The Alice tales are among the most famous books written in English: in terms of citations, they are second only to the Bible and Shakespeare's plays. Time passes, the era described by Carroll goes deeper and deeper into the past, but interest in “Alice” does not decrease, but, on the contrary, grows. What is "Alice in Wonderland"? A fairy tale for children, a collection of logical paradoxes for adults, an allegory of English history or theological disputes? The more time passes, the more incredible interpretations these texts acquire.
Who is Lewis Carroll
Self-portrait of Charles Dodgson. Around 1872Carroll's writing life is the story of a man who got into literature by accident. Charles Dodgson (that was the real name of the author of Alice) grew up among numerous sisters and brothers: he was the third of 11 children. The younger ones had to be kept busy, and Charles had a natural gift for inventing a wide variety of games. The puppet theater he made at the age of 11 has survived, and in the family papers one can find stories, fairy tales and poetic parodies that he composed at the age of 12 and 13. As a youth, Dodgson loved to invent words and word games; years later he would write a weekly games column for Vanity Fair. Words galumph According to the definition of the Oxford English Dictionary, the verb to galumph was previously interpreted as “to move in erratic leaps”, and in modern language it has come to mean a noisy and clumsy movement. And chortle To chortle - “to laugh loudly and joyfully.”, invented by him for the poem “Jabberwocky”, are included in English dictionaries.
Dodgson was a paradoxical and mysterious person. On the one hand, a shy, pedantic, stuttering mathematics teacher at Oxford's Christ Church College and researcher of Euclidean geometry and symbolic logic, a prim gentleman and clergyman Dodgson accepted the rank of deacon, but did not dare to become a priest, as was customary for members of the college.; on the other hand, a man who kept company with all the famous writers, poets and artists of his time, an author of romantic poems, a lover of theater and society - including children's. He could tell stories to children; its many child-friends Carroll's definition of the children with whom he was friends and corresponded. they recalled that he was always ready to unfold before them some plot stored in his memory, providing it with new details and changing the action. The fact that one of these stories (an improvisational tale told on July 4, 1862), unlike many others, was written down and then published is an amazing coincidence of circumstances.
How did the fairy tale about Alice come about?
Alice Liddell. Photo by Lewis Carroll. Summer 1858 National Media Museum
Alice Liddell. Photo by Lewis Carroll. May-June 1860 The Morgan Library & Museum
In the summer of 1862, Charles Dodgson told Rector Liddell's daughters Henry Liddell is known not only as Alice's father: together with Robert Scott, he compiled the famous dictionary of the ancient Greek language - the so-called “Liddell-Scott”. Classical philologists around the world still use it today. fairy tale-improvisation. The girls persistently asked to record it. In the winter of the following year, Dodgson completed a manuscript entitled "Alice's Adventures Underground" and gave it to one of the Liddell sisters, Alice. Other readers of the Adventures included the children of the writer George MacDonald, whom Dodgeson met while being treated for a stutter. Macdonald convinced him to think about publication, Dodgson seriously revised the text, and in December 1865 The publisher dated the circulation to 1866."Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" was published, signed by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. "Alice" unexpectedly received incredible success, and in 1867 its author began work on a sequel. In December 1871, the book Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Seeed There was published.
The British Library
A page from Lewis Carroll's handwritten book Alice's Adventures Underground. 1862–1864 The British Library
A page from Lewis Carroll's handwritten book Alice's Adventures Underground. 1862–1864 The British Library
A page from Lewis Carroll's handwritten book Alice's Adventures Underground. 1862–1864 The British Library
A page from Lewis Carroll's handwritten book Alice's Adventures Underground. 1862–1864 The British Library
A page from Lewis Carroll's handwritten book Alice's Adventures Underground. 1862–1864 The British Library
In 1928, Alice Hargreaves, née Liddell, finding herself strapped for cash after the death of her husband, put the manuscript up for auction at Sotheby’s and sold it for an incredible £15,400 at the time. After 20 years, the manuscript again went to auction, where for 100 thousand dollars, on the initiative of the head of the US Library of Congress, it was bought by a group of American philanthropists to donate it to the British Museum - as a token of gratitude to the British to the people who held Hitler back while the US prepared for war. Later, the manuscript was transferred to the British Library, on whose website anyone can now look through it.
