Misery in Borinage

Originally posted at Amazon. 

Hergé's Tintin comics have been translated to a staggering amount of languages and dialects, some of them pretty obscure. “Borain de frameries” is the dialect of Picard spoken in the Belgian district of Borinage, mostly known for its poverty, coal mines and hard class struggle. One of the region's many miners' strikes inspired Henry Luyten to paint his famous triptych “Struggle for Life” in 1893. A political documentary about the area, “Misère au Borinage”, was released in 1933. I've heard of the Belgian general strike of 1960-61, but I had no idea Borinage even existed before doing some research on this particular Tintin album! Why the dialect of this area (situated around the town of Mons or Mont in Hainaut) was chosen to translate three Tintin albums, including “The Secret of the Unicorn”, is something I unfortunately can't tell you. However, I'm sure your local friendly neighborhood Tintinologist, in Borinage or elsewhere, is ready to help…