Bangor University DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY The Adaption Of .

Bangor UniversityDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHYThe adaption of Herge's The Adventures of tintin in the Arab worldMerza, AmmarAward date:2020Awarding institution:Bangor UniversityLink to publicationGeneral rightsCopyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright ownersand it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ?Take down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediatelyand investigate your claim.Download date: 11. Apr. 2021

THE ADAPTATION OF HERGÉ’S THE ADVENTURESOF TINTIN IN THE ARAB WORLDA THESIS SUBMITTEDIN FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OFDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHYBYAMMAR HASHIM SALEH MERZASCHOOL OF LANGUAGES, LITERATURES, AND LINGUISTICSCOLLEGE OF ARTS, HUMANITIES AND BUSINESSBANGOR UNIVERSITYJUNE 2020

DeclarationYr wyf drwy hyn yn datgan mai canlyniad fy ymchwil fy hun yw’r thesis hwn, aceithrio lle nodir yn wahanol. Caiff ffynonellau eraill eu cydnabod gan droednodiadau yn rhoicyfeiriadau eglur. Nid yw sylwedd y gwaith hwn wedi cael ei dderbyn o’r blaen ar gyferunrhyw radd, ac nid yw’n cael ei gyflwyno ar yr un pryd mewn ymgeisiaeth am unrhyw raddoni bai ei fod, fel y cytunwyd gan y Brifysgol, am gymwysterau deuol cymeradwy.I hereby declare that this thesis is the results of my own investigations, except whereotherwise stated. All other sources are acknowledged by bibliographic references. This workhas not previously been accepted in substance for any degree and is not being concurrentlysubmitted in candidature for any degree unless, as agreed by the University, for approveddual awards.ii

AcknowledgementsUndertaking this PhD challenge has been actually a life-changing experience for me,and it would never have been possible to do without the help and support of Great AlmightyAllah.I would like to say a very big thank and sincere gratitude to my supervisor ProfessorSteven Price for his constant guidance, enlightening suggestions, recommendations, and hisencouragement and patience during the course of this study. Without his invaluable guidanceand constant feedback, this PhD would never have been possible.I greatly appreciate the support and help received form the staff at the School ofLinguistics, Literature, and Languages, especially Prof Helen Wilcox, Dr Andy Webb, DrArmelle Blin-Rolland, Dr Dyfrig Jones, and Nicola Williams.The warmest and most heartfelt gratitude goes to my mother, my brother Firas, mylovely wife Hiba and children Sedra, Obaida and Hamza for their constant patience andsupport throughout.Finally, I gratefully acknowledge the funding received towards my PhD from TheHigher Committee for Education Development in Iraq (HCED). I would also like to thank mysponsor and his staff for their help and support.iii

AbstractThis thesis aims to show how Hergé’s The Adventures of Tintin have been exposed toIslamic and Arabic-speaking audiences. It compares Hergé’s The Adventures of Tintin andtheir Arabic counterparts in terms of structural, socio-cultural, religious, and ethnicaldifferences. It focuses on investigating the way such elements were adapted in the process ofbeing transferred into the Arab world. The thesis argues that many modifications to the textsof origin were essential to make them readable in the Arab world, and the thesis discusses thedifferent methods that Arabic publishing houses or Arab editors have resorted to in order toalign the albums with Arabic cultural traditions and Islamic norms. Amendments on thetextual and visual levels were utilised to avoid cross-cultural differences, implicit or explicittabooed language, sensitive subjects, negative images, and the stereotypical depiction ofArabs.The study consists of five chapters. The opening chapter provides an introduction tothe thesis, background and rationale of the study, theoretical framework (includingconsideration of Tintin’s albums in the Arab world through aspects of adaptation theory, andEdward Said’s ‘Orientalism’), and a review of the literature that identifies the primarysources and the major secondary sources that have been influential in the current study. Theaim here is to establish the significance and originality of the thesis and to determine thegap(s) that are addressed in the study. In addition, the literature review demonstrates thescheme of the study and the data that have been used and analysed.Chapter two reviews Arabic children’s literature and literary illustration. It alsofocuses on the condition of Arabic comic magazines in the Arab world. The chapter discussesthe historical background of Hergé’s albums and his style (Ligne Claire) in penning thestories. In addition, the chapter discusses Arab publication houses’ attitudes towards theTintin albums with particular reference to their style, editors, translators, and themes as wellas how the albums were received in the Arab world. The chapter ends with a sectiondiscussing Arab editors’ attitudes towards the structural adaptation of the Tintin stories.iv

The first part of chapter three deals with the cultural adaptations of the characters’personal names in the Arab World. The second part focuses on first, the cross-culturaldifferences between the proverbs in Tintin’s albums and their Arabic counterparts; second, adefinition of proverbs, their taxonomies, and their relationship to metaphor; and third, adiscussion of ‘fixed proverbs’ and ‘proverbial phrases’ as described by Wolfgang Mieder,with selected examples from Tintin’s stories.Chapter four analyses the alterations of the visual and/or verbal tabooed referencessuch as alcohol, language (swear words or profanities, slang, jargon, and insults), and culturaland religious references. In addition, the chapter aims to throw light on the culturaldimensions of such topics with reference to Tintin’s stories in Arabic. It analyses theeuphemisms and other strategies employed by editors of the Arabic texts to mitigate andneutralise such taboos.Based on Said’s concept of ‘Orientalism’, chapter five aims to explain why some ofTintin’s stories were not available to Arab readers. In doing so, the chapter pays particularattention to Said’s concept of ‘Orientalism’, its definition, and how it assists in understandingthe (mis)representation of Arabs in Tintin’s albums. In the conclusion, I summarise howdifferent Arabic magazines took different approaches to the texts of origin, from minorchanges on social, cultural, and religious levels to a complete re-drawing of several textualand visual aspects of Hergé’s Adventures of Tintin.v

