{"id":30068,"date":"2024-06-27T08:00:47","date_gmt":"2024-06-27T08:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=30068"},"modified":"2024-06-25T15:32:12","modified_gmt":"2024-06-25T15:32:12","slug":"the-case-of-alan-turing-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2024\/06\/27\/the-case-of-alan-turing-3\/","title":{"rendered":"The Case of Alan Turing"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy \u00c9ric Liberge<\/strong> & Arnaud Delalande<\/strong>, translated by David Homel<\/strong> (Arsenal Pulp Press)
\nISBN: 978-1-55152-650-8 (HB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

After decades of cruel injustice and crushing, sidelining silence, British mathematician Alan Turing – one of the greatest intellects in humanity\u2019s history – is finally the household name and revered pioneer of science he always deserved to be. As well as books and films describing the astounding achievements and appalling way this brilliant, misunderstood man – arguably the creator of the modern world we inhabit – was treated by his contemporaries and society in general, there are also graphic novels (so if you\u2019re interested you should also seek out Jim Ottaviani & Leland Purvis\u2019 The Imitation Game: Alan Turing Decoded<\/a><\/strong>) delineating the factual stuff whilst trying to get beneath the skin of a most perplexing and unique individual.<\/p>\n

This gloriously oversized (231 x 13 x 287 mm) full-colour hardback biography – also available as an e-book – was first released in 2015 as Le Cas Alan Turing: Histoire extraordinaire et tragique d\u2019un genie <\/em><\/strong>and employs an emphatic literary approach that is more drama than documentary. The moving script by author Arnaud Delalande (La Piege de Dante<\/em><\/strong>) – via award-winning translator David Homel – only touches on Turing\u2019s early, troubled home life and post-war scandals as the genius descended into self-loathing and court-mandated chemical castration to cure his \u201csocial deviancy\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mere hints and allegations – let alone actual accusations – of homosexuality destroyed many men until officially decriminalised in Britain\u2019s 1967 Sexual Offences Act, and although (after years of passionate campaigning) Turing was posthumously pardoned in 2013, his loss to suicide probably deprived the entire world of a generation of marvels…<\/p>\n

The major proportion of this tale concentrates on World War II and Turing\u2019s work as a cryptographer and inventor at British code-breaking centre Bletchley Park, where an insular young man struggled to convince his officious, unimaginative superiors to let him construct a mechanical brain to defeat the Wehrmacht\u2019s presumed-infallible Enigma machines. Turing\u2019s victories cemented his reputation and ensured that the battle against fascism was won…<\/p>\n

The key figures are all there: sometime fianc\u00e9e Joan Clark<\/em>, Professor<\/em> Max Newman<\/em>, and the weak, shady rent-boy who brought about Turing\u2019s eventual downfall and demise, fully complemented by less well known figures: the MI5 operative who was his constant shadow before and after the war, boyhood lost love Christopher Morcom<\/em> and so many other unsung heroes of the intelligence war…<\/p>\n

Played out against a backdrop of global conflict, Turing\u2019s intellectual obsession with Walt Disney\u2019s Snow White<\/strong> and a recurring motif of poisoned apples (the method by which the tormented soul ended his life) loom large in a story which reads like a movie in the making. Moreover, this powerful tale of an outsider\u2019s temporary triumphs and lasting impact is beautifully and compellingly rendered by true master of historical comics Eric Liberge (Monsieur Mardi-Gras Descendres<\/em><\/strong>, Le Dernier Marduk<\/em><\/strong>, Tonnerre Rampant<\/em><\/strong>, Les Corsaires d\u2019Alcibiade<\/em><\/strong>), affording proceedings an aura of unavoidable, impending destiny…<\/p>\n

Balancing out the tragedy of chances missed is an informative photo-illustrated essay on \u2018The Cryptography War\u2019<\/em> from historian, educator and government consultant Bruno Fuligni detailing the development and use of different kinds of cipher and codes; how Enigma changed the rules of the spying game and how Turing changed it all again…
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\nThis is an astoundingly effective and moving way to engage with a true story of incredible accomplishment, dedication and terrifying naivety, one that ends with horrific loss to us all and forever-unanswered sentiments of \u201cWhat If?\u201d and \u201cIf Only…\u201d
\nText \u00a9 \u00c9ditions des Ar\u00e8nes, Paris 2015. Translation \u00a9 2016 by David Homel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By \u00c9ric Liberge & Arnaud Delalande, translated by David Homel (Arsenal Pulp Press) ISBN: 978-1-55152-650-8 (HB\/Digital edition) After decades of cruel injustice and crushing, sidelining silence, British mathematician Alan Turing – one of the greatest intellects in humanity\u2019s history – is finally the household name and revered pioneer of science he always deserved to be. … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “The Case of Alan Turing”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[115,214,122,215],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biography","category-european","category-historical","category-lgbtqia"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7OY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30068"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30068\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30071,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30068\/revisions\/30071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}