Galician / Spain
Ninguén coma min. (Autobiografía dun tirano)
(No one like me. [Autobiography of a tyrant])
Chao, Ignacio
(text)
Sánchez, Eva
(illus.)
Pontevedra: Kalandraka, 2020. – [30] p.
(Series: MareMar)
ISBN 978-84-8464-834-5
Pig | Tyrant | Hubris | Imagination | Loneliness | Picture book
Reading age: 9+
White Ravens issue: 2021
The tone of this “autobiographical” text is bombastic and hymn-like: a single ode to oneself and one’s own greatness and specialness. Who’s talking? A pig without an inkling of self-doubt who, surrounded and courted by lackeys, is in love with himself, posing majestically as if in a painting. His ignorance and unerring narcissism recall certain notorious rulers of our day. On top of this, he is obviously a well-read pig, for the despotic boar Napoleon from Orwell’s “Animal Farm” surely serves him as prime role model. The illustrations in this unusual, bewildering picture book are splendid studies of the protagonists’ character, feelings and moods. Over and above the difficult-to-stomach hubris lies a shroud that turns the colours milky-white. In the end, that shroud is lifted to reveal a surprising twist: The supposed tyrant is in reality a lonely, day-dreaming pig – the boar Khanzir, who lived in the Kabul Zoo for a few years and achieved sad international notoriety as the single representative of his species in Afghanistan. [JW]