how Asterix and Obelix, the legendary comic book by Goscinny and Uderzo, was born

This article is taken from the special issue « Asterix, a French myth “. In this issue, the sharpest feathers of the Figaro bring an offbeat, caustic, original and updated look at this icon of French culture.

It’s hard to imagine a world without Asterix today. Sixty-five years ago, however, that was the case. In France at the end of the 1950s, Tati’s films punctuate the lives of the French, Feast day has My uncle passing through Mr Hulot’s Holidays. It’s the beginning of the Trente Glorieuses. Industrial progress takes hold. The Auto Show flourishes, the Mirage Dassault takes off, Brel and Brassens reinvent the song with lyrics. In Paris, Camus, Beauvoir and Sartre kept the cauldron of letters boiling in the shade of the cafes of Saint-Germain-des-Prés.

In the cinema, the legs of the French cancan swirl as well as the sword of Fanfan the Tulip. Without forgetting And God created woman (1956) where we see the BB myth blossom. Movie buffs…