Preface to Version 2

Thanks, first of all, to Ron for creating such a fine piece of work. Any fan of Asterix (or any other work by Goscinny and / or Uderzo) will know that there is a lot of hidden and subtle humor in these works. This kind of humor makes the books enjoyable for different reasons at different points in life.

I have been reading Asterix for the past 15 years and have found that each reading of an Asterix book reveals some hidden humor - perhaps the expression on the face of the boars in the forest or the curses of the chariot drivers in Lutetia or the subtle word play of the translators - that I had previously been unaware of. When I was in high school my friends and I used to routinely exchange information about such hidden humor. When I discovered Ron Dippold's fine work it was somewhat like finding something that one has always been looking for.

One might argue that Goscinny and Uderzo (and the translators) had originally placed these nuggets in the books so that people could discover them over a period of time. One might add that publishing a collection of the nuggets would destroy the feeling of discovery that one has when one finds out a hidden nugget. My response to this argument is that whenever I discover some such hidden nugget my immediate thought usually is 'I have to share this with somebody!' followed by 'Why didn't someone share this with me?!' IMO, the Asterix Annotations will help one enjoy these fine works of art better.

Sudhakar Thaths Chandrasekharan