![]() ![]() ![]() But whatever de Brunhoff’s original political views, his ivory-tusked protagonist has eclipsed them for almost eight decades. Published in the same year that the Exposition Coloniale was staged in Paris, Babar has been variously interpreted as an implicit endorsement of French colonialism and a satire of it. After many adventures he eventually returns to the jungle where he is crowned king and helps the elephants build their own Haussmannian city, Célesteville. After his mother is killed by a hunter, Babar flees the jungle and finds safety in a big city-which, in de Brunhoff’s simple line drawings, bears an uncanny resemblance to Paris. ![]() Cécile was married to a painter, Jean de Brunhoff, who went on to transform his wife’s simple bedtime story into L’Histoire de Babar, le Petit Eléphant, the first Babar book, published in 1931.ĭe Brunhoff’s charming faux-naïf illustrations and the captivating story of Babar the intrepid elephant were an instant hit. Babar, who has sold over 8 million books to date, first appeared in a Parisian nursery one summer night as Cécile de Brunhoff invented an animal tale to lull her two young sons off to sleep. Once upon a time-the 1930s, in France-there was born a dapper green-suited elephant who captured the imagination of generations of readers around the world and become one of the best-loved children’s literary heroes of all time. ![]()
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