Alice Hargreaves (Liddell). New York, 1932 The Granger Collection / Libertad Digital To date, more than a hundred English editions of “Alice” have been published, it has been translated into 174 languages, dozens of film adaptations and thousands of theatrical productions have been created based on the fairy tales.---
What is "Alice in Wonderland"
Illustration by John Tenniel for Alice in Wonderland. London, 1867Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library
Library of Congress
Lewis Carroll with the family of writer George MacDonald. 1863 George MacDonald Society
Illustration by John Tenniel for Alice in Wonderland. London, 1867Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library
To truly understand Alice in Wonderland, it is important to keep in mind that this book was born by accident. The author moved where his imagination led him, without wanting to tell the reader anything and without implying any clues. Perhaps this is why the text has become an ideal field for searching for meaning. This is not a complete list of interpretations of books about Alice proposed by readers and researchers.
History of England
The baby duke turning into a pig is Richard III, whose coat of arms featured a white boar, and the Queen's demand to repaint the white roses red is, of course, a reference to the confrontation between the Scarlet and White Roses - Lancasters and Yorks. According to another version, the book depicts the court of Queen Victoria: according to legend, the queen herself wrote “Alice”, and then asked an unknown Oxford professor to sign the fairy tales with her name.
History of the Oxford Movement Oxford movement- a movement to bring Anglican worship and dogma closer to the Catholic tradition, which developed in Oxford in the 1830s and 40s.
The high and low doors that Alice, changing her height, is trying to enter are the High and Low Churches (gravitating, respectively, to the Catholic and Protestant traditions) and the believer oscillating between these movements. Dinah the cat and the Scotch terrier, the mention of which the Mouse (a simple parishioner) is so afraid of, are Catholicism and Presbyterianism, the White and Black Queens are Cardinals Newman and Manning, and the Jabberwocky is the papacy.
Chess problem
To solve it, you need to use, unlike ordinary problems, not only chess technique, but also “chess morality,” which leads the reader to broad moral and ethical generalizations.
Encyclopedia of psychosis and sexuality
In the 1920s-50s, psychoanalytic interpretations of “Alice” became especially popular, and attempts were made to present Carroll’s friendship with children as evidence of his unnatural inclinations.
Encyclopedia of "substance" use
In the 1960s, in the wake of interest in various ways of “expanding consciousness”, in fairy tales about Alice, who is constantly changing, drinking from bottles and biting off mushrooms, and conducting philosophical conversations with the Caterpillar, smoking a huge pipe, they began to see an encyclopedia use of "substances". The manifesto of this tradition is the song written in 1967 “ White Rabbit» Jefferson Airplane:
One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all “One pill and you grow, // Another and you shrink. // And the ones your mother gives you // Are of no use.”.
Where did it come from?
Carroll's fantasy is surprising in that there is nothing fictitious in “Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass.” Carroll's method resembles an applique: elements of real life are intricately mixed together, so in the heroes of the fairy tale, its first listeners easily guessed themselves, the narrator, mutual acquaintances, familiar places and situations.
July 4, 1862
“Golden July Afternoon” from the poetic dedication that precedes the text of the book is a very specific Friday, July 4, 1862. According to W. Hugh Auden, the day is “as memorable in the history of literature as in the history of the American state.” It was on the 4th of July that Charles Dodgson, as well as his friend, a teacher at Trinity College And later - tutor to Prince Leopold and canon of Westminster Abbey. Robinson Duckworth and the three rector's daughters - 13-year-old Lorina Charlotte, 10-year-old Alice Pleasence and eight-year-old Edith Mary - went on a boat trip on the Isis (that's the name of the Thames that flows through Oxford).
