Prisoners of the Sun
Prisoners of the Sun (Le Temple du Soleil) | |
---|---|
Date | 1949 |
Series | The Adventures of Tintin |
Publisher | Casterman |
Creative team | |
Creator | Hergé |
Original publication | |
Published in | Tintin magazine |
Date of publication | 26 September 1946 – 22 April 1948 |
Language | French, Spanish |
Translation | |
Publisher | Methuen |
Date | 1962 |
Translator |
|
Chronology | |
Preceded by | The Seven Crystal Balls (1948) |
Followed by | Land of Black Gold (1950) |
Prisoners of the Sun (French: Le Temple du Soleil) is the fourteenth volume of The Adventures of Tintin, the comics series by Belgian cartoonist Hergé. The story was serialised weekly in the newly established Tintin magazine from September 1946 to April 1948. Completing an arc begun in The Seven Crystal Balls, the story tells of young reporter Tintin, his dog Snowy, and friend Captain Haddock as they continue their efforts to rescue the kidnapped Professor Calculus by travelling through Andean villages, mountains, and rain forests, before finding a hidden Inca civilisation.
Prisoners of the Sun was a commercial success and was published in book form by
Synopsis
- The synopsis continues a plot begun in The Seven Crystal Balls.
Young reporter
Tintin barely escapes the ship with his life, and he and Haddock alert the authorities; but the abductors evade the police and take Calculus to the
After many hardships – including being pursued by four Indios who try their best to leave them stranded or dead, and finding their way through the snowy mountains and the jungle beyond – Tintin, Haddock, and Zorrino reach the Temple of the Sun, a surviving outpost of the Inca civilisation. They are brought before the
Tintin and Haddock end up on the same pyre as Calculus. However, Tintin has chosen the hour of their death to coincide with a
History
Background
Amidst the
As with two previous stories, The Secret of the Unicorn and Red Rackham's Treasure, Hergé developed the idea of a twofold story arc, resulting in the two-part The Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of the Sun.[10] Hergé planned for the former story to outline a mystery, while the latter would see his characters undertake an expedition to solve it.[10] His use of an ancient mummy's curse around which the narrative revolved was inspired by tales of a curse of the pharaohs which had been unearthed during the archaeologist Howard Carter's 1922 discovery of Pharaoh Tutankhamun's tomb. This was not the first time that Hergé had been inspired by this tabloid story, having previously drawn from it when authoring Cigars of the Pharaoh.[11]
The story began serialisation in Le Soir under the title of Les Sept Boules de Cristal on 16 December 1943.
Influences
Hergé had adopted the idea of a person abducted into a lost Incan city from Gaston Leroux's 1912 novel, The Bride of the Sun,[18] in which the idea of a solar eclipse also appeared.[19] In turn, the idea of European explorers discovering a lost city had been found in both H. Rider Haggard's She: A History of Adventure (1887) and Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan and the Jewels of Opar (1916).[20] His use of the eclipse may also have been influenced by accounts claiming that Christopher Columbus subdued a revolt of indigenous groups in Jamaica in 1503 using knowledge of a lunar eclipse that had been predicted by Giovanni Muller's 1474 calendar.[14]
Hergé's principal source of information about the Andes was
Hergé sent his assistant,
Publication
Prisoners of the Sun was the first of The Adventures of Tintin to be serialised in its entirety in the new Tintin magazine.[25] On the magazine's launch day of 26 September 1946, readers who had been without Tintin for two years now received two pages per week in full colour under the title Le Temple du Soleil (The Temple of the Sun).[26] It began on what is now page 50 of the previous book The Seven Crystal Balls and included two pages outlining the crystal ball mystery, presented as if it were a press cutting.[27] With Jacobs, Hergé completed the cover of the first issue and finished off The Seven Crystal Balls prior to embarking on Prisoners of the Sun,[28] although Hergé included both under the title of The Temple of the Sun.[29] To lessen his workload, a portion of the two pages of Hergé's strip was an explanatory block of text about Inca society, titled "Qui étaient les Incas?" ("Who were the Incas?"). Covering issues such as geography, history, and religion, each block was signed in Tintin's name.[30]
