Les Cités obscures
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| == Background == | == Background == | ||
| - | Schuiten's graphic representations and architectural styles within ''Les Cités obscures'' is, among other historical themes, heavily influenced by Belgian [[Art Nouveau]] architect [[Victor Horta]], who worked in [[Brussels]] at the turn of the 20th century. An important motif is the process of what he calls ''Bruxellisation'', the destruction of this historic Brussels in favor of anonymous, low-quality [[modern architecture|modernist]] office and business buildings. Coming from a family of architects, Schuiten had many relatives, especially his father and brothers, who were instrumental in ''Bruxellisation'', an important part in Schuiten's and Peeters' 1950s childhood memories of the city. Schuiten was brought up to study architecture by his father, both in university and early on at home, while young Schuiten preferred to pursue his escape to the world of [[Franco-Belgian comics|Franco-Belgian ''bandes dessinées'']] such as those he found in ''[[Pilote]]'' magazine that his older brother introduced him to, with [[René Goscinny]], [[Morris (comics)|Morris]], and [[André Franquin]] among his early favorites. | + | Schuiten's graphic representations and architectural styles within ''Les Cités obscures'' is, among other historical themes, heavily influenced by Belgian [[Art Nouveau]] architect [[Victor Horta]], who worked in [[Brussels]] at the turn of the 20th century. An important motif is the process of what he calls ''[[Bruxellisation]]'', the destruction of this historic Brussels in favor of anonymous, low-quality [[modern architecture|modernist]] office and business buildings. Coming from a family of architects, Schuiten had many relatives, especially his father and brothers, who were instrumental in ''Bruxellisation'', an important part in Schuiten's and Peeters' 1950s childhood memories of the city. Schuiten was brought up to study architecture by his father, both in university and early on at home, while young Schuiten preferred to pursue his escape to the world of [[Franco-Belgian comics|Franco-Belgian ''bandes dessinées'']] such as those he found in ''[[Pilote]]'' magazine that his older brother introduced him to, with [[René Goscinny]], [[Morris (comics)|Morris]], and [[André Franquin]] among his early favorites. |
| Around 1980, having become an emerging established graphic novel artist who had made himself a name publishing in ''[[Métal Hurlant]]'' and creating a number of standalone albums, Schuiten began drafting a parallel world of vintage architectural splendor reflecting his childhood memories of Brussels, a world which can be reached primarily through remaining buildings of these times gone by. In an ongoing attempt to prevent the spread of knowledge of this parallel world, mostly faceless authorities in our world increasingly have these buildings torn down, and in Schuiten's world this was the true reason for chaotic, headless ''Bruxellisation'' where functional and organic buildings were destroyed in favor of ill-planned, useless, and confusing structures such as ill-planned roads, detours, freeways, and anonymous office buildings that destroyed the organic fabric of a city and resulted in dysfunctional traffic and living routines. | Around 1980, having become an emerging established graphic novel artist who had made himself a name publishing in ''[[Métal Hurlant]]'' and creating a number of standalone albums, Schuiten began drafting a parallel world of vintage architectural splendor reflecting his childhood memories of Brussels, a world which can be reached primarily through remaining buildings of these times gone by. In an ongoing attempt to prevent the spread of knowledge of this parallel world, mostly faceless authorities in our world increasingly have these buildings torn down, and in Schuiten's world this was the true reason for chaotic, headless ''Bruxellisation'' where functional and organic buildings were destroyed in favor of ill-planned, useless, and confusing structures such as ill-planned roads, detours, freeways, and anonymous office buildings that destroyed the organic fabric of a city and resulted in dysfunctional traffic and living routines. | ||
