Tintin in the Congo

A controversial book, this is one of the earliest Tintin stories from the early 1930s (though this edition had coloured artwork done in 1946). When originally created this story depicted the colonial racist attitudes of the time towards Africa, plus a rather bloodthirsty approach to dealing with wildlife. Later editions toned down both, Herge feeling embarrassed by what he originally drew, but enough remains of both to mean this edition of Tintin was not published in English until 2005 (the original black and white edition published in 1931). When it was finally published there were attempts to ban it but if you actually read this story it does seem rather like an over reaction.

Tintin goes to the Congo, then a Belgian colony, and soon begins a break neck series of adventures including various battles with wild animals and native people though most of the story involves a criminal white man who is finally unveiled as part of Al Capone's operation and aiming to help the Chicago gangster boss take over diamond smuggling in Africa...

The story lacks the depth of plot of later Tintin stories, being more a series of subplots vaguely linked (and mostly by geography) and of course has a patronising attitude to African people who are largely depicted as being childlike and needing direction from the white man. The book reflected the attitude of Europeans to Africans at the time (1930s) and should be viewed in that light, its not much more offensive than say Carry On Up The Jungle, Africans are still patronised in the media these days in any event, just differently.

Some events in the book are rather cringe worthy like Tintin being revered as an idol by an African tribe but to be honest you can still see similar attitudes and visions of Africa these days on TV. The slaughter of wildlife i personally found more of a problem but it does date from when the natural world had what appeared to be a limitless abundance of fauna so accidentally slaughtering a herd of antelope maybe was not quite so big a deal!

The book is what it is, and to be honest i quite enjoyed it, view it like that and you might too. Its nowhere near as good as most later Tintin books but is interesting on a number of levels including as a historical document of 1930s colonial attitudes.