In May 1947, Hergé and Jacobs ended their partnership of nearly four years after an argument. When requested by Hergé to work with him full-time on Prisoners of the Sun, Jacobs agreed to do so on the condition that he be credited as co-creator of the new Adventures of Tintin. Hergé, however, had grown jealous of the immediate success of Jacobs' other contribution to Tintin magazine, The Secret of the Swordfish (the first entry in his Blake and Mortimer series), and was concerned about his colleague's reputation overshadowing his own. He denied the request, claiming that his publisher, Casterman, would never agree to the shared credit. Although biographer Pierre Assouline described the separation as "friendly", a "barely suppressed bitterness" remained between the two men.[31]
On 17 June 1947, serialisation of the story paused after Hergé disappeared. Doctors diagnosed him as suffering from a mental breakdown as a result of overwork, and to recover he spent time in retreat at the
While writing Prisoners of the Sun, Hergé decided that he wanted to move to Argentina, and focused his attention on completing all outstanding commissions so that he could focus on his emigration.[38] He enlisted the aid of Van Melkebeke, Guy Dessicy, and Frans Jageneau to help finish Prisoners; they gathered at his home on the Avenue Delleur and produced many of the backgrounds within the story.[39] He also employed his friend Bernard Heuvelmans to help devise the ending of the story; he paid Heuvelmans 43,000 Belgian francs for doing so.[40] Ultimately, Hergé changed his mind about moving to Argentina for reasons that remain unknown.[41] Serialisation of Prisoners of the Sun culminated on 22 April 1948.[42] As with previous adventures, the title had also been serialised in the French Catholic newspaper Cœurs Vaillants, from 30 November 1947.[13]
Republication
After the story arc finished serialisation, Casterman divided it into two volumes, Les Sept Boules de Cristal and Le Temple du Soleil, which they released in 1948 and 1949 respectively.[13] To fit into the 62-page format, a number of scenes were deleted from the story's publication in book form. These included a scene in which Tintin chases away a cat aboard the Pachacamac, slapstick gags featuring Thomson and Thompson, Haddock drawing a picture of Tintin on a wall, Haddock chewing coca provided by Zorrino, Tintin shooting a jaguar, and Haddock discovering gold nuggets under the Temple of the Sun but being unable to take them back with him.[43] British Tintin expert Michael Farr noted that none of these scenes were "integral to the narrative", and that their removal improved its structure.[44] The reformatting also led to an error in the depiction of the solar eclipse. In the original magazine serialisation, Hergé had depicted the moon moving across the sun in the correct direction for the Southern Hemisphere;[45] for the book publication, the drawings had been altered, with the moon now moving in the incorrect direction.[46]
The book was banned by the Peruvian authorities because, in the map of South America contained within it, a region whose ownership was disputed by Peru and Ecuador was shown as being part of the latter country.[20]
Critical analysis
Michael Farr described both The Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of the Sun as "classic middle-period Tintin", commenting on their "surprisingly well-balanced narrative" and the fact that they exhibited scant evidence of Hergé's turbulent personal life.[47] He felt that the inclusion of paranormal elements to the story did nothing to make the narrative less convincing, and observes Hergé's recurring depiction of his character's disturbing dreams.[48] Farr opined that the Inca costumes were drawn with "a care and flamboyance that would do great credit to a major opera house production", while the Andean landscapes were "worthy of a Cecil B. DeMille film spectacular".[22] Hergé biographer Benoît Peeters noted that Prisoner of the Sun was one of the Adventures to have "most caught the imagination", something that he attributed to its "exceptional setting or the strength of the plot".[49]
