Tintin au Nouveau Monde

by Frederic Tuten

Acclaimed author Frederic Tuten boldly revives the well-loved character Tintin — the eternally youthful protagonist from Belgian artist Hergé's popular comic book series, The Adventures of Tintin — and leads him into an adventure like none he has experienced before. Once again joined by Captain Haddock and his little dog Snowy, the intrepid world traveler Tintin embarks on a mysterious journey to Machu Picchu in Peru. But where danger and intrigue have met him before, this voyage brings new perils and enchantments.

Genres: Fiction, Comics, American, Novels, Adventure, Literature, Humor

245 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Frederic Tuten is the author of Tintin in the New World, The Green Hour, and Self Portraits, among other fiction. He has received a Guggenheim fellowship and an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Distinguished Writing. He lives in New York City."

Reviews

[Á · Rating 1 out of 5]

Watching your childhood heroes to grow up, feel ennui, fornicate for the first time, and die isn't much fun. Reading Tintin in the New World was like finding out Santa was really my mom, the tooth fairy didn't pay out for self-pulled teeth, and life really wasn't fair. Give me Tintin, Captain Haddock, and Snowy sitting in Marlinspike locked forever in their agelessness. For those who want serious haute literature then read this thing. I for one shall regress and take my ageless, untroubled Tintin.

[Hákon Gunnarsson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tintin by Hergé was one of my favorite childhood characters, but once I was grown up I realized that he really seems to be a teenager with an adult job, and adult life. He is grown up, and he is not grown up. There seems to be a contradiction in the character.

I somehow got it into my head that Tuten was going to explore this unusual nature of Tintin, yank him into adulthood so to speak, and because I was such a fan of Tintin as a kid I was interested in seeing what he could do with it.

I have to admit that I was disappointed in the end. The book is based on an interesting idea, but I was never able to connect with it in any way. Maybe I should have given up on it, but I wanted to see if it would come together in the end. It didn't, not for me at least. I still think this is an interesting idea, but there is something in it that didn't work for me. Maybe it is his sense of humor that is so far from mine, or something.

The feeling I was left with at the end was that I had been missing something for the entire novel. Still it is an interesting idea. I don't think I will re-read it to try to find that missing piece, I'll just re- read Hergé's work instead.

[Jasmine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is super reminiscent of magic mountain, and on actually thinking about it, was the reason I even tried to read magic mountain. I'm as a rule not great at remembering character names, so I didn't realize that the book was using the supporting cast of magic mountain (in fact I couldn't even tell you the name of the main character from magic mountain). But about 30 pages in I thought to myself this writing is really very reminiscent of magic mountain.

This book is what would happen if you got out a blender and threw in the movie 9, latin american mythology, china mieville (of un lun dun and kraken not so much the city and the city), magic mountain, umberto eco (specifically his ideas on modernism and irony), and vanilla ice cream and made a shake.

There isn't much that could be brought up about the plot without spoiling parts of the book. Don't read the introduction before you read it.

The book holds fast on some nice solid mocking and is just more generally an interesting read.

I don't know about this book specifically but greg I think you might like the author.

also:

[Rhys · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a magnificent novel, a philosophical wonderpiece with beautiful writing and wry humour. I understand that some fans of the Tintin character don't like this book very much; perhaps they feel it violates the spirit of Hergé's original; but I don't think it does.

Yes, it is a postmodernist work, and parody is essential to postmodernism, and parody can often been seen as mocking and therefore offensive. But at no point in this novel is Tintin turned into a travesty of what he was in Hergé's vision. It is simply that the plot of this tale demands that circumstances act as a catalyst for emotional and spiritual changes within Tintin that hithero he has not experienced.

The novel is full of allusions to Thomas Mann's The Magic Mountain but the reader doesn't have to be at all familiar with that other time to enjoy Tuten's book. I now feel the urge to seek out Tuten's other novels.

[Bill Doughty · Rating 1 out of 5]

An attempt to take a serious, more "artistic" look at beloved Belgian kids' adventure comic character Tintin, but it doesn't work all that well because A.) you have to be incredibly well-versed in Tintin going into this to really appreciate it; and B.) you have to be the sort of person who can read a 100+ page dream sequence and actually think it wasn't a colossal waste of time.

[Brent Legault · Rating 2 out of 5]

I knew I was in trouble when on page 13, the author has Milou say: Seldom hear Tintin talk so much. I like him better when he's chasing villains or getting out of a scrape. I nodded my head toward the page. I felt the same way.

Actually, I had my doubts about this novel from the opening paragraph. It was there that I noticed Tuten's curious lack of care for the written word. And perhaps he noticed it too, for he inserted a long passage by James M. Cain in his Chapter One.

