw this biography as an opportunity to learn even more about Herge and his career. Benoit Peeters’ book is thorough. While in the end it reveals Herge as a rather ordinary man whose life outside is work somewhat bland, there are some surprises and illuminating aspects.
Peeters reveals the influence of Herges’ favorite boyhood authors—Mark Twain, Jerome K. Jerome and Alexander Dumas—on his future work. There also interesting details on the development of the characters and stories and the distinctive artwork of the man.
He suffered lifelong from bouts of depression, was obviously a workaholic and could be cold to other people.
Less flattering are the revelation of his use of ethnic and racial stereotypes, though he did mature later and try to make up for that failing. After World War 2 he was accused of collaboration. He maintained he had done nothing wrong, publishing in a collaborationist newspaper only because it was the only one available. His naïve viewpoint was excused by the government and public on the basis of his popularity.
Perhaps. The world has excused worse behavior in lesser men.
Despite my admiration for the character and love of his adventures, I knew relatively little about his creator until much later when I saw a documentary on Georges Remi, better known to the world as Herge.
As TinTin comes to the big screen, I saw this biography as an opportunity to learn even more about Herge and his career. Benoit Peeters’ book is thorough. While in the end it reveals Herge as a rather ordinary man whose life outside is work somewhat bland, there are some surprises and illuminating aspects.
Peeters reveals the influence of Herges’ favorite boyhood authors—Mark Twain, Jerome K. Jerome and Alexander Dumas—on his future work. There also interesting details on the development of the characters and stories and the distinctive artwork of the man.
He suffered lifelong from bouts of depression, was obviously a workaholic and could be cold to other people.
Less flattering are the revelation of his use of ethnic and racial stereotypes, though he did mature later and try to make up for that failing. After World War 2 he was accused of collaboration. He maintained he had done nothing wrong, publishing in a collaborationist newspaper only because it was the only one available. His naïve viewpoint was excused by the government and public on the basis of his popularity.
Perhaps. The world has excused worse behavior in lesser men.
January 18, 2014
To read my review in Spanish; click here: http://lunairereadings.blogspot.com/2...
Why is Tin Tin so famous? Why is his story so entertaining? George Remis (aka Hergé) was never fond of his own talent. He wrote his books because he needed to do a living and that one was as good as any other. Tin Tin turned out to be a rockstar of comics; and it has reached inmortality. This book is a portrait of Tin Tin's creator's life; and how he was as human as anybody else. It does a pretty detailed analysis of all the characters and the relations between them and Remis family and friends. At the end of the day; what it shows is that anything can be turned in something glorious by virtue of hard work and and a highly detailed thinking.
Why is Tin Tin so famous? Why is his story so entertaining? George Remis (aka Hergé) was never fond of his own talent. He wrote his books because he needed to do a living and that one was as good as any other. Tin Tin turned out to be a rockstar of comics; and it has reached inmortality. This book is a portrait of Tin Tin's creator's life; and how he was as human as anybody else. It does a pretty detailed analysis of all the characters and the relations between them and Remis family and friends. At the end of the day; what it shows is that anything can be turned in something glorious by virtue of hard work and and a highly detailed thinking.
February 11, 2014
Se trata de un completo libro sobre Herge, el autor de Tintin, con todas las luces y las sombras del personaje. Desde sus inicios en Le Petit vingtième, y sobre todo su trabajo en "Le Soir robado" durante la ocupación nazi, las purgas de la postguerra, donde muchos de sus amigos y colaboradores fueron a la carcel, sus difíciles relacciones con Raymnod Leclerc, su giro a la izquierda en la épcoa de Fanny...Un libro muy interesante en castellano, pues solo teníamos hasta ahora las "Conversaciones" de Numa Sadoul, pero en estas última solo contó con lo que Herge quería contar y como lo quería contar.
April 10, 2014
This is more than a book about Hergé's life! This is a book about how Tintin was born and how Hergé became his son (for bad, and for good). It's impossible to not be amused by this genial artist and the way he dealed with his hero - a love-hate relationship. After read this book we realize that 'The Adventures of Tintin' are so much more of Hergé's life and thoughts, in a way we couldn't even imagine.
The thing I most loved about this book was the reproduction of the letters that Hergé sended and received, that are actually all the basis to the reconstruction of his thoughts and feelings.
The thing I most loved about this book was the reproduction of the letters that Hergé sended and received, that are actually all the basis to the reconstruction of his thoughts and feelings.
November 30, 2012
A thoughtful, highly-readable account of the life of the enigmatic Hergé. Peeters makes great use of a range of documentary records--not just the Tintin canon, which he mines for biographical remnants and reads with great precision, but also the revealing interviews and letters left behind by Hergé himself, his admirers, his friends, his lovers, his enemies.