Harry Thompson noted that, like Red Rackham's Treasure, Prisoners of the Sun was "an epic journey conditioned by the suspense of not knowing what will happen at the end"; although he thought that, unlike Red Rackham's Treasure, it "successfully transfers the fear of its unknown adversaries from the first part of the adventure into the second".[50] He also thought that, despite all the tribulations Hergé faced while creating it, "the pacing, the retention of suspense right to the end, and the fine balance of humour and drama" do not betray the story's troubled development.[50]
Jean-Marc Lofficier and Randy Lofficier believed that the two-story arc represents "one more leap forward in Hergé's graphic and narrative skills" as a result of the transition to full colour double pages as the initial means of publication. They thought that this improvement was particularly evident in the scenes of the trek through the Andes in Prisoners of the Sun.[46] They stated that with Prisoners of the Sun, the story had switched into "Hitchcockian thriller mode", a similar technique that Hergé had adopted into a number of previous adventures.[46] They described the character of Zorrino as "basically a Peruvian version" of Chang Chong-Chen, a character introduced to the series in The Blue Lotus.[20] They described the story as "a philosophical parable, perhaps a hidden reflection of Hergé's spiritual yearnings"; in this way anticipating the themes that he would make use of in Tintin in Tibet.[51] Ultimately, they awarded both halves of the story arc five out of five.[51]
Literary critic Tom McCarthy identified elements within the story that he believed reflected recurring themes within The Adventures of Tintin. He thought that the appearance of Rascar Capac's jewels reflected Hergé's use of jewellery as a theme throughout the series,[52] and that the scene in which Tintin commands the sun god to do his bidding reflects a wider theme throughout the series in which "sacred authority" manifests through voice.[53] The scene in which Haddock causes an avalanche of snow by sneezing reflected what McCarthy considered a wider theme of the danger of sound,[54] while Zorrino's decision to stay among the Inca was interpreted as a reflection of a wider theme of adoption.[55] Commenting on the execution scene, McCarthy believed that it represented Haddock being "sacrificed on the altar of his own illegitimacy", a concept that he felt had been echoed throughout the series.[56]
In his
Adaptations
In 1969, the animation company
In 1991, a
In 1997, the French company
In 2001, The Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of the Sun were adapted into a theatrical musical, Kuifje – De Zonnetempel (Tintin – The Temple of the Sun), which premiered in Dutch at the Stadsschouwburg in Antwerp, Belgium, on 15 September. Adapted for the stage by Seth Gaaikema and Frank Van Laecke, the production was directed by Dirk de Caluwé and included music by Dirk Brossé, featuring Tom Van Landuyt in the role of Tintin. Didier Van Cauwelaert adapted the musical into French, and it then premiered a year later in Charleroi as Tintin – Le Temple du Soleil. From there, the production was scheduled for Paris in 2003 but was cancelled.[64][65] It returned for a brief run in Antwerp on 18 October 2007.[66]
In 2018, it was reported that Prisoners of the Sun would be the basis for the sequel to 2011's The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, which was directed by Steven Spielberg with Peter Jackson as executive producer. For the second film, Jackson and Spielberg would switch roles, with Jackson directing. Since then, however, apart from reassurances from both Spielberg and Jackson that the film would be forthcoming, there has been no news about its production.
References
Footnotes
- ^ Hergé 1962, p. 1–20.
- ^ Hergé 1962, p. 21–50.
- ^ Hergé 1962, p. 51–62.
- ^ Assouline 2009, pp. 70–71; Peeters 2012, pp. 116–118.
- ^ Assouline 2009, p. 72; Peeters 2012, pp. 120–121.
- ^ Goddin 2009, p. 73; Assouline 2009, p. 72.
- ^ Assouline 2009, p. 73; Peeters 2012, p. 121.
- ^ Thompson 1991, p. 99; Farr 2001, p. 95.
- ^ Thompson 1991, p. 99.
- ^ a b Thompson 1991, p. 124.
- ^ Farr 2001, p. 115; Lofficier & Lofficier 2002, p. 57.
- ^ Thompson 1991, p. 124; Farr 2001, p. 118; Lofficier & Lofficier 2002, p. 55; Assouline 2009, pp. 98–99.
- ^ a b c Lofficier & Lofficier 2002, p. 55.
- ^ a b c Farr 2001, p. 116.
- ^ a b Farr 2001, p. 118.
- ^ Assouline 2009, p. 109; Peeters 2012, pp. 164–165.
- ^ Assouline 2009, p. 110.
- ^ Farr 2001, p. 121; Lofficier & Lofficier 2002, p. 57; Assouline 2009, p. 125.
- ^ Goddin 2009, p. 133.
- ^ a b c Lofficier & Lofficier 2002, p. 57.
- ^ Thompson 1991, p. 136; Farr 2001, p. 121; Assouline 2009, p. 125.