Page from Lewis Carroll's diary dated July 4, 1862 (right) with an addition dated February 10, 1863 (left)“Atkinson brought his friends, Mrs. and Miss Peters, to me. I took pictures of them, and then they looked at my album and stayed for breakfast. They then went to the museum, and Duckworth and I, taking the three Liddell girls with us, went for a walk up the river to Godstow; drank tea on the shore and returned to Christ Church only at a quarter to eight. They came to me to show the girls my collection of photographs, and delivered them home at about nine o’clock” (translated by Nina Demurova). Addition: “On this occasion, I told them the fairy tale “Alice’s Adventures Underground,” which I began to write down for Alice and which is now completed (as far as the text is concerned), although the drawings are not yet even partially ready.” The British Library Strictly speaking, this was already the second attempt to go on a summer river walk. On the seventeenth of June the same party, as well as Dodgson's two sisters and aunt, boarded the boat, but soon it began to rain, and the strollers had to change their plans This episode formed the basis for the chapters "Sea of Tears" and "Running in Circles.". But on the 4th of July the weather was fine, and the company had a picnic at Godstow, near the ruins of the ancient abbey. It was there that Dodgson told the Liddell girls the first version of the fairy tale about Alice. It was impromptu: to a friend’s perplexed questions about where he heard this fairy tale, the author answered that he was “making it up on the fly.” The walks continued until mid-August, and the girls asked to talk further and further.
Alice, Dodo, Ed the Eaglet, Black Queen and others
Liddell sisters. Photo by Lewis Carroll. Summer 1858 The Metropolitan Museum of Art The prototype of the main character was the middle sister, Alice, Dodgeson's favorite. Lorina became the prototype of Laurie the parrot, and Edith became the prototype of Ed the Eaglet. There is also a reference to the Liddell sisters in the chapter “Mad Tea Party”: the “jelly young ladies” from Sonya’s story are called Elsie, Lacey and Tilly. “Elsie” is a reproduction of the initials of Lorina Charlotte (L.C., that is, Lorina Charlotte); "Til-lee" is short for Matilda, Edith's pet name, and "Lacie" is an anagram of Alice. Dodgson himself is a Dodo. When introducing himself, he pronounced his last name with a characteristic stutter: “Do-do-dodgson.” Duckworth was depicted as the Drake (Robin Goose, translated by Nina Demurova), and Miss Prickett, the governess of the Liddell sisters (they called her Pricks), became the prototype of the Mouse and the Black Queen.
A door, a garden of amazing beauty and a crazy tea party
Rector's garden. Photo by Lewis Carroll. 1856–1857Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin
Gate in the rector's garden todayPhoto by Nikolay Epple
"Cat tree" in the rector's garden todayPhoto by Nikolay Epple
View of the Provost's Garden from Dodgson's office in the library todayPhoto by Nikolay Epple
Fridesvida's well todayPhoto by Nikolay Epple
Looking through the door, Alice sees a “garden of amazing beauty” - this is the door leading from the garden of the rector’s house to the garden at the cathedral (children were forbidden to enter the church garden, and they could only see it through the gate). Here Dodgson and the girls played croquet, and cats sat on a spreading tree growing in the garden. The current residents of the rector's house believe that the Cheshire Cat was among them.
Even the mad tea party, for whose participants it is always six o'clock and time to drink tea, has a real prototype: whenever the Liddell sisters came to Dodgson, he always had tea ready for them. The “molasses well” from the fairy tale that Sonya tells during tea party turns into “kisel”, and the sisters living at the bottom become “jelly ladies”. This is a healing spring in the town of Binzi, which was located on the road from Oxford to Godstow.
The first version of “Alice in Wonderland” was precisely a collection of such references, while nonsense and word games of the well-known “Alice” appeared only when the fairy tale was revised for publication.
