Like many of French author Francois Place’s books, The Last Giant is about voyages, discoveries — and their unexpected consequences.
The book, which first came out more than 15 years ago, has had a journey of its own. It was published in France in 1992 to immediate acclaim, winning that year’s Grand Prize for Children’s Literature and translated into English, Korean and Japanese, among other languages, but it only made its Chinese-language debut (as “最後的巨人”) last year.
The book takes place in the mid-19th century, but its themes — the negative impact of globalization on the environment and local culture — resonate today.
In Place’s illustrations, human characters are drawn as tiny and indistinct against lush, carefully detailed landscapes. The protagonist of The Last Giant, an English explorer named Archibald Leopold Ruthmore, is identifiable only by his ever-present top hat. Place hopes this will allow readers to step into the story — and examine their own culpability in the issues the book explores.
“You are just able to put yourself in the place of the little man and the landscape seems larger than it is. It is for readers to come to this place, to wear the hat of Archibald,” said Place at last week’s Taipei International Book Exhibition (台北國際書展).
The Last Giant begins when Archibald buys an enormous tooth with intricate carvings from a sailor. Convinced that the designs are a map leading to the mythical land of giants, Archibald sets out with a large entourage. But a hostile tribe soon massacres his crew and Ruthmore is stranded in a jungle with only his top hat for company — until the very giants he is seeking discover him. The tribe of nine quickly adopts Archibald as one of their own, carrying him on their shoulders as they hunt, cook and participate in singing rituals. After 10 months, Archibald returns to England, where his attempts to tell other scientists about his adventures are met with derision. Determined to salvage his professional reputation, Archibald musters up an even larger expedition — but his efforts end in tragedy for his friends.
Many of Place’s books deal with the theme of exploration in different ways, either directly, as with The Last Giants and The Land of Amazons, a fantasy atlas, or obliquely, as with his recently published first full-length novel, La Douane Volante, (“The Flying Customs”), about a little boy who accidentally wanders into the land of death.
Place is inspired by travel books from different eras, which he began reading as a young boy.
“I was interested by civilizations everywhere. I picked up books in the library about [Native Americans], about Africa, about Tibet, about Chinese and Japanese people. I was always interested in different ways of life,” said Place.
The tattoos of cultures like the Maori in New Zealand, in which each design has a social or spiritual meaning, inspired the “talking skin” of the giants in Place’s book. Intricate drawings appear spontaneously on the giant’s bodies whenever they feel deep emotion, just as people flush red in embarrassment or pale in disgust. Archibald knows that he has been accepted into the clan when he discovers a tiny portrait of himself on the back of Antala, the tribe’s leader, a detail that makes the story’s conclusion all the more poignant and troubling.
“It was a true friendship and the story is about the betraying of friendship,” said Place. But he doesn’t place all the blame for the outcome on Archibald’s shoulders. Place set the story in the mid-19th century because it was an era when “people thought that science was only goodness and it could only bring happiness and health. Archibald is only a scientist who thinks he has to tell others what he has discovered. He does his work and he doesn’t think so much.”
“But now we know science has two faces,” Place added. “One is good and the other gives anxiety, for instance, the atomic bombs. So we know that science can also destroy the world.”
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