- ^ a b c d e Farr 2001, p. 121.
- ^ a b c Farr 2001, p. 124.
- ^ Thompson 1991, p. 136; Farr 2001, p. 116.
- ^ Peeters 1989, p. 82; Assouline 2009, p. 124; Goddin 2009, p. 161; Peeters 2012, p. 174.
- ^ Lofficier & Lofficier 2002, p. 55; Goddin 2009, p. 158.
- ^ Peeters 1989, p. 82; Assouline 2009, p. 124; Peeters 2012, p. 174; Goddin 2009, p. 158, 161.
- ^ Goddin 2009, p. 158, 161.
- ^ Thompson 1991, p. 131.
- ^ Peeters 1989, p. 82; Farr 2001, p. 123; Assouline 2009, p. 130; Peeters 2012, p. 186.
- ^ Assouline 2009, pp. 126–127.
- ^ Assouline 2009, pp. 127–129.
- ^ Goddin 2009, p. 168, 170.
- ^ Peeters 2012, p. 184.
- ^ Thompson 1991, pp. 132–133; Peeters 2012, p. 180.
- ^ Thompson 1991, p. 133; Assouline 2009, pp. 129, 134.
- ^ Thompson 1991, p. 133.
- ^ Assouline 2009, p. 131; Goddin 2009, p. 178, 183.
- ^ Assouline 2009, p. 133.
- ^ Assouline 2009, pp. 133–134; Peeters 2012, pp. 186–187.
- ^ Assouline 2009, p. 134.
- ^ Thompson 1991, p. 134; Farr 2001, p. 123; Goddin 2009, p. 181.
- ^ Thompson 1991, p. 135; Farr 2001, p. 123; Lofficier & Lofficier 2002, pp. 57–58.
- ^ Farr 2001, p. 123.
- ^ Goddin 2009, p. 179.
- ^ a b c Lofficier & Lofficier 2002, p. 58.
- ^ Farr 2001, p. 115.
- ^ Farr 2001, p. 116, 124.
- ^ Peeters 1989, p. 83.
- ^ a b Thompson 1991, p. 134.
- ^ a b Lofficier & Lofficier 2002, p. 59.
- ^ McCarthy 2006, p. 97.
- ^ McCarthy 2006, p. 52.
- ^ McCarthy 2006, p. 101.
- ^ McCarthy 2006, p. 69.
- ^ McCarthy 2006, p. 132.
- ^ Apostolidès 2010, p. 154.
- ^ a b Apostolidès 2010, p. 156.
- ^ Apostolidès 2010, p. 175.
- ^ Apostolidès 2010, p. 169.
- ^ a b c Lofficier & Lofficier 2002, p. 89.
- ^ Lofficier & Lofficier 2002, p. 90.
- ^ GameFAQs 1997.
- ^ Tintinologist.org 2005.
- ^ Antwerp Gazette 30 August 2001.
- ^ Antwerp Gazette 19 August 2007.
Bibliography
- ISBN 978-0-8047-6031-7.
- ISBN 978-0-19-539759-8.
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- ISBN 978-1-904048-17-6.
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- ISBN 978-0-416-14882-4.
- ISBN 978-1-4214-0454-7.
- ISBN 978-0-340-52393-3.
- "Tintin: Prisoners of the Sun". GameFAQs.com. Archived from the original on 26 December 2010. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
- "Kuifje – De Zonnetempel (De Musical) / Tintin – Le Temple du Soleil – Le Spectacle Musical". Tintinologist.org. 2005. Archived from the original on 11 June 2007. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
- "Musical Kuifje binnen 2 weken in Antwerpen" [Musical Tintin Within 2 weeks in Antwerp]. Gazet Van Antwerpen (in Dutch). 30 August 2001. Archived from the original on 8 February 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
- "'Kuifje — De Zonnetempel' dit najaar ook in Antwerpen" ['Tintin — The Temple of the Sun' This Autumn in Antwerp]. Gazet Van Antwerpen (in Dutch). 19 August 2007. Archived from the original on 8 February 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
External links
- Prisoners of the Sun at the Official Tintin Website
- Prisoners of the Sun at Tintinologist.org