Three cheers for the Guardian this morning and its leader on Asterix - the best of the many celebrations of Asterix' birthday.
"By Toutatis!" If this invocation of an obscure Celtic God means anything to you, then you'll also be familiar with the peevish canine Dogmatix, a chieftan called Vitalstatistix and Cacofonix, the bard who can't hold a tune. If it doesn't, you could do worse than to acquaint yourself with them and their better-known friend Asterix, the Gaulish warrior and national treasure of French bandes dessinées, who turned 50 last week. The world of Asterix and his improbably large sidekick Obelix (dropped in a cauldron of magic potion when he was a baby, and hence invincible) is one of druids, menhirs and endless feasting on the juiciest of wild boars. It is also a visual and verbal feast, with fantastic and often fantastically detailed illustrations by Albert Uderzo and words by René Goscinny. (The English versions required all the creative powers of their translators, Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge, to put across the punning spirit of the originals, and the results are rightly acclaimed.) Part of Asterix's appeal lies in the gentle prodding of European national stereotypes: the fondue- and cuckoo-clock-obsessed Swiss, the milky-tea-drinking British and the beer-swilling Belgians. But while the parodies are occasionally mischievous, they are also humane. If Goscinny and Uderzo had a message to convey in among all the fun, it was that inflated egos deserve to be punctured – hence the hilarious monikers. You may be a Roman centurion, but no one can take you seriously when your name is Crismus Bonus.
Another, worthier one, in the FT Deutschland.
It's interesting to see that they changed some of the names in translation. Asterix and Obelix remain, of course, but our chieftain is Majestix and the bard Troubadix (though Cacofonix fits better), and the little dog is Idefix.
Posted by: Gabriele | November 07, 2009 at 04:12 PM
I am a big fan of Asterix. Not only the English translations but also the Ancient Greek and Latin ones. Can I urge your audience (among which we can probably find several teachers) to start using them in class?
Posted by: Constantina Katsari | November 25, 2009 at 09:31 AM