Histoire de M. Vieux Bois
Encyclopedia
Histoire de M. Vieux Bois, published in English as The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck, and also known as Les amours de Mr. Vieux Bois or simply Monsieur Vieuxbois, is a 19th-century publication written and illustrated by the Swiss caricaturist Rodolphe Töpffer
. Published first in Europe
as Histoire de M. Vieux Bois, and then in the United States
as a newspaper
supplement, The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck, it is sometimes said to be the first modern comic book
.
, comics theorist Scott McCloud
says Töpffer's work is in many ways "the father of the modern comic." McCloud emphasizes Töpffer's use of "cartooning and panel borders" along with "the first interdependent combination of words and pictures seen in Europe."
Töpffer described comics as a medium appealing particularly to children and the lower classes, and this is evident in the style of the work. It is notable that the story was never intended for publication but rather as an idle "diversion" for his close friends; however, the story achieved widespread popularity in the United States and its original France.
Töpffer used a method called autography, in which the pen draws on specially prepared paper, allowing a freer line than the engraving of the time.
The humorous story consists of M. Vieux Bois continually attempting suicide when his lover rejects him, then when they marry an ongoing series of comic episodes.
Mr. Vieux Bois encounters a seemingly overweight young woman and instantly falls in love. His initial attempts at courting are ignored, followed by short periods of his desperation. He attempts suicide
by falling on his own sword
and then by hanging
himself. Both attempts fail.
He discovers a rival suitor and challenges him to a duel. He is better with his dueling sword and his rival has to flee. Vieux Bois contacts the parents of his girlfriend, seeking her hand in marriage. He returns home and starts to loudly celebrate. His celebration ends with his arrest for disturbing the neighbours. The marriage is called off and he feels suicidal. He asks for hemlock
but is given herb soup instead.
He decides to travel but falls prey to highwaymen. Seeking refuge in a lair, he meets a hermit who persuades him to join the local cloister
. After two weeks he escapes the cloister dressed in drag
. He loses his right eye on his way home and starts wearing an eyepatch
.
At home he finds a letter from his love interest, finally returning his affection. Nightly he serenades her with a large but unspecified string instrument. They flee on his horse
which struggles to support her weight. But Mr. Vieux Bois is apprehended by monk
s and returned to prison. He throws himself out of a window in his fourth unsuccessful suicide attempt.
Released he flees again with his fiancee. Returning to his home by way of the local river
they are discovered by a "little hermit". Mr. Vieux Bois keeps the boy's head under the water until he dies from drowning. He finally can arrange for their marriage without opposition from the monks.
On his wedding
day Mr. Vieux Bois leaves his home for the church but then returns to place his dog
as guard outside the house. Consequently he arrives late for his own wedding. His in-laws had tired of waiting and called off the marriage again. Hetries to shoot himself in the head but only wounds his face. He is mistaken for dead and buried. Crows digging at his grave finally manage to awake him. He is "called back into existence".
Dressed in a shroud, he is mistaken for an undead
ghost
and a couple of local peasants chase him with their pitchforks. His return home terrifies his inheritors. As soon as he changes his clothes, he is again arrested for assault. His bullet had entered a neighbour's leg. He defends himself in court
but nevertheless ends up sentenced to imprisonment for a year. His only cellmate is his loyal dog.
They soon manage to escape by opening a roofhole. He jumps to the roof of the neighbouring house but his dog fells into the chimney. The house belongs to his object of affection and her parents. The later are scared by their canine visitor but their daughter recognizes it and hugs it. Mr. Vieux Bois pulls at the rope around his dog's neck and is surprised at its weight. The rope brakes and he falls from the roof and into a street lamp. He flees the local police
. Meanwhile the resident family climbs the chimney to the rooftop in order to meet the dog's owner. They find nobody and are then trapped on the roof.
Three days later Mr. Vieux Bois returns disguised as an officer
. He searches for his lady love and is informed that the whole family is still missing. He leaves to search for them. The following day, a chimney sweep
discovers the whole family. Mr. Vieux Bois encounters one the monks responsible for his imprisonment. He cuts off his beard in revenge but then has to flee a legion of vengeful monks.