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| Various commentators, as well as Schuiten himself, have identified visual and theme influences in ''Les Cités obscures'' from as diverse works as those by [[Jules Verne]], [[Winsor McCay]], [[Franz Kafka]], [[René Magritte]], [[Giovanni Battista Piranesi]], [[Victor Horta]], and [[Henry Fuseli]]. | Various commentators, as well as Schuiten himself, have identified visual and theme influences in ''Les Cités obscures'' from as diverse works as those by [[Jules Verne]], [[Winsor McCay]], [[Franz Kafka]], [[René Magritte]], [[Giovanni Battista Piranesi]], [[Victor Horta]], and [[Henry Fuseli]]. | ||
| - | ==Books in the ''Cités obscures'' series== | ||
| - | The stories of the ''cités obscures'' appear in a series of graphic novels and related books, published by [[Casterman]]. Most of them remain unpublished in English, whereas those six published in English (first in serialized form in ''[[Heavy Metal (magazine)|Heavy Metal]]'' and [[Dark Horse Comics]]' ''[[Cheval Noir (comics)|Cheval Noir]]'', then as complete albums by [[NBM Publishing]]) so far often had different cover design and page size. The books published in French so far below: | ||
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| - | === Official series === | ||
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| - | # '''[[Les murailles de Samaris]]''' (1983, published 1987 in English as ''The Great Walls of Samaris (Stories of the Fantastic)'', paperback, ISBN 0-918348-36-6) | ||
| - | # '''[[La fièvre d'Urbicande]]''' (1985, published 1990 in English as ''Fever in Urbicand (Cities of the Fantastic)'', translated by [[Jean-Marc Lofficier]] & [[Randy Lofficier]], paperback, ISBN 0-918348-86-2) | ||
| - | # '''[[La Tour (comics)|La Tour]]''' (1987, published 1993 in English as ''The Tower (Stories of the Fantastic)'' translated by [[Jean-Marc Lofficier]] & [[Randy Lofficier]], paperback, ISBN 1-56163-070-5) | ||
| - | # '''[[La route d'Armilia]]''' (1988, available in English as "The Road to Armilia" (unofficial edition)) | ||
| - | # '''[[Brüsel]]''' (1992, published 2001 in English as ''Brüsel (Cities of the Fantastic)'', hardcover, ISBN 1-56163-291-0) | ||
| - | # '''[[L'enfant penchée]]''' (1996, published 2014 in English as ''The Leaning Girl'') | ||
| - | # '''L'ombre d'un homme''' (1999) | ||
| - | # '''La frontière invisible''', Volume 1 (2002, published in English as ''The Invisible Frontier (Cities of the Fantastic)'', hardcover, ISBN 1-56163-333-X) | ||
| - | # '''La frontière invisible''', Volume 2 (2004, published in English as ''The Invisible Frontier (Cities of the Fantastic)'', hardcover, ISBN 1-56163-400-X) | ||
| - | # '''La Théorie du grain de sable''', Volume 1 (2007) | ||
| - | # '''La Théorie du grain de sable''', Volume 2 (2008) | ||
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| - | === Spin-offs === | ||
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| - | Beside these "official" parts to the story, Schuiten and Peeters also collaborated, partly with other authors, on a number of works that were not originally linked to the series but that were set in similar settings, were linked to it later, and/or highlighted particular aspects of the ''Obscure World'' without being a traditional narrative. | ||
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| - | # '''Le Mystère d'Urbicande''' (1985); | ||
| - | # '''L'archiviste''' (1987); | ||
| - | # '''L'Encyclopédie des transports présents et à venir'''(1988);[[Casterman]] 1988 ISBN 2-203-90302-3 | ||
| - | #'''Le passage''' (1989); | ||
| - | # ''Le Musée A. Desombres'' (1990: booklet and audio CD); | ||
| - | # '''L'Écho des cités''' (1993); | ||
| - | # '''Souvenirs de l'Eternel présent''' (1993), an adaptation of the film ''[[Taxandria (film)|Taxandria]]'' (see below); | ||
| - | # '''[[Mary la penchée]]''' (1995); | ||
| - | # '''[[Le Guide des cités]]''' (1996), an illustrated tourist guide to the ''Obscure Cities''; | ||
| - | # '''L'etrange cas du docteur Abraham''' (2001); | ||
| - | # '''L'affaire Desombres''' (2002: booklet and 90-minute DVD). | ||
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| - | The volume ''[[Voyages en Utopie]]'' (2000) presents the ongoing and completed work carried on by these two authors, in parallel with the ''Cités obscures'' series. Another book Schuiten and Peeters collaborated on in reference to ''Les Cités obscures'' is ''[[Les Portes du Possible]]'' (2005). | ||
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| - | ==Counter-earth== | ||
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| - | :''Nous ignorons le monde des Cités obscures, mais ce monde ne nous ignore pas.'' "We are ignorant of the world of the Cités obscures, but that world is not ignorant of us." – Lewis Fry Richardson, English scholar cited in the ''[[Guide des Cités]]'' | ||
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| - | === Location and ''Obscure Portals'' === | ||
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| - | The world (or "continent", according to the authors) of the ''Cités obscures'' forms a disparate grouping of cities located on a "counter-Earth", which is invisible from our Earth because it is situated exactly opposite it on the other side of the Sun. Still, travel between the two worlds is possible by means of "gates" (''portes'') called ''Obscure Passages'', which are mostly to be found in buildings and constructions similar or identical to each other on both planets, whereas the distinct architectural style of a structure makes it a potential candidate to harbor an ''Obscure Passage'' to an ''Obscure City'' whose distinct style it resembles. | ||
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| - | It is not uncommon for some Earthlings and inhabitants of the ''Cités obscures'' to actually come across each other (among the most notable of these travelers may be noted [[Jules Verne]], a recurring personage in the series). On websites such as [http://www.ebbs.net/schuiten/ ''Web of the Obscure Cities''] and [http://passages.ebbs.net/ ''Office of the Obscure Passages''], Schuiten and Peeters present alleged reports, often illustrated with photos and drawings, from people that shortly crossed over into the world of the ''Obscure Cities'' via ''Obscure Passages'' by accident, and by so-called ''Obscurantists'' who have been seeking for ''Obscure Passages'' for years (compare ''[[Obscurantism|Obscurantist]]'', a term based upon the ''[[Epistolæ Obscurorum Virorum]]'', aka "Letters of Obscure Men"). These reports on the internet correspond to the [[pseudorealism]] of Schuiten and Peeters when enclosing "authentic" documentary or amateur CDs (''Le Musée A. Desombres'', 1990) or DVDs (''L'affaire Desombres'', 2002) to their print publications regarding the ''Obscure Cities''. | ||
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| - | == ''Taxandria'' == | ||
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| - | === Background === | ||
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| - | Benoît Peeters had collaborated with director [[Raoul Servais]] before on a documentary entitled ''Servaisgraphia'' on Servais's unique animation style that was released in 1992. Subsequently, there is a loose connection between the increasingly multimedia series of the ''Obscure Cities'' and the Belgian fantasy film ''[[Taxandria (film)|Taxandria]]'' (1994) directed by Servais (starring, among others, [[Armin Mueller-Stahl]]), where Schuiten served as production designer. In the ''Obscure Cities'' series, at times characters refer to the vanished city-state of Taxandria which was accidentally removed from the planet during a failed scientific experiment. | ||
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| - | === Shared themes === | ||
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| - | A common theme in [[steampunk]]-influenced ''Les Cités obscures'', Taxandrian clothing and technology appear to resemble [[Victorian era|Victorian]] times on our earth, Taxandria's architecture is reminiscent of Schuiten's trademark phantasmagorical architectural fantasies, and another feature the film shares with ''Les Cités obscures'' is a bloated absurd, [[Kafkaesque]] bureaucracy. It is however under dispute among fans of the series whether Taxandria is truly one of the ''Obscure Cities'' due to a perceived appearance of a light-hearted children's fantasy movie to Servais's film. | ||
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| - | === ''Souvenirs de l'Eternel Présent'' === | ||
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| - | A reinterpreting graphic novel adaptation of the movie ''Taxandria'' was published by Schuiten and Peeters one year prior to the film's official release under the title ''Souvenirs de l'Eternel Présent: Variation sur le Film ''Taxandria'' de Raoul Servais'' (Arboris, 1993, ISBN 90-344-1011-0, ISBN 978-90-344-1011-5), also including production background informations on the film. | ||
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| - | == Multimedia == | ||
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| - | Schuiten and Peeters increasingly seek to transcend their world of the ''Obscure Cities'' from graphic novels into other media to create an entire universe, even though their comic albums remain the core foundation of Schuiten and Peeters's emerging multimedia franchise. | ||
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| - | === Books, CDs, films === | ||
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| - | This trend for multimedia expansion began with the book ''[[Le Mystère d'Urbicande]]'' (1985) which marked the series' acquiring a life of its own and whereby Schuiten and Peeters began to realize the true potential of their concept. Written by Belgian author and ''Obscure'' fan [[Thierry Smolderen]] (under the pseudonym ''Professeur R. de Brok''), ''Le Mystère d'Urbicande'' purports to be a scientific essay bent to debunk the events of ''[[La fièvre d'Urbicande]]'', heavily annotated in emotional handwriting by Eugen Rodick, the main character of ''La fièvre d'Urbicande'' who is now locked up in Brüsel's Sixth Hospice, the city's mental asylum. Schuiten contributed the book's illustrations under the pen-name ''Robert Louis Marie de la Barque'' (whereas the French word ''barque'', meaning ''barge'' or ''rowboat'' in English, translates to ''schuiten'' in Dutch). | ||
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| - | Drafting and developing stages of the above-mentioned film ''[[Taxandria (film)|Taxandria]]'' and its accompanying graphic novel adaptation began between Schuiten and Peeters as early as 1988. | ||
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| - | In 1990, the development was further explored with ''Le Musée A. Desombres'', an audio CD with a small booklet drawn by Schuiten, purporting to be an exhibition catalogue of paintings by Auguste Desombres, an artist living in our world in the late 19th century. The CD contains an audio play that is partly a fake report from Desombres's first exhibition, partly chronicles Desombres crossing over into the world of the ''Obscure Cities'' by accident by means of his own exhibition. | ||
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| - | In 2002, Schuiten and Peeters published the DVD ''L'affaire Desombres'', a sequel to ''Le Musée A. Desombres''. | ||
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| - | A setting of ''[[La fièvre d'Urbicande]]'', cult album in the Obscure Cities series, appears in the 2012 Canadian science fiction movie ''[[Mars et Avril]]'' by [[Martin Villeneuve]], based on the graphic novels of the same name. As a matter of fact, [[François Schuiten]] agreed to have a 3D model made out of his futuristic auditorium, for a scene taking place inside the Temple of Cosmologists. The director had this image in mind when writing his books, a few years before Schuiten joined the team as production designer. Before the shooting, even the extras were chosen to look like the characters in the comic book. | ||
| - | === ''Urbicande.be'' === | ||
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| - | In 1996, ''Urbicande.be'', the official website of the ''Obscure Cities'' went online where Schuiten and Peeters encouraged their fans all over Europe to send in their own ideas regarding the ''Obscure Cities'' and accounts of their own experiences in search for ''Obscure Passages''. The response was so overwhelming that Schuiten and Peeters were able to expand their online activities into a complex network of [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style (writing about fiction)|in-universe]] sites, mainly branching from the URL ''ebbs.net'' of their official ''Obscure'' magazine called ''Obskür'', where many amateur reports, illustrated by photos and Schuiten's drawings, and various mysterious ''Obscure'' artifacts can be found. Along with these, a number of conspiracy theories are explored, regarding authorities of our world intending to prevent the spread of knowledge regarding the parallel world and destroy various ''Obscure Passages''. | ||
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| - | === ''La maison Autrique'' === | ||
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| - | After having colorfully satirized the destructive modernizing fad of ''Bruxellisation'' in the ''Les Cités obscures'' album ''[[Brüsel]]'' in 1992, Schuiten and Peeters convinced the community of Schuiten's childhood district [[Schaerbeek]] to acquire one of the last remaining buildings in Brussels built by Art Nouveau architect Horta, ''[[Maison Autrique|La maison Autrique]]'', and in 1999 opened a permanent [[pseudo-documentary]] exhibition inside, regarding the ''Obscure Cities'', 19th century Art Nouveau Brussels, and detailing its ongoing ''Bruxellisation'' destruction during the 20th century, tying in with aforementioned conspiracy theories whereby ''Bruxellisation'' is supposed to be an attempt by the authorities to destroy a number of ''Obscure Passages'' situated in Brussels. In 2004, Schuiten and Peeters published the illustrated book ''La Maison Autrique: Métamorphose d'une maison Art Nouveau'' (published as ''Maison Autrique - Metamorphosis of an Art Nouveau House'' in English) about the building, its restoration during the 1990s, and Horta's life and work. Also, their latest ''Les Cités obscures'' two-part graphic novel album ''La Théorie du grain de sable'' (2007; 2008) deals with the ''maison Autrique''. | ||
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Les Cités obscures (literally The Obscure Cities) is a graphic novel series by François Schuiten and Benoît Peeters started in 1982, set in a fictional world where humans live in independent city-states, each of which has developed a distinct civilization and a distinctive architectural style.
[edit]
Background
Schuiten's graphic representations and architectural styles within Les Cités obscures is, among other historical themes, heavily influenced by Belgian Art Nouveau architect Victor Horta, who worked in Brussels at the turn of the 20th century. An important motif is the process of what he calls Bruxellisation, the destruction of this historic Brussels in favor of anonymous, low-quality modernist office and business buildings. Coming from a family of architects, Schuiten had many relatives, especially his father and brothers, who were instrumental in Bruxellisation, an important part in Schuiten's and Peeters' 1950s childhood memories of the city. Schuiten was brought up to study architecture by his father, both in university and early on at home, while young Schuiten preferred to pursue his escape to the world of Franco-Belgian bandes dessinées such as those he found in Pilote magazine that his older brother introduced him to, with René Goscinny, Morris, and André Franquin among his early favorites.
Around 1980, having become an emerging established graphic novel artist who had made himself a name publishing in Métal Hurlant and creating a number of standalone albums, Schuiten began drafting a parallel world of vintage architectural splendor reflecting his childhood memories of Brussels, a world which can be reached primarily through remaining buildings of these times gone by. In an ongoing attempt to prevent the spread of knowledge of this parallel world, mostly faceless authorities in our world increasingly have these buildings torn down, and in Schuiten's world this was the true reason for chaotic, headless Bruxellisation where functional and organic buildings were destroyed in favor of ill-planned, useless, and confusing structures such as ill-planned roads, detours, freeways, and anonymous office buildings that destroyed the organic fabric of a city and resulted in dysfunctional traffic and living routines.
Approaching his friend Peeters, who by now had become a comic writer, about this imaginary world, Peeters infused his own philosophical ideas into plot lines he developed for the project, and in 1982 the first Les Cités obscures album, Les murailles de Samaris, began publication as a serial in the Franco-Belgian comics magazine À Suivre. Requiring a few revised editions of the early albums, the basic tenets and elements of Le monde obscure were laid down since the late 1980s.
[edit]
Influences
Various commentators, as well as Schuiten himself, have identified visual and theme influences in Les Cités obscures from as diverse works as those by Jules Verne, Winsor McCay, Franz Kafka, René Magritte, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Victor Horta, and Henry Fuseli.
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Les Cités obscures" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.
