Les Cités Obscures
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by Axel Wappendorf
Les Cités Obscures (English translation Cities of the Fantastic) is an imaginary parallel world (a Counter-Earth), created by the Belgian comics artist François Schuiten and his friend, writer Benoît Peeters. In this imaginary world, humans live in independent city-states, each of which has developed a distinct civilization, though all are in some way focused on architecture and architectural styles.
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[edit] 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. The books published so far are:
- Les Murailles de Samaris (1983) ;
- La Fièvre d'Urbicande (1985) ;
- Le Mystère d'Urbicande (198?) ;
- L'Archiviste (1987) ;
- La Tour (1987) ;
- La Route d'Armilia (1988) ;
- L'Encyclopédie des transports présents et à venir(1988);Casterman 1988 ISBN 2203903023
- Le Musée A. Desombres (1990) ;
- Brüsel (1992) ;
- L'Écho des Cités (1993) ;
- Mary la penchée (1995) ;
- L'Enfant penchée (1996) ;
- L'Ombre d'un homme (1999) ;
- La Frontière invisible (2002: vol. 1 ; 2004: vol. 2 ; 2006: complete) ;
- L'Affaire Desombres, (2002 : booklet and 90-minute DVD) ;
- Les portes du possible (2005).
There is also a Guide des Cités (1996), by the same authors.
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.
[edit] Counter-earth
| “ | 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.) | ” |
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. Having said this, it should also be noted that travel between the two worlds is possible, by means of "gates" (portes) allowing passage from one to the other or - more poetically - by artistic license. 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.
The "Obscure World" (le monde obscur) often appears to be a deformed reflection of ours, although the scholars of the Obscure Continent, who unlike us are aware of the existence of another world, prefer to think the opposite.
[edit] The city as political model
As its name indicates, this world is principally composed of cities; the urban way of life is therefore predominant, and only a few people live in the countryside. As the cities are not very numerous, the world is relatively empty. Each city is autonomous, like the city-states of Ancient Greece; states or countries are unknown, and each city controls a territory whose boundaries are often disputed in the frequent wars which mark the history of this world. La Tour (The Tower) is in this regard a striking example of the compactness of the territories; formed as a gigantic, solitary tower, it is at the same time a building, a city, and a state.
[edit] The city as aesthetic model
Each city, moreover, seems to be governed by a precise and distinctive aesthetic current; for instance, Art Nouveau dominates the city of Xhystos, while a style close to Art Deco or Bauhaus prevails in Urbicande. One might say that, with a few exceptions, each city displays a notable architectural unity, which is colored by the political organization and intellectual ideas of its inhabitants.
[edit] Obscurité as an ontological model
The term obscur ("obscure") must here by understood as a synonym for "cryptic", "enigmatic", even "esoteric". In fact, the lack of an explanatory rational system seems to be the dominant ontological model in this world.
In the absence of a calendar common to the cities, for example, it is impossible to offer a precise chronology of the world of the Cités. On the other hand, it is a significant fact that cryptozoology has been promoted to the rank of a major discipline among the zoological sciences. Finally, the cities often live cut off from each other, without any easy way to travel between them. The circulation of ideas and technologies among them is extremely rare, or at least has no discernible effect: the economic, political and intellectual disparities are in fact very important and the only cases of mutual assistance are those where there is a political alliance. Nonetheless, travel, insofar as it is an end (not so much as a means) is highly valued. This paradox is only one of several that characterize the Obscure Continent.
One might say that myth and history are constantly mixed up; the forces at play in the cities seem to be governed by laws that are either unknown or too secret to be divulged. Wars and grand human actions do not necessarily occur with a rational explanation. It is a world where enigma and mystery have the force of universal law, where logical explanations, as such, are not valued.
[edit] External links
- Urbicande, official web site of the Cités Obscures. In French with some English.
- Obskür, the magazine about the Obscure Cities. In English and French.
- Obscure Dictionary. In English and French.
- Cités Obscures. A graphic exploratory voyage of the world. In French.
- The Obscure Cities. Graphic-intensive site, in French, Dutch and English.
- Les cites obscures, a small site with some pictures. In French.