He returns empty-handed to his hometown. The little chimney sweep informs him of the rescue of his lady. Led to the roof, he finds his lost dog. He stays on the roof for nine days in an effort to communicate with his love ... not realising the family has moved. On the ninth day he leaves the roof and reestablishes contact with his lady. They flee again with horse and carriage
. Mr. Vieux Bois is rushing the horse and manages to cover 18 league
s in three hours ... only to find that the carriage containing his lady was lost at some point of the road.
The carriage has been loaded on a stagecoach
heading for Paris. But its weight eventually overturns the stagecoach into the local river. A passenger seeks refuge on the river-floating carriage. He is identified as the rival driven away at the duel months ago. He drives the carriage to the shore and attempts to release the woman from it. Before he can do so Mr. Vieux Bois arrives, posing as a highwayman. He threatens his old rival with if he does not keep his face on the ground. Then he enters the locked door of the carriage, releases his lady, forces his rival to enter it and throws it to the river again.
The lady complains of exhaustion and seems to have lost weight. Her lover leads her to the mountains where she can pursuit a fattening diet
. Meanwhile he adopts a pastoral
lifestyle under the name of "Tircis". Several pages are devoted to the sleeping woman changing hands between the two persistent rivals for her affection. When she awakes she finds M. Vieux Bois with a new donkey, taken from his opponent.
On their way home they have to cross the grounds of the local monastery
where they have several enemies. The man disguises himself as a miller
and the woman as a sack of flour]. The monks stop them anyway to examine the cargo. They are scared to find it squealing. The "miller" assures them it contains the Devil
. The monks flee but return with reinforcements. The couple are condemned as sorcerers
and sentenced to execution by burning
. The execution is carelessly prepared and the prisoners take advantage of the smoke to flee towards the river. There their old carriage is found standing. Two pursuing monks are approaching. Knowing them well, Mr. Vieux Bois throws some coins around and enters the carriage with his lady. The monks believe that the carriage is filled with coins. In their greed they decide to keep it for themselves. They dig a pit in order to bury it. When it gets deep enough, their prey exits the carriage and buries them up to their necks. Leaving the monks, the duo has one last encounter with the rival suitor before the story ends happily with their marriage.
Rodolphe Töpffer
Rodolphe Töpffer was a Swiss teacher, author, painter, cartoonist, and caricature artist. He is also considered to be the first modern comic creator.- Biography :...
. Published first in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
as Histoire de M. Vieux Bois, and then in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as a newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
supplement, The Adventures of Obadiah Oldbuck, it is sometimes said to be the first modern comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
.
Format
The format consists of sequential pictures with captions, rather than utilizing the staple of word-balloons, a convention that would later be developed in newspaper comic strips. In Understanding ComicsUnderstanding Comics
Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art is a 215-page non-fiction comic book, written and drawn by Scott McCloud and originally published in 1993. It explores the definition of comics, the historical development of the medium, its fundamental vocabulary, and various ways in which these elements...
, comics theorist Scott McCloud
Scott McCloud
Scott McCloud is an American cartoonist and theorist on comics as a distinct literary and artistic medium...
says Töpffer's work is in many ways "the father of the modern comic." McCloud emphasizes Töpffer's use of "cartooning and panel borders" along with "the first interdependent combination of words and pictures seen in Europe."
Töpffer described comics as a medium appealing particularly to children and the lower classes, and this is evident in the style of the work. It is notable that the story was never intended for publication but rather as an idle "diversion" for his close friends; however, the story achieved widespread popularity in the United States and its original France.
Töpffer used a method called autography, in which the pen draws on specially prepared paper, allowing a freer line than the engraving of the time.
Histoire de M. Vieux Bois
Mr. Vieux Bois encounters a seemingly overweight young woman and instantly falls in love. His initial attempts at courting are ignored, followed by short periods of his desperation. He attempts suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
by falling on his own sword
Sword
A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
and then by hanging
Hanging
Hanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", though it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would remain...
himself. Both attempts fail.