Translated by Tina Kover, this is certainly the definitive biography of both Georges Remi and Hergé.
Translated by Tina Kover, this is certainly the definitive biography of both Georges Remi and Hergé.
July 23, 2022
https://fromtheheartofeurope.eu/herge-son-of-tintin-by-benoit-peeters/
Like all good Belgian comics fans, I’m fascinated by the adventures of Tintin and by their creator. This is a really interesting biographical study, by a writer who met Hergé an interviewed him a couple of times, and has now lived long enough to absorb the mass of critical commentary on Hergé’s work that has emerged over the decades.
I learned a lot from it. In particular, I learned that it’s very difficult to navigate exactly how close Hergé came to collaboration with the occupying Germans during the war. He was not brave, and he was close to some of the leading Rexists, in particular Léon Degrelle. On the other hand, he mostly resisted pressure to produce pro-German propaganda, and he never put anyone else in danger; and an exhaustive investigation from the trigger-happy Belgian authorities after the war found in the end that he had no case to answer. Still, it is not a part of his career that he was proud of in later years.
Tintin was very bad for his creator’s health. Once he had rebranded and re-established himself after the war, Hergé’s arrangements with younger artistic collaborators were frankly exploitative; all of their work for him appeared under his name, though in fairness the pressure he put on them to get it exactly the way he wanted it was also part of the process. On several occasions Hergé’s own mental health broke down and the serialisation of the latest Tintin story simply stopped for weeks or months until he felt well enough to resume. But he was so dominant in the Belgian market, and selling so well, that he could get away with both mistreating his juniors and disappearing for long stretches.
Peeters is also very good at looking into the background of each book, and he’s disarming frank about the inescapable fact that the early and late Tintin stories are really not very good. I’ve written before about the early adventures in the Soviet Union, the Congo and America, and the unfinished story of Alph-Art. But it’s good to be reminded that there is a run of genius from Cigars of the Pharaoh to The Castafiore Emerald, and that I’ve yet to reread some of my childhood favourites.
The English version is well translated by Tina A. Kover, though one sometimes senses the French-language flourishes trying to get past her guard.
Like all good Belgian comics fans, I’m fascinated by the adventures of Tintin and by their creator. This is a really interesting biographical study, by a writer who met Hergé an interviewed him a couple of times, and has now lived long enough to absorb the mass of critical commentary on Hergé’s work that has emerged over the decades.
I learned a lot from it. In particular, I learned that it’s very difficult to navigate exactly how close Hergé came to collaboration with the occupying Germans during the war. He was not brave, and he was close to some of the leading Rexists, in particular Léon Degrelle. On the other hand, he mostly resisted pressure to produce pro-German propaganda, and he never put anyone else in danger; and an exhaustive investigation from the trigger-happy Belgian authorities after the war found in the end that he had no case to answer. Still, it is not a part of his career that he was proud of in later years.
Tintin was very bad for his creator’s health. Once he had rebranded and re-established himself after the war, Hergé’s arrangements with younger artistic collaborators were frankly exploitative; all of their work for him appeared under his name, though in fairness the pressure he put on them to get it exactly the way he wanted it was also part of the process. On several occasions Hergé’s own mental health broke down and the serialisation of the latest Tintin story simply stopped for weeks or months until he felt well enough to resume. But he was so dominant in the Belgian market, and selling so well, that he could get away with both mistreating his juniors and disappearing for long stretches.
Peeters is also very good at looking into the background of each book, and he’s disarming frank about the inescapable fact that the early and late Tintin stories are really not very good. I’ve written before about the early adventures in the Soviet Union, the Congo and America, and the unfinished story of Alph-Art. But it’s good to be reminded that there is a run of genius from Cigars of the Pharaoh to The Castafiore Emerald, and that I’ve yet to reread some of my childhood favourites.
The English version is well translated by Tina A. Kover, though one sometimes senses the French-language flourishes trying to get past her guard.
May 20, 2021
Poco Tintin y mucho Herge. Demasiado Herge sobre todo cuando terminas descubriendo que,a pesar de sus justificaciones fue un colaboracionista y que no era tan buen tipo como sus personajes podían hacer pensar.
January 17, 2022
This book is essential reading for those die-hard fans of Tintin and Hergés life. It goes into great detail, and with many side turns, but manages to give a nuanced picture of this complex person that was Georges Remi.
May 5, 2021
Brilliant and in-depth, shedding light on the life of a complex individual in a manner that grates against that of the many official and somewhat-sanitized biographies of Herge.
March 13, 2025
A must-read for all "Tintin" fans, young and old.
February 28, 2012
Um livro sobre a vida de Hergé e a "vida" de Tintim e a forma como uma e outra se influenciaram.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews