Friday 23 October 2009

Asterix and the Great Debate

BBC News: Should Asterix hang up his sword?
Recently Asterix had his fiftieth birthday, but the anniversary was overshadowed by the fact that many critics say that the quality of the books has declined since the death of Goscinny in 1977. I thoroughly enjoyed the classic Asterix books as a child.

There are many comments for and against, but this one struck me particularly:
Asterix got me into Roman archaeology, 35 years on I'm a professional archaeologist and profoundly grateful to the little Gaul and to the Belgian neighbour who introduced me to him. She also used them to improve my French, which also proved useful, but the key thing is that they were great fun and the wit grows with you as you reread them at different stages of life - from slapstick to ironic comment on popluar culture.

Martin, Wiltshire
I'd certainly say Asterix contributed to my own interest in the past, along with the novels of Cynthia Harnett, Geoffrey Trease, and Rudyard Kipling.

2 comments:

Titus said...

Originals were the best.

Anonymous said...

Never seen the books; all I have is the old animated features. Was a bit bummed that there never seemed to be any Gaul chicks helping to give the Romans hell, but otherwise those are adorable.