He discovers a rival suitor and challenges him to a duel. He is better with his dueling sword and his rival has to flee. Vieux Bois contacts the parents of his girlfriend, seeking her hand in marriage. He returns home and starts to loudly celebrate. His celebration ends with his arrest for disturbing the neighbours. The marriage is called off and he feels suicidal. He asks for hemlock
Conium
Conium is a genus of two species of highly poisonous perennial herbaceous flowering plants in the family Apiaceae, native to Europe and the Mediterranean region as Conium maculatum, and to southern Africa as Conium chaerophylloides....
but is given herb soup instead.
He decides to travel but falls prey to highwaymen. Seeking refuge in a lair, he meets a hermit who persuades him to join the local cloister
Cloister
A cloister is a rectangular open space surrounded by covered walks or open galleries, with open arcades on the inner side, running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle or garth...
. After two weeks he escapes the cloister dressed in drag
Drag (clothing)
Drag is used for any clothing carrying symbolic significance but usually referring to the clothing associated with one gender role when worn by a person of another gender. The origin of the term "drag" is unknown, but it may have originated in Polari, a gay street argot in England in the early...
. He loses his right eye on his way home and starts wearing an eyepatch
Eyepatch
An eyepatch or eye pad is a small patch that is worn in front of one eye. It may be a cloth patch attached around the head by an elastic band or by a string, or an adhesive bandage. It is often worn by people to cover a lost or injured eye, but it also has a therapeutic use in children for the...
.
At home he finds a letter from his love interest, finally returning his affection. Nightly he serenades her with a large but unspecified string instrument. They flee on his horse
Horse
The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...
which struggles to support her weight. But Mr. Vieux Bois is apprehended by monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
s and returned to prison. He throws himself out of a window in his fourth unsuccessful suicide attempt.
Released he flees again with his fiancee. Returning to his home by way of the local river
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
they are discovered by a "little hermit". Mr. Vieux Bois keeps the boy's head under the water until he dies from drowning. He finally can arrange for their marriage without opposition from the monks.
On his wedding
Wedding
A wedding is the ceremony in which two people are united in marriage or a similar institution. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes...
day Mr. Vieux Bois leaves his home for the church but then returns to place his dog
Dog
The domestic dog is a domesticated form of the gray wolf, a member of the Canidae family of the order Carnivora. The term is used for both feral and pet varieties. The dog may have been the first animal to be domesticated, and has been the most widely kept working, hunting, and companion animal in...
as guard outside the house. Consequently he arrives late for his own wedding. His in-laws had tired of waiting and called off the marriage again. Hetries to shoot himself in the head but only wounds his face. He is mistaken for dead and buried. Crows digging at his grave finally manage to awake him. He is "called back into existence".
Dressed in a shroud, he is mistaken for an undead
Undead
Undead is a collective name for fictional, mythological, or legendary beings that are deceased and yet behave as if alive. Undead may be incorporeal, such as ghosts, or corporeal, such as vampires and zombies...
ghost
Ghost
In traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
and a couple of local peasants chase him with their pitchforks. His return home terrifies his inheritors. As soon as he changes his clothes, he is again arrested for assault. His bullet had entered a neighbour's leg. He defends himself in court
Court
A court is a form of tribunal, often a governmental institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law...
but nevertheless ends up sentenced to imprisonment for a year. His only cellmate is his loyal dog.
They soon manage to escape by opening a roofhole. He jumps to the roof of the neighbouring house but his dog fells into the chimney. The house belongs to his object of affection and her parents. The later are scared by their canine visitor but their daughter recognizes it and hugs it. Mr. Vieux Bois pulls at the rope around his dog's neck and is surprised at its weight. The rope brakes and he falls from the roof and into a street lamp. He flees the local police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
. Meanwhile the resident family climbs the chimney to the rooftop in order to meet the dog's owner. They find nobody and are then trapped on the roof.
Three days later Mr. Vieux Bois returns disguised as an officer
Police officer
A police officer is a warranted employee of a police force...
. He searches for his lady love and is informed that the whole family is still missing. He leaves to search for them. The following day, a chimney sweep
Chimney sweep
A chimney sweep is a worker who clears ash and soot from chimneys. The chimney uses the pressure difference caused by a hot column of gas to create a draught and draw air over the hot coals or wood enabling continued combustion. Chimneys may be straight or contain many changes of direction. During...
discovers the whole family. Mr. Vieux Bois encounters one the monks responsible for his imprisonment. He cuts off his beard in revenge but then has to flee a legion of vengeful monks.