I only made it through Chapter Seven before closing this book for the last time. All of his talking puppets got on my nerves. It seemed to me to be a book like The Alchemist is a book. A book of "big ideas." A book that has some "learning" to impart. Herge's Tintin may have been an intellectual feather-weight, but at least it was unpretensious and kind of sweet and it knew it's place on library shelves.

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think a fair few of the low score reviews would also complain that Warhol's Soup Cans don't taste like REAL Campbell's soup.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kul

[Noah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Frederic Tuten gilt als einer der großen der Experimentalliteratur und ein Buch, das Thema Tim und Struppi treffen die Charaktere des Zauberbergs klang zumindest kurios. Roy Lichtenstein hat für den mit ihm befreundeten Autor das Cover gestaltet. Vielleicht ist das dann auch schon das beste an dem Buch.

Kurzum ich habe mich von den vielen negativen Kritiken auf Goodreads nicht abschrecken lassen, da ich davon ausging, dass es sich um unverbesserliche Hergé oder Thamas Mann Fans handelt, die den Roman als Sakrileg ansehen. Mithin war die Erwartungshaltung hoch. Sie wurde schnell und umfassend enttäuscht.

Ein Comic lebt von den Bildern und der Handlung, nicht von der Sprache. Der Zauberberg ist berühmt und berüchtigt als einer der handlungsärmsten Romane und lebt allein von der Sprache, insbesondere dem Sprachwitz des Zauberers. Das Zusammentreffen beider Welten kann also entweder brilliant oder als Katastrophe enden. Leider ist letzteres der Fall. Tuten hält sich an die Sprache des Comics und imitiert die "Handlung" des Zauberbergs. Deswegen ist der Roman zugleich langweilig und sprachlich minderwertig. Die Dialoge sind hölzern, wie im Comic. Die Charaktere blutleer, wie im Comic.

Sinnvoll und interessant wäre wohl die umgekehrte Variante, die Bilderwelt des Comics mit der bildhaften Sprache des Zauberberges zu verbinden. Dass das gelingen kann hat Hayao Miyazaki im Animefilm "Wie der Wind sich hebt" gezeigt, in dem Hans Castorp in einer japanischen Kurklinik einen gelungenen Gastauftritt hat.

[mairiachi · Rating 1 out of 5]

(wrote this when I was one month into being 14, don't judge lol)

I started it in the preview. THIS IS HORRIBLE. Tintin doesn't read dumb murder stories, Snowy doesn't think Tintin should be in love (in the comics, I mean), Capt. Haddock has never been (and will never be) in love, like he says he is in the book, and this is a BOOK! Tintin isn't in BOOKS, he's in action - IN COMICS! Nobody can ever recreate Tintin. Especially if they're trying to recreate him as a romantic person. Only people who have never read the comics would like this. Maybe. Even then... and I don't mean to be all preachy but really Tintin isn't the person to read slutty books (even though that's not half as slutty as other stuff out there, but I don't like Tintin reading that ew). This book doesn't even deserve one star. The author has totally ruined Tintin. At least it's not the real Tintin, so that's good (and I'm not being dramatic - I mean, at least it's not the original Tintin...it's just a knock-off brand, that sort of thing). I would be scarred for life if Herge were the one who wrote it. I'd probably question his sanity...

I am a little bit (a lotta bit) mad that someone would make Tintin fall in love with someone and read dumb books and have Snowy be like yeah Tintin get a life because Tintin has gotten a life and it's a perfect life, one where you stay that age forever and you don't think you're 12 and you aren't regretting not having any love life and where you're just there to have adventures and be in books. And besides, I have a book crush on him. Not totally, but he's just great the way he is and I hate when people think they can tamper with a book/write a sequel and make it better. It irritates me so much.

[Deki Napolju · Rating 4 out of 5]

I need to read this again.

[The Sebbe · Rating 3 out of 5]

5/10
Läst på svenska

Får iaf försöka sammanfatta lite tankar kring denna

Någon slags intellektuell utövning där en helt oigenkännlig Tintin (tydligen) spelar huvudroll. Mer besatt av att tillåta x antal bifigurer rabbla upp olika akademiska- och finkulturella ämnen än att upprätthålla någon berättelse.
Från Tintins rollbesättning är det endast han själv samt Milou och kapten Haddock som dyker upp. Moulinsart nämns ett flertal gånger men annars görs ingen hänvisning till Tintinserierna alls.
Jag kan inte tala till hur vida de andra karaktärerna (Clavdia) i boken är lika sina ursprung men Tintin och kapten Haddock går inte att känna igen. Tintin är någon helt annan karaktär i den här boken, och vissa scener känns nästan som ett narr mot hela hans figur. Tro det eller ej så är det Milou som verkar vara mest lik sitt riktiga jag.
Mina 5 poäng går huvudsakligen till hur texten endå är såpass välskriven och inte sällan tar till mycket intressanta ställningar och behandlar dessa på ett mycket sofistikerat vis, men även Roy Luxemburgs fenomenala omslag måste ges cred för.

