A Canonical Reference for the Tintin Albums
Ronald Kyrmse
kyrmse@gmail.com
2023-07
This
proposal could have been in French, for the Tintin albums were originally
written in that language. However, since English has become “canonical” on the
Web, this may be the way to reach a wider audience, including Francophones: maybe
not too heavy a sacrifice.
Tintinology
may well be classed with the sciences, even though it may be debatable whether
under Art Criticism (for which the mention of the term ligne claire for Hergé’s drawing style should suffice), under
Sociology or under (an)other discipline(s). No matter what, it is clear that
there exists the need for a concise notation in order to enable reference to
the various works. Holmesians (who are called Sherlockians in America) refer to
“their” 56 short stories and 4 novels (and to some apocryphal material) by
standard four-letter abbreviations: thus HOUN is The Hound of the Baskervilles, SCAN is A Scandal in Bohemia and REDH is The Red-Headed League.
Should
we employ a simple numbering scheme, from 1 to 24, for the canonical albums?
This has the advantage of extreme conciseness and internationality. Something
may also be said for letters running from A to X. This presents
the fortuitous advantage that the “unknown” letter X will stand for the
incomplete Alph-Art album.
In
favour of abbreviations it can be said that they have a more mnemonic character.
Those who use them will not be obliged to have resource to memory or to a list
of albums to find their references with ease. In this proposal, they should be
derived from the first significant word (noun, adjective, verb), always
excluding such components of the title as Tintin
and pays (and its translations) – just
as Holmesians do not include the word Adventure
in their abbreviations.
They
should, then, be two- or three-letter abbreviations, since four letters seem to
be above the requirements for a mere 24 albums. I here propose three, since two
would from the very start cause conflicts among COngo and COke, OReille and OR noir, SEcret and SEpt. I try to avoid subterfuges like CN
× CK,
OR × ON, SE × 7B in
these cases. The same argument, then, applies to other languages. In the
attached table I give – in addition to the original French – proposals for
English, German and my native language, Brazilian Portuguese. It should be
noted that even the adoption of three-letter
abbreviations does not guarantee the
absence of conflicts – these have been solved ad hoc. Examples are BLack Island × BLack Gold and REd Rackham × REd Sea. An examination of the German
abbreviations will show that even further compromises – some debatable – were
necessary due to syntactic considerations (and KÖN might be written as KOE
if confusion with KON is feared).
I
propose to notate album, page and frame as in the following examples, using
commas to divide numerical information:
Character
|
First appears
|
Name first mentioned
|
|
Archibald
Haddock
|
CRA 14,9 9,14,9
|
CRA 43,5 9,43,5
|
Tryphon
Tournesol / Cuthbert
Calculus
|
TRE 5,6 12,5,6
|
TRE 5,13 12,5,13
|
Dupond
et Dupont / Thompson
& Thomson
|
CON 1,1 2,1,1
|
CIG 5,13 4,5,13
|
Here
are some more instances, illustrating the use of C for the cover, T for the
title page, and subscript year numbers for historically different versions:
|
Appears on…
|
|
Syldavian
mountains through the legs of the Moon rocket
|
OBJ C 16
C
|
|
Black Gold
in Arabic
|
ORN C 15
C
|
|
A
culprit
|
BIJ T 21 T
|
|
Tintin
escorted by kilted British soldiers; Elegant
in Yiddish
|
ORN48
16,5 1548,16,5
|
|
Tintin
escorted by Khemkhâh soldiers
|
ORN71
16,5 1571,16,5
|
|
|
|
|
|
Table of Canonical Abbreviations for Tintin Albums
Album No.
