What an interesting book that sheds new light on the work of the brilliant screenwriter of “Asterix”, “Lucky Luke” or “Iznogoud” and creator of “Little Nicolas”! Focusing on René Goscinny’s visits to New York (particularly the most founding ones which took place between October 1945 and May 1954), Clément Lemoine conducted a very documented investigation of who is, perhaps, the French author the most read, by the widest audience, and this for almost 70 years…
Cross-checking all the sources at his disposal – not only the many interviews where the famous editor of Pilot evokes these decisive years spent between New York and Europe after his childhood in Argentina, but also in the archives of the American immigration services or the passenger registers of transatlantic liners — this documentalist in the Paris region (and co-creator of Onapratut editions) brings out the lines of force of this period of learning surrounded, until then, by vagueness and inaccuracies.
The preface by Pascal Ory — historian (now academic), connoisseur of the 9e art and one of the reference biographers on the screenwriter – insists, moreover, on the meticulousness of the author of this book,
which clearly redefines Goscinny’s career in the United States — because it is there that he learns his trade, meets people who exercise it, and finds his way — and places his work in a global historical context.
This in-depth work thus makes it possible to study the professional practices imported by Goscinny, but also the abundant traces left by America in its various series: “From New York, Goscinny brought back authors, techniques, a fascination. It is time to go into the details, as much as possible, of this American experience, and to try to understand on what it founded, not only its vision of the United States, but ours, not only its humor, but the our. »
Indeed, after a factual chronology, Clément Lemoine tries to extract its full meaning and shows how the young René became Goscinny: turning his back on the American continent to find his way.
He strives, thus, to identify a certain number of processes, which one finds regularly in his comic strips, coming to him directly from his culture. yankee.
These 240 essential pages for fans of the history of Franco-Belgian comics from the 1940s to the 1970s are published by La Déviation (“the small publishing house that is worth the detour”) under a cover by Michaël Baril!
This structure directed by the passionate bookseller Michel Lebailly takes the opportunity to republish Clément Lemoine’s first book (“Original versions”) in a new updated version with a preface by Benjamin Herzberg: another exciting essay in which the author identifies and classifies characters of translators and interpreters in the work of Goscinny, while analyzing the scope of this recurring comic element.
Note that these books are on sale in all good bookstores or on the website editionsladeviation.fr.
Gilles RATIER
(1) La Déviation is also the publisher of the very recommendable little opus “René Goscinny and the brewery… friends” by Christian Kastelnik; see What really happened in the diary Pilot, in May 68?.
“Goscinny in New York” by Clément Lemoine
Editions La Déviation (€20) — EAN: 979-1096373413
Release January 20, 2022
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