Finns mycket mer att säga och tycka om den här boken men någon vidare Tintinberättelse är det iaf inte. För övrigt hade den svenska översättningen många skrivfel

[Mrs Book Pond (Anna-Lena) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Första hyllvärmaren för året (säkert 15 år). Första kapitlet i denna post-modernistiska/filosofiska Tintin-pastisch, där Tintin reflekterar över hur han aldrig växer upp är lite lustigt, men sedan: outhärdligt d��ligt. Outhärdligt. Just take my word for it.

[Emma · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 30 pages.
This is not Tintin! He don’t act this way!

[Geoffrey Dow]

Just addding this for the record. Read it it in the early 2000s and honestly don't remember much about it all, other than it is written with an academic's irony.

[Alex · Rating 1 out of 5]

What the hell was that

[Allegra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-written but too in love with its allegory and obtuse devices. 80 page dream sequence? 30 page speech utilizing quotes within quotes within quotes? Ugh. Recommended most and perhaps only to people who've read The Magic Mountain or similarly experimental fiction as this borrows heavily from that afaik.

[PRJ Greenwell · Rating 1 out of 5]

Actually read this book years ago, just adding it today for posterity.

I didn't like it. If there's one character in this world who doesn't need postmodernist deconstruction, it's Tintin. Captain Haddock didn't need to be put through the po-mo grinder either. And with all that, it's not a very interesting or good read.

[Vivi · Rating 1 out of 5]

I only wanted to read it because I loved Tintin, but the he is not to be recognized in the book, there is no real plot, no story, no development of the narrative, just an amalgamation of strangely shaped characters with a blury line between reality and fiction...

[Anna]

so awesome!

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very distinctive and enjoyable tale.

[Line · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was not at all what i expected, but i really liked it, though it was a little strange...

[Gothica Noctua · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's a quotation on the back of my edition from The Times, which sums up this book's premise quite well:

"Frederic Tuten grabs Tintin by his quiff, yanks him out of his celibacy, life and innocence and drops him into sex, death, and experience…"

The book is controversial - and in some cases, outright despised - among Tintin fans for its portrayal of their beloved reporter hero. The book's title is not only a reference to its South American setting, but the protagnist's state of mind. Having long since dwelled in the realm of fanfiction and seen how certain writers warp other beloved characters, this wasn't a massive concern for me, but I have learnt the skill of separating the author's original creation from the fanon one in my head. If you are a big Tintin fan who's curious about this work and really don't like the idea of a more adult portrayal, you may want to mentally distance Hergé's Tintin from Tuten's before you pick this up.

I also knew up front that this book wasn't a Hergé story (although it was presumably published with his or the estate's blessing), but an avant-garde philosophical novel. All the same, far too much of the book was devoted to the discussion of ideas - society and its political structures, the importance and nature of art, and human frailties, among others - for my personal taste, due to the absence of any major plot. I found myself skimming paragraphs on more than one occasion.

That being said, there were a couple of standout moments. One chapter is devoted to a dream wherein Tintin lives out an entire lifetime at Marlinspike with his new love. This was beautifully written, and would arguably make an excellent short story on its own. There were also one or two ideas or motifs that did get me pondering, like Tintin's presumably eternal youth being linked to his innocence, and the suggestion that the letter sent to Tintin that allows him to "Follow now [his] destined but alterable track" as being sent by Hergé himself - a notion I didn't find too far-fetched, given that Hergé did write at least one public letter to his creation during his lifetime.

Would I have read this if it didn't feature Tintin as a character? Highly unlikely. Would I read it again? Probably not, except maybe to gloss over the dream chapter once more. Would I recommend it? If you like philosophical reads, then perhaps, but if it's a classic Tintin adventure you're after, stick with Hergé.

[NC Weil · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’ve never read any of Herge’s Tintin books, start there before reading this. Tuten brings our pre-adolescent hero to Peru (accompanied of course by his dog Snowy and long-time companion Captain Haddock) where he encounters a group of eccentrics right out of the pages of Herge. They climb to Macchu Picchu, discuss philosophy and life into the wee hours, and over the relatively few days of their acquaintance, settle into attitudes of friendship, enmity, desire, and envy.

TIntin’s “new world” is not South America so much as falling in love. The mysterious and beguiling Clavdia woos him, beds him, and in one extended sequence they marry and live together into decrepitude. But perhaps the man she has traveled with to Peru is the one she really loves, and she is only toying with our formerly-innocent hero?