Chess, talking flowers and Through the Looking Glass
Illustration by John Tenniel for “Alice Through the Looking Glass.” Chicago, 1900 Library of Congress "Alice Through the Looking Glass" also contains a huge number of references to real people and situations. Dodgson loved to play chess with the Liddell sisters - hence the chess basis of the tale. Snowflake was the name of the kitten of Mary MacDonald, daughter of George MacDonald, and Dodgson bred his eldest daughter Lily as a white pawn. Rose and violet from the chapter “The Garden Where the Flowers Spoke” - Liddell's younger sisters Rhoda and Violet Violet (English) - violet.. The garden itself and the subsequent running in place were obviously inspired by the author's walk with Alice and Miss Prickett on April 4, 1863. Carroll came to visit the children who were staying with their grandparents in Charlton Kings (in their house there was the very mirror through which Alice passes). The episode with the train journey (chapter “Through the Looking Glass Insects”) is an echo of the journey back to Oxford on April 16, 1863. It was perhaps during this trip that Dodgson came up with the topography of Through the Looking Glass: the railway line between Gloucester and Didcot crosses six streams - very similar to the six horizontal streams that Alice the pawn crosses in Through the Looking Glass to become queen.
What does the book consist of?
Words, proverbs, folk poems and songs
Illustration by John Tenniel for Alice in Wonderland. London, 1867 Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library The elements of reality that make up the surreal world of Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are not limited to people, places and situations. To a much greater extent, this world is created from the elements of language. However, these layers are closely intertwined. For example, for the role of the prototype of the Hatter Translated by Demurova - Hatter. at least two real people are contenders: Oxford inventor and businessman Theophilus Carter It is believed that John Tenniel, who illustrated Alice, came to Oxford specifically to make sketches from it. and Roger Crab, a hatmaker who lived in the 17th century. But first of all, this character owes its origin to language. The Hatter is a visualization of the English proverb “Mad as a hatter.” In 19th-century England, mercury was used in the production of felt, which was used to make hats. Hatters inhaled its fumes, and symptoms of mercury poisoning include slurred speech, memory loss, tics and distorted vision.
The character created from a linguistic image is a very characteristic technique for Carroll. The March Hare is also from the saying: “Mad as a March hare” translated means “Mad as a March Hare”: in England it is believed that hares go crazy during the breeding season, that is, from February to September.
The Cheshire Cat came from the expression “To grin like a Cheshire cat” "Grinr like the Cheshire Cat.". The origin of this phrase is not entirely obvious. Perhaps it arose because there were many dairy farms in Cheshire and cats felt especially at ease there, or because on these farms they made cheese in the shape of cats with smiling faces (and they were supposed to be eaten from the tail, so the latter is what what was left of them was a muzzle without a body). Or because a local artist painted lions with gaping mouths over the entrances to pubs, but what he ended up with were smiling cats. Alice’s remark “It’s not forbidden to look at kings” in response to the King’s dissatisfaction with the gaze of the Cheshire Cat is also a reference to the old proverb “A cat may look at a king,” meaning that even those at the very bottom have a hierarchical There are rights to the staircase.
Illustration by John Tenniel for Alice in Wonderland. London, 1867 Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library But this technique is best seen in the example of the Quasi Turtle, whom Alice meets in the ninth chapter. In the original, her name is Mock Turtle. And in response to Alice’s perplexed question about what she is, the Queen tells her: “It’s the thing Mock Turtle Soup is made from” - that is, what “like turtle soup” is made from. Mock turtle soup is an imitation of the traditional gourmet green turtle soup made from veal. That is why in Tenniel's illustration the Mock Turtle is a creature with the head of a calf, hind hooves and a calf's tail.. This kind of wordplay-based character creation is very typical of Carroll. In the original edition of Nina Demurova’s translation, Mock Turtle is called Pod-Kotik, that is, a creature from whose skin fur coats “like a cat” are made..
Carroll's language also controls the development of the plot. So, the Jack of Diamonds steals pretzels, for which he is tried in the 11th and 12th chapters of Wonderland. This is a “dramatization” of the English folk song “The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts...” (“King of Hearts, wishing for pretzels...”). Episodes about Humpty Dumpty, the Lion and the Unicorn also grew from folk songs.