|
French
|
English
|
German
|
Portuguese (Brazil)
|
|
1
|
SOV Tintin au pays des Soviets
|
SOV Tintin in the Land of the
Soviets
|
SOW Tim im Lande der Sowjets
|
SOV Tintim no País dos Sovietes
|
2
|
CON Tintin au Congo
|
CON Tintin in the Congo
|
KON Tim im Kongo
|
CON Tintim no Congo
|
3
|
AME Tintin en Amérique
|
AME Tintin in America
|
AME Tim in Amerika
|
AME Tintim na América
|
4
|
CIG Les Cigares du pharaon
|
CIG Cigars of the Pharaoh
|
ZIG Die Zigarren des Pharaos
|
CHA Os Charutos do Faraó
|
5
|
LOT Le Lotus bleu
|
BLU The Blue Lotus
|
BLA Der Blaue Lotos
|
LOT O Lótus Azul
|
6
|
ORE L'Oreille cassée
|
BRO The Broken Ear
|
ARU Der Arumbaya-Fetisch
|
IDO O Ídolo Roubado
|
7
|
ILE L'Île Noire
|
BLI The Black Island
|
INS Die Schwarze Insel
|
ILH A Ilha Negra
|
8
|
SCE Le Sceptre d'Ottokar
|
KIN King Ottokar's Sceptre
|
KÖN König Ottokars Zepter
|
CET O Cetro de Ottokar
|
9
|
CRA Le Crabe aux pinces d'or
|
CRA The Crab with the Golden
Claws
|
KRA Die Krabbe mit den goldenen
Scheren
|
CAR O Caranguejo das Pinças de Ouro
|
10
|
ETO L'Étoile mystérieuse
|
SHO The Shooting Star
|
STE Der geheimnisvolle Stern
|
EST A Estrela Misteriosa
|
11
|
SEC Le Secret de La Licorne
|
SEC The Secret of the Unicorn
|
EIN Das Geheimnis der „Einhorn“
|
SEG O Segredo do Licorne
|
12
|
TRE Le Trésor de Rackham le Rouge
|
RER Red Rackham's Treasure
|
RAC Der Schatz Rackhams des Roten
|
TES O Tesouro de Rackham, o Terrível
|
13
|
SEP Les Sept Boules de cristal
|
SEV The Seven Crystal Balls
|
SIE Die sieben Kristallkugeln
|
SET As 7 Bolas de Cristal
|
14
|
TEM Le Temple du Soleil
|
PRI Prisoners of the Sun
|
SON Der Sonnentempel
|
TEM O Templo do Sol
|
15
|
ORN Tintin au pays de l'or noir
|
BLG Land of Black Gold
|
GOL Im Reiche des Schwarzen Goldes
|
OUR Tintim no País do Ouro Negro
|
16
|
OBJ Objectif Lune
|
DES Destination Moon
|
REI Reiseziel Mond
|
RUM Rumo à Lua
|
17
|
MAR On a marché sur la Lune
|
EXP Explorers on the Moon
|
MON Schritte auf dem Mond
|
EXP Explorando a Lua
|
18
|
AFF L'Affaire Tournesol
|
CAL The Calculus Affair
|
FAL Der Fall Bienlein
|
CAS O Caso Girassol
|
19
|
COK Coke en stock
|
RES The Red Sea Sharks
|
KOH Kohle an Bord
|
PER Perdidos no Mar
|
20
|
TIB Tintin au Tibet
|
TIB Tintin in Tibet
|
TIB Tim in Tibet
|
TIB Tintim no Tibete
|
21
|
BIJ Les Bijoux de la Castafiore
|
CAS The Castafiore Emerald
|
JUW Die Juwelen der Sängerin
|
JOI As Joias da Castafiore
|
22
|
VOL Vol 714 pour Sydney
|
FLI Flight 714
|
FLU Flug 714 nach Sydney
|
VOO Voo 714 para Sydney
|
23
|
PIC Tintin et les Picaros
|
PIC Tintin and the Picaros
|
PIC Tim und die Picaros
|
PIC Tintim e os Pícaros
|
24
|
ALP Tintin et l'Alph-Art
|
ALP Tintin and Alph-Art
|
ALP Tim und die Alphakunst
|
ALF Tintim e a Alfa-Arte
|
Brazilian
Portuguese titles are by Companhia das Letras; previous editions have divergent
titles:
5 – O Loto Azul (Flamboyant, Record)
6 – A Orelha Quebrada
8 – O Cetro de Otokar (Flamboyant, Record)
9 – O Caranguejo das Tenazes de Ouro (Flamboyant, Record)
12 – O Tesouro de Rackham o Terrível (Flamboyant, Record)
19 – Carvão no Porão
22 – Vôo 714 para Sidnei (Record)
23 – Tintim e os Tímpanos (Record)