Table of ContentsDeclaration .iiAcknowledgements . iiiAbstract . ivTable of Contents . viAbbreviations .xiiList of Illustrations . xiii1.Chapter One: The Adventures of Tintin: A Worldwide Phenomenon . 11.1.Background and Rationale of the Study . 91.1.1.1.2.Arab(s), Muslim(s), and Arabic/Islamic Culture . 101.1.1.1.Arab(s) vs Muslim(s) . 101.1.1.2.Arabic/Islamic Culture . 11Theoretical Framework . 141.2.1.Adaptation of Tintin’s oeuvre . 141.2.1.1.1.2.2.Why adaptation? . 19Aspects of Adapting Tintin’s adventures in the Arab World . 201.2.2.1.Cultural Adaptations . 221.2.2.1.1.Changing the characters’ names and identity . 221.2.2.1.2.Changing proverbs . 231.2.2.1.3.Taboos . 231.2.2.2.Structural Adaptations . 241.2.2.2.1.Changing colours and drawings . 251.2.2.2.2.Changing page layout. 261.2.2.2.3.Reading direction . 26vi

1.2.3.1.3.Edward Said’s Orientalism . 27View of the Literature . 291.3.1.The Scope of the Study . 301.3.2.The authenticity of the Primary Sources . 301.3.3.Primary Sources . 321.3.4.Overview of Previous Studies . 331.3.4.1.The Significance and Originality of the Study . 341.3.4.2.Ziad Bentahar’s work . 341.3.4.3.Slavery and Racism . 371.3.4.4.Image of Arabs . 411.3.4.5.Taboos . 431.3.4.6.Socio-Cultural Perspectives . 441.3.4.7.Hergé and Tintin’s Biography . 451.3.4.8.Pedagogical Research Papers . 472. Chapter Two: The World of Arabic Children’s Literature, Illustrations, and Comics:History and Origin . 492.1.Arabic Children’s Literature . 502.2.Arabic Literary Illustrations . 542.3.The Status and History of Comics in the Arab World . 592.4.Arabic Comic Magazines . 642.4.1.Egypt . 652.4.1.1.Why was publishing Tintin more prevalent in Egypt than other ArabCountries? 702.4.2.2.5.Kuwait . 73Hergé and the Problematic History of Tintin’s Adventures . 742.5.1.Hergé’s Style: The Clear Line (French: ligne claire) . 83vii

2.6.Tintin’s Journey in the Arab World . 852.6.1.AlKatkout (English: Little Chick) (1946-1948) . 862.6.1.1.2.6.2.Sinbad (1952-1960) . 892.6.2.1.2.6.3.2.7.3.Tintin’s oeuvres . 99Tantan (1971-1991) . 1002.6.6.1.2.6.7.Tintin’s adventures in Sa’ad . 97Dar Al-Maaref’s The Adventures of Tantan (1946-2007) . 982.6.5.1.2.6.6.The Publication of Tintin’s adventures in Samir . 93Sa’ad (1969-1990) . 952.6.4.1.2.6.5.Tintin’s adventures in Sinbad . 89Samir (1956- present) . 922.6.3.1.2.6.4.The Adventures of Detective Hammam (English: The Adventures of Tintin)88Tintin’s stories in Tantan. 101Arab Tintinologists and the Art of Bootlegging Tintin . 102Arab Editors’ Structural Adaptations of Tintin’s Adventures . 1092.7.1.Changing colours and drawings . 1112.7.2.Changing page layout . 1142.7.3.Reading direction . 116Chapter Three: Cultural Adaptations of Verbal Contents in The Adventures of Tintin . 1223.1.Cultural Adaptations of Characters’ Personal Names in the Arab World. 1223.1.1.Naming Major Characters . 1253.1.1.1.Tintin . 1253.1.1.2.Snowy (French: Milou) . 1293.1.1.3.Captain Archibald Haddock (French: Capitaine Haddock) . 1323.1.1.4.Professor Cuthbert Calculus (French: Professeur Tryphon Tournesol) . 134viii

3.1.1.5.Thomson and Thompson (French: Dupond et Dupont) . 1353.1.1.6.Bianca Castafiore . 1363.1.1.7.Chang Chong-Chen (French: Tchang Tchong-Jen) . 1373.1.1.8.Jolyon Wagg (French: Séraphin Lampion) . 1383.1.2.Naming Minor Characters. 1383.1.2.1.Al Capone and Bobby Smile . 1383.1.2.2.Niko and Nushka . 1393.1.2.3.Mr & Mrs Snowball . 1393.1.3.Correction of Names . 1403.1.3.1.Abd El Drachm. 1403.1.3.2.Omar Ben Salaad . 1413.2. A Cross-Cultural Comparative Study of Proverbs in The Adventures of Tintin andtheir Arabic Counterparts . 1423.2.1.Metaphor and Proverb. 1433.2.2.Proverb Taxonomies . 1443.2.2.1.a)Fixed proverbs . 146‘Mum’s the word’ and ‘Dumb’s the word’ / French: ‘motus et bouche cousue’ 146b)Don’t count your chickens before they’re hatched (French: il ne faut pas vendrela peau de l’ours avant de l’avoir tué!) . 148c)All’s well that ends well (French: Tout est bien qui finit bien) . 149d)Money is the root of all evil! (French: l’argent ne fait pas le bonheur) . 1503.2.2.2.Proverbial subgenres . 150a)Proverbial expressions . 151b)Proverbial Comparisons . 153c)Proverbial Exaggerations . 154d)Twin (binary) Formulas . 155ix