A sterix, te amamus! For those not lucky enough to learn their Latin from the dazzling René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo comic books, that means: ‘Asterix, we love you!’
How brilliant the Asterix books are and how very clever in their puns and deep appreciation of Roman history.
A new exhibition at the Jewish Museum in Camden shows how much research Goscinny the writer and Uderzo the artist put into the books; and yet, like so much hard-won art, the result looks effortlessly light.
The puns work in French and English, thanks to the inspired translations by Anthea Bell and the late Derek Hockridge. Getafix, the village druid, is Panoramix in the original French editions. Cacofonix, the tin-eared bard, is Assurancetourix; ‘assurance tous risques’ means ‘comprehensive insurance’ — funnier in English.
Everything is so beautifully thought out. The very premise of the series is genius: ‘The year is 50 bc.
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