Costumes of Literary Characters: Belgium


Figure 1.--Tintin is seen here in his trade-mark long knickers with some of the strip's main characters.

HBC knows of no famous boy characters in Belgian literature. There have been some comic strips. The most famous of course is Tintin. Tintin was a popular fictional French character in rather large, elaborate comic books. The format of these books was that of the Asterix series. Tintin appeared to be about age 15/16, and he was set in the mid to late 1930's. He was a juvenile detective. He typically wore a knickers, with a sweater vest and bow tie. Tintin's creator, Hergé, was Belgian. Tintin first appeared in 1929 and became a regular feature in 1946. Brussels and the French-speaking provinces of Belgium (known as Wallonia) have a rich tradition of comic-strip heroes; one guide book states that frescoes or murals of these characters can be found in virtually every city in this region. Some of the these characters, such as Lucky Luke (an American cowboy depicted by a Belgian cartoonist)m however, don't seem insightful for clothing styles for the HBC website.

Belgian Literature

HBC knows of no famous boy characters in Belgian literature. This of course does not mean that none exist. Our knowledhge of Belgian literature is limited. Hopefully Belgian readers will provide us some information. While we do not know of any notable boy character in Belgian literature, there is a very famous Dutch (Flemish) boy character-Nello. This is the boy from the classic book, A Dog of Flanders by Maria Louisa de la Ramé (Ouida). Of course it is a little strange that the most important Belgian boy character was not written by a Belgian. Ramé (Ouida) was a very English author. She was born in Bury St. Edmunds to a French father and an English mother. While Nello is a major boy literary character, he is not well known in Belgium and the Netherlands. Most Belgians were a littke surprised when tourists began asking about Nello and the Cathedral and then American films began to appear. The first was Jackie Coogans, "A Boy of Flanders". Nello is not only an important character in America and Britain, but well known in many other countries--especially Japan. The question becomes is why is Nello such a notable literary character in other countries and not in Belgium. Here several factirs may be at play. The book was written in English. Perhaps Belgians saw Ouida's book as more of a children's book than real literature. The tragic ending may also be a problem. But we suspect a major factor may be Belhgium's split cultural and linguistic tradition. Probably French Belgians don't see a liitle Dutch boy as a suitable national representative. Perhaps Belguan readers may have addituinal insights on this.

Belgian Comic Strips

Brussels and the French-speaking provinces of Belgium (known as Wallonia) have a rich tradition of comic-strip heroes; one guide book states that frescoes or murals of these characters can be found in virtually every city in this region. Some of the these characters, such as Lucky Luke (an American cowboy depicted by a Belgian cartoonist), however, don't seem insightful for clothing styles for the HBC website. Tintin was a popular fictional French character in rather large, elaborate comic books. The format of these books was that of the Asterix series. Tintin appeared to be about age 15/16, and he was set in the mid to late 1930's. He was a juvenile detective. He typically wore a knickers, with a sweater vest and bow tie. Tintin's creator, Hergé, was Belgian. Tintin first appeared in 1929 and became a regular feature in 1946.

Tintin

The most famous Belgian boy literary character is of course Tintin, the comic character created by author Hergé. The Tintin books are the most well known comics for French-speaking children, as Hergé says from 7 to 77 years. The name of Hergé has been made out of author's reversed initials (R. G. pronounced in French "air-jay")--Georges Rémi (1907-1983). Hergé as a young boy was a devoted Boy Scout and actually started his career in comic strips by publishing comics in Scouts magazines. His first book, Tintin au pays des Soviets ( Tintin in the land of the Soviets) was published 1930 and his last book, Tintin et les Picaros in 1979. In total Hergé published 23 books, translated into 45 languages, sold 180 million copies.

Suske en Wieske

The "Suske en Wieske" strips by Willy van der Steen, published originally in Dutch and translated in a number of languages.It featured a number af characters drawn from local Antwerp folklore such as the Black Madam (racially a white woman but wearing a black gown), Kludde the Water Devil and the phantom Druon Antigoon.

Robbedoes

I believe this was also originally a Walloon strip, though I forgot its French name. It had a number of Tintin-like features and was accompanied by Guust, a daft beanpole and the Marsupilami, a blotchy animal with a tail several meters long.

Translations

The translation process in comic strips is interesting to assess. One striking exception to how Dutch for the Flemish handled is Mickey Mouse who comes in two seperate editons, a Belgian-Dutch one and a Dutch-Dutch one. They even changed many characters’ names, like the rich uncle, who is called Jeremias in Flanders and Dagobert in Holland. The ducklings and the female also go by different names. My guess is that the American publishers, blissfully unaware of the linguistic situation, carved up the continent along national borders and set up a French, a Dutch and a Belgian office. The strips were probably translated into French in Paris and into Dutch in Amsterdam, while the branch in Brussels re-invented the wheel by making another two versions of the same. The publishers of Tintin, of course, being aware of local circumstances, did the obvious thing: market their French original in both Belgium and France and a single Dutch translation for Belgium and Holland.






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Created: April 17, 2001
Last updated: 5:30 PM 6/4/2008