He returns empty-handed to his hometown. The little chimney sweep informs him of the rescue of his lady. Led to the roof, he finds his lost dog. He stays on the roof for nine days in an effort to communicate with his love ... not realising the family has moved. On the ninth day he leaves the roof and reestablishes contact with his lady. They flee again with horse and carriage
Carriage
A carriage is a wheeled vehicle for people, usually horse-drawn; litters and sedan chairs are excluded, since they are wheelless vehicles. The carriage is especially designed for private passenger use and for comfort or elegance, though some are also used to transport goods. It may be light,...
. Mr. Vieux Bois is rushing the horse and manages to cover 18 league
League (unit)
A league is a unit of length . It was long common in Europe and Latin America, but it is no longer an official unit in any nation. The league originally referred to the distance a person or a horse could walk in an hour...
s in three hours ... only to find that the carriage containing his lady was lost at some point of the road.
The carriage has been loaded on a stagecoach
Stagecoach
A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...
heading for Paris. But its weight eventually overturns the stagecoach into the local river. A passenger seeks refuge on the river-floating carriage. He is identified as the rival driven away at the duel months ago. He drives the carriage to the shore and attempts to release the woman from it. Before he can do so Mr. Vieux Bois arrives, posing as a highwayman. He threatens his old rival with if he does not keep his face on the ground. Then he enters the locked door of the carriage, releases his lady, forces his rival to enter it and throws it to the river again.
The lady complains of exhaustion and seems to have lost weight. Her lover leads her to the mountains where she can pursuit a fattening diet
Diet (nutrition)
In nutrition, diet is the sum of food consumed by a person or other organism. Dietary habits are the habitual decisions an individual or culture makes when choosing what foods to eat. With the word diet, it is often implied the use of specific intake of nutrition for health or weight-management...
. Meanwhile he adopts a pastoral
Pastoral
The adjective pastoral refers to the lifestyle of pastoralists, such as shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasturage. It also refers to a genre in literature, art or music that depicts such shepherd life in an...
lifestyle under the name of "Tircis". Several pages are devoted to the sleeping woman changing hands between the two persistent rivals for her affection. When she awakes she finds M. Vieux Bois with a new donkey, taken from his opponent.
On their way home they have to cross the grounds of the local monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
where they have several enemies. The man disguises himself as a miller
Miller
A miller usually refers to a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a cereal crop to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalents in other languages around the world...
and the woman as a sack of flour]. The monks stop them anyway to examine the cargo. They are scared to find it squealing. The "miller" assures them it contains the Devil
Devil
The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
. The monks flee but return with reinforcements. The couple are condemned as sorcerers
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
and sentenced to execution by burning
Execution by burning
Death by burning is death brought about by combustion. As a form of capital punishment, burning has a long history as a method in crimes such as treason, heresy, and witchcraft....
. The execution is carelessly prepared and the prisoners take advantage of the smoke to flee towards the river. There their old carriage is found standing. Two pursuing monks are approaching. Knowing them well, Mr. Vieux Bois throws some coins around and enters the carriage with his lady. The monks believe that the carriage is filled with coins. In their greed they decide to keep it for themselves. They dig a pit in order to bury it. When it gets deep enough, their prey exits the carriage and buries them up to their necks. Leaving the monks, the duo has one last encounter with the rival suitor before the story ends happily with their marriage.
Reception
Töpffer described comic books as a medium appealing particularly to children and the lower classes, and this is evident in the style of the work. It is notable that the story was never intended for publication but rather as an idle diversion for his close friends; however, the story achieved widespread popularity in the United States and its original Switzerland. Critics, however, panned almost all of Töpffer's caricature works, decrying them as a low ambition for a greater mind.External links
- Les amours de Mr. Vieux Bois Full 1839 edition at Michigan State University Libraries
- Histoire de Mr. Vieux Bois Full 1827 manuscript edition at "King Leonardo and his Short Subjects"