Tennyson, Shakespeare and English folk poetry
Illustration by John Tenniel for Alice in Wonderland. London, 1867 Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library In Carroll's books you can find many references to literary works. The most obvious are outright parodies, primarily alterations of well-known poems, mainly moralizing ones (“Papa William,” “Little Crocodile,” “Evening Food,” and so on). Parodies are not limited to poetry: Carroll ironically plays on passages from textbooks (in the chapter “Running in a Circle”) and even poems by poets whom he had great respect for (the episode at the beginning of the chapter “The Garden Where the Flowers Spoke” plays on lines from Tennyson's poem "Maud"). Fairy tales about Alice are so filled with literary reminiscences, quotes and half-quotes that just listing them would fill weighty volumes. Among the authors cited by Carroll are Virgil, Dante, Milton, Gray, Coleridge, Scott, Keats, Dickens, MacDonald and many others. Shakespeare is quoted especially often in Alice: for example, the line “Off with his (her) head,” which the Queen constantly repeats, is a direct quote from Richard III.
How logic and mathematics influenced Alice
Illustration by John Tenniel for Alice in Wonderland. London, 1867 Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library Charles Dodgson's specialties were Euclidean geometry, calculus and mathematical logic. In addition, he was interested in photography, the invention of logic and mathematical games and puzzles. This logician and mathematician becomes one of the creators of nonsense literature, in which the absurd is a strict system.
An example of nonsense is the Hatter's watch, which shows not the hour, but the number. This seems strange to Alice - after all, there is no point in a clock that does not show time. But they have no meaning in her coordinate system, whereas in the world of the Hat-no-Kay, in which it is always six o’clock and time for tea, the meaning of the clock is precisely to indicate the day. Within each of the worlds, the logic is not broken - it goes astray when they meet. In the same way, the idea of lubricating a watch with butter is not nonsense, but an understandable failure of logic: both the mechanism and the bread are supposed to be lubricated with something, the main thing is not to confuse what exactly.
Inversion is another feature of Carroll's writing method. In the graphical multiplication method he invented, the multiplier was written backwards and above the multiplicand. According to Dodgson, “The Hunting of the Snark” was written backwards: first the last line, then the last stanza, and then everything else. The game “Duplets” he invented consisted of rearranging the letters in a word. His pseudonym Lewis Carroll is also an inversion: at first he translated his full name - Charles Lutwidge - into Latin, it turned out Carolus Ludovicus. And then back to English - the names swapped places.
Illustration by John Tenniel for “Alice Through the Looking Glass.” Chicago, 1900 Library of Congress Inversion in “Alice” occurs at a variety of levels - from the plot (at the trial of the Knave, the Queen demands first to pronounce a verdict, and then establish the guilt of the defendant) to structural (meeting Alice, the Unicorn says that he has always considered children to be fairy-tale creatures). The principle of mirror reflection, to which the logic of the existence of the Looking Glass is subordinated, is also a type of inversion (and the “reflected” arrangement of the pieces on the chess board makes the chess game an ideal continuation of the theme of the card game from the first book). To quench your thirst, here you need to try dry cookies; to stand still, you need to run; The finger first bleeds, and only then is it pricked with a pin.
Who created the first illustrations for Alice?
Sir John Tenniel. 1860s National Portrait Gallery One of the most important components of the fairy tales about Alice is the illustrations with which the first readers saw her and which are not in most reprints. We are talking about the illustrations of John Tenniel (1820-1914), which are no less important than the real prototypes of the characters and situations described in the book.
At first, Carroll was going to publish a book with his own illustrations and even transferred some of the drawings onto boxwood tablets, which were used by printers to make engravings. But friends from the prerafa-elite circle convinced him to invite a professional illustrator. Carroll chose the most famous and sought-after: Tenniel was then the chief illustrator of the influential satirical magazine Punch and one of the busiest artists.
Work on the illustrations under Carroll’s meticulous and often intrusive control (70% of the illustrations are based on the author’s drawings) delayed the release of the book for a long time. Tenniel was dissatisfied with the quality of the print run, so Carroll demanded that the publishers withdraw it from sale. Interestingly, it is now the one that is most valued by collectors. and print a new one. And yet, in preparation for the publication of Alice Through the Looking Glass, Carroll again invited Tenniel. At first he flatly refused (working with Carroll required too much effort and time), but the author was persistent and eventually persuaded the artist to take up the work.