You’ll have to read it yourself to discover, if you can – if you believe what you have discovered – whether Tintin indeed progresses into adulthood, the “new world” of physical and emotional maturity and aspiration we see him drawn into, retreating from, drawn deeper. But it is Tuten’s way with language that will be your companion on this journey:

The Grand Hotel of Lima. Politeness at the front desk. Señor Tintin has been expected. Manager, in morning coat, tails, and pinstripe, pants’ cuffs drooping to his heels, assistants in blue suits, uniformed porters (lots drawn weeks earlier for the privilege of carrying the young detective’s suitcases), the entire staff seen and unseen, in halls and kitchens, out in the gardens and by the pool, waiting for him.

Come, embark on this adventure of a lifetime, of Tintin’s lifetime. While wholly who we know him to be, he will engage in unexpected, unprecedented acts. Don’t miss it!

[Greg · Rating 1 out of 5]

I think I went into this book with the wrong expectations. I picked it up on a whim being a fan of Tintin not knowing anything about it and confess I probably judged the book by it's cover (which is one of the only good things about the book actually).

If you're looking for a cracking Tintin adventure you won't find it in this book. This is a very dense, conversation heavy novel dealing with themes on life, love, passion, loss and the terrible things our fellow humans can do. There is very little fun or humour and the conversations are so verbose and pretentious that it really starts to feel like a slog to get through this.

The writer seems to be using Tintin as the ever youthful adventuring boy who meets a group of people that change his world view and he suddenly grows up and realises that life isn't all adventure.

As a theme that's fine, but why use Tintin as the centerpiece for this discovery? If you want to write a serious literary novel, write it. If you want to write a Tintin story, write that. The author has tried to combine the two here and failed.

Tintin wasn't the innocent man child that the author initially portrays him as here anyway - he was already smart, savvy and worldly, so the transformation from innocent boy to world-weary man the novel takes us on didn't stick for me.

If you are a Tintin fan, I can't recommend it at all. You're better off picking up any of the comics and getting lost in those great adventures, which I'm going to do now.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, so bizarre! Tuten fashions an existential novel using characters from Herge's beloved children's cartoon adventure books & Thomas Mann's novel Magic Mountain, as strange bedfellows as ever existed on the printed page. Somehow he walks this conceptual & stylistic tightrope deftly & without mishap, capturing each character's voice authentically, tho some are sure to be offended by the liberties he takes. I, for one, was happy to encounter Mann's characters again, as his masterpiece was one of the reading experiences I was reluctant to finally leave behind (& that was the context in which this book was recommended to me). Beginning innocently enough, it becomes a Tintin adventure unlike any other, & travels to realms both physical & mental hitherto unexplored by the popular petite protagonist. Ultimately it distances itself from ordinary action completely to enter the realm of pure myth. Unique & quite remarkable.

[Graham Barrett · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tried reading this in college. I'm not sure I even finished because I really didn't like it.

In hindsight and this may be obvious and the point but this is fan fic. Instead of being quality postmodern deconstruction of a beloved comic character as intended, it's literally smut because we have Tintin meeting characters from a different story and sleeping with them. I've read my fair share of fan fic and there's very few I liked, and even fewer I wish were commercially released. This is not one of those good fan fics, it's just pretentious and weird. God help us all if they ever give this the Fifty Shades movie deal

[DocNora · Rating 1 out of 5]

Painful reading the veritable assassination of such a beloved iconic character! This was a hotchpotch of exhibitionist pretend existentialist ideas and god knows what else..a perfect example of what is lacking in contemporary books: decent prose ( it's like they've never heard of it)and good old fashioned charm. Also the tawdry, vulgar cavalier treatment of Herge 's precious brain child is uncalled for and undeserved! Herge like PG Wodehouse created a certain kind of world...things and people inhabiting them are perfect as they are. But then I would never have picked this up if not for 'Tin Tin' in the title.

[Toby · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have been reading Tintin for over 50 years and think it is wonderful. I approached this book with an open mind, intrigued by the synopsis and concept of delving more deeply into the personal lives of the characters. Regrettably I found the style of writing difficult to read but perhaps more fundamentally Tintin and Capt Haddock did not have the characters I had given them. I struggled through it and whilst I could appreciate that it was cleverly written I just did not enjoy it. I would still urge Tintin lovers to read this book as it does add an new (and missing) dimension to the books.

[Mariana Duarte Ferreira · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm glad I put this book down and gave up trying to read it when I first bought it 20 years ago. I was in a very uncertain time of my life then and it seemed like too big an effort. Now a mid-forties mother of two I can relate more completely to its beauty and take in so much more of its wisdom and magic subtleties. It's a beautiful appreciation of the meaning of loving, freedom and ageing, the rhythms and patterns of life. I hope that I can re-read it in five years time.