Illustration by John Tenniel for “Alice Through the Looking Glass.” Chicago, 1900 Library of Congress Tenniel's illustrations are not an addition to the text, but his full partner, and that is why Carroll was so demanding of them. Even at the level of the plot, much can be understood only thanks to illustrations - for example, that the Royal Messenger from the fifth and seventh chapters of Through the Looking Glass is the Hat from Wonderland. Some Oxford realities began to be associated with “Alice” due to the fact that they served as prototypes not for Carroll, but for Tenniel: for example, the drawing from the chapter “Water and Knitting” depicts a “sheep” store at 83 St. Aldates. Today it is a gift shop dedicated to the books of Lewis Carroll.
Illustration by John Tenniel for “Alice Through the Looking Glass.” Chicago, 1900 Library of Congress Where is the moral
One of the reasons for the success of “Alice” is the lack of moralizing, which was usual for children’s books of that time. Edifying children's stories were the mainstream of children's literature at the time (they were published in huge quantities in publications like Aunt Judy's Magazine). Fairy tales about Alice stand out from this series: their heroine behaves naturally, like a living child, and not a model of virtue. She gets confused with dates and words, and has trouble remembering textbook verses and historical examples. And Carroll’s parodic approach itself, which makes textbook poems the subject of frivolous play, is not very conducive to moralizing. Moreover, moralizing and edification in “Alice” are a direct object of ridicule: just remember the absurd remarks of the Duchess (“And the morality from here is…”) and the bloodthirstiness of the Black Queen, whose image Carroll himself called “the quintessence of all governesses." The success of "Alice" showed that it was precisely this kind of children's literature that was most lacking, both for children and adults.
Illustration by John Tenniel for Alice in Wonderland. London, 1867 Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library Carroll's further literary fate confirmed the uniqueness of "Alice" as the result of an incredible coincidence of circumstances. Few people know that, in addition to Alice in Wonderland, he wrote Sylvia and Bruno, an edifying novel about a magical land that consciously (but completely unsuccessfully) develops the themes present in Alice. In total, Carroll worked on this novel for 20 years and considered it his life’s work.
How to translate "Alice"
The main character of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Alice in Wonderland" is language, which makes the translation of these books incredibly difficult, and sometimes impossible. Here is just one of the many examples of the untranslatability of “Alice”: the jam, which, according to the Queen’s “firm rule”, the maid receives only “for tomorrow”, in the Russian translation is nothing more than another case of strange looking-glass logic “I would take you [as a maid] with pleasure,” responded the Queen. - Two
pennies a week and jam for tomorrow!
Alice laughed.
“No, I won’t become a maid,” she said. - Besides, I don’t like jam!
“The jam is excellent,” insisted the Queen.
- Thank you, but today I really don’t feel like it!
“You still wouldn’t get it today, even if you really wanted it,” answered the Queen. “I have a firm rule: jam for tomorrow!” And only for tomorrow!
- But tomorrow will someday be today!
- No never! Tomorrow never happens today! Is it really possible to wake up in the morning and say: “Well, now, finally, tomorrow?”” (translated by Nina Demurova).. But in the original, the phrase “The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday - but never jam to-day” is not just strange. As is usually the case with Carroll, this strangeness has a system that is built from elements of reality. The word jam, which in English means “jam,” is used in Latin to convey the meaning of “now,” “now,” but only in the past and future tenses. In the present tense, the word nunc is used for this. The phrase Carroll put into the Queen’s mouth was used in Latin lessons as a mnemonic rule. Thus, “jam for tomorrow” is not only a looking-glass oddity, but also an elegant game of language and another example of Carroll’s play on school routine.-
“Alice in Wonderland” cannot be translated, but it can be recreated in the material of another language. It is precisely these translations of Carroll that turn out to be successful. This happened with the Russian translation made by Nina Mikhailovna Demurova. The edition of “Alice” prepared by Demurova in the series “Literary Monuments” (1979) is an example of book publishing, combining the talent and deepest competence of the editor-translator with the best traditions of Soviet academic science. In addition to the translation, the publication includes a classic commentary by Martin Gardner from his “Annotated Alice” (in turn, annotated for the Russian reader), articles on Carroll by Gilbert Chesterton, Virginia Woolf, Walter de la Mare and other materials - and, of course , reproduces Tenniel's illustrations.
Lewis Carroll. "Alice in Wonderland. Alice in the Wonderland". Moscow, 1978 litpamyatniki.ru Demurova not only translated Alice, but performed a miracle, making this book a treasure of Russian-speaking culture. There is quite a lot of evidence of this; one of the most eloquent - made by Oleg Gerasimov based on this translation musical performance, which was released on records from the Me-lo-Diya studio in 1976. The songs for the play were written by Vladimir Vysotsky - and the release of the records became his first official publication in the USSR as a poet and composer. The performance turned out to be so lively that listeners found political overtones in it (“There is a lot that is unclear in a strange country”, “No, no, the people do not have a difficult role: // Falling to your knees - what’s the problem?”), and the artistic council even tried prohibit the release of records. But the records were still released and re-released until the 1990s in millions of copies.
"Alice in Wonderland" LP sleeve. Recording company "Melody", 1976 izbrannoe.com 72 67 14
The main character of the story. In the books, her name is Alice Liddell and she is about nine years old, Alice appears as a schoolgirl with a whimsically logical mind, whose straight hair is “always in your eyes”, she is gentle, courteous, trusting and inquisitive.
Bumalic Hightopp
0 0 0
Sister of Terrant (Mad Hatter). Daughter of Tyva and Zanik.
Jabberwocky
8 2 1
In the book it is nothing more than a poem, but what a poem! The Jabberwocky is probably the most famous attempt to introduce non-existent words into the language, which nevertheless obey all the laws of the language. The first quatrain consists almost entirely of non-existent words, with the exception of service words.
In Tim Burton's film, this is a ferocious Dragon who is at the mercy of the Red Queen. A disgusting, slobbering, foul-smelling creature with a huge, scruffy body and a toothy, bulldog-like snout. The blow of his strong paws leaves Alice with rather painful memories of the regime of the Red Queen.
6 0 0
A hound, an unwitting accomplice of the Red Queen's army, he fears that his wife and pups are in danger because they are in prison, and follows the Knave of Hearts' every command. The Dog supports an underground group that is trying to resist the Red Queen and therefore becomes Alice's ally
Mad Hatter
195 48 7
Hat maker, one of the participants in the Mad Tea Party. In the words of the Cheshire Cat, Hatter is “out of his mind.”
In the Tim Burton film his name is Terrant Hightopp.
The White Queen
1 1 1
One of the chess Queens who are going to examine Alice in order for her to become a Queen. In one of the scenes, the White Queen tells Alice about how you can live backwards and remember the future. The White Queen's shawl flies away, and in pursuit of it, she and Alice cross a stream and turn into a Sheep sitting knitting.
White Rabbit
10 14 8
A talking animal with pink eyes, dressed in a vest and kid gloves. He carries a watch in his pocket and lives in a “clean house” with the inscription: “B. Rabbit". The rabbit is always late for something, and is always a kind of guide for Alice, helping her fall into Wonderland.
In Tim Burton's film, he still worries all the time that he might be late, he is constantly in a hurry to get somewhere. He must find Alice and bring her to Down Under so that she can fulfill her destiny - this is why the rabbit shows up at the garden party, where Alice notices him, and leads her to the rabbit hole. The rabbit is sometimes extremely irritable and strict with Alice. It feels like Time is very important to him and it makes him nervous and catch up.
White Knight
2 2 0
When the Black Officer tried to capture the pawn Alice, the White Officer saved her and escorted her to the next square.
The White King
0 0 2
Alice first meets him in the first chapter of "Through the Looking Glass House". She then meets him in chapter seven, "The Lion and the Unicorn". He believes that when you feel sick, you should eat splinters. Has two messengers “one runs there, the other from there.” He loves accuracy (he specifies the number of troops sent) and writes everything down in a book. The king is amazed that Alice sees Nobody and asks to sit down “for a minute.” Has a daughter Lily
Bim Hightopp
0 0 0
Brother of Terrant (Mad Hatter). Son of Tyva and Zanik.
0 1 0
Royal Messenger Back (The King explains that he needs two messengers, since "one runs there, and the other from there"). In Through the Looking Glass, he is essentially a Wonderland character, namely the Hatter. Tenniel's illustration shows Chick sipping tea from a cup in the same way as the Hatter did in the first story, confirming the author's references to this character
3 0 0
A huge monster that serves the Red Queen and guards the Sharp Sword, which can be used to kill the Jabberwocky
Knave of Hearts (Ilosovic_Stayne)
14 9 4
He first appears in Chapter Eight, "Royal Croquet", where he carries the crown. Shown as a kind character. Knave then appears in the chapter "Who Stole the Pretzels?", where he is the main suspect.
In Tim Burton's film, Knave gets a new name - Ilosovich Stein. He is the Queen's lover and head of her guard.
8 2 0
Guardian of the chronosphere. He not only closely monitors all the inhabitants of the country, but also decides who is about to expire. He hangs a closed clock depicting the lifetime of each inhabitant in the hall of the "Late Citizens of the Underdark".
0 1 0
First mentioned in the second chapter by Rabbit. In chapter six, she rocks a baby, which she later hands over to Alice. Her cook, having prepared the soup, begins to throw everything she can get her hands on at the Duchess. While playing croquet, Alice learns from the Rabbit that the Queen has sentenced the Duchess to death for slapping her. Subsequently, the Queen relented and did not demand that the sentence be carried out. The character has a sharp chin, and Alice herself considers her “very ugly”
1 0 0
A mythical creature with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion. During conversations, he periodically coughs. Griffin, by his own admission, received a “classical education” - he played hopscotch with his teacher all day long
Caterpillar
20 10 5
The insect is blue in color and three inches tall. He sits on a porcini mushroom and smokes a hookah.
In Tim Burton's film, the caterpillar is given the name Absolem, and he is the all-knowing guardian of the Oracle, an ancient sacred document that reflects all the major events of the past, present and future of Nizhnekray history.
James Harcourt
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Hamish Ascot's employee.
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In the book, this is a bird that Alice discovers on the shore next to the Sea of Tears. Ed the Eaglet notes that Dodo speaks “not like a human being”: his speech is overloaded with scientific terms.
In Tim Burton's film, he is one of the first inhabitants of the Lower Land, whom Alice meets when she finds herself in a fantasy world.
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In the arrangement of the pieces before the start of the game, the Unicorn is classified as a white piece, and the Lion is classified as a black piece. The Lion and the Unicorn, according to the King's first statement, are fighting for his own crown. Lion and Unicorn are quite cute animals. The Unicorn tries to make friends with Alice, and the Lion offers to eat pie in honor of friendship. This is where some complications arise. Looking-glass pies must first be distributed and then cut. Alice tried to do everything normally. Suddenly, a drum roll is heard, and Alice finds herself in the forest.
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Royal Messenger There (The King explains that he needs two messengers, since "one runs there, and the other from there"). In Through the Looking Glass, he is essentially a character from Wonderland, namely the March Hare
Zanik Hightopp
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Father of the Mad Hatter. Featured in the film "Alice Through the Looking Glass". He quarreled with his son, pointedly threw away his first hat, but in fact kept it.
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Alice's Raving Aunt
Iracebeth of Crims
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The reigning Queen of a magical land, the elder sister of the White Queen, popularly nicknamed the "Bloody Witch". A tyrant who rules the country of Nizhnekry. She is helped to rule the country by her exorbitant head, fiery temperament, and habit of shouting orders for her subjects to have their heads cut off. In the struggle for power, she killed many civilians with the help of her "Jabberwocky Bunny". Loses his temper at the slightest provocation or even without it. Her younger sister, the White Queen, plans to take away her throne and crown, which the Red Queen once stole from her by deception.
Queen Elsemere
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Mother of Iracebeta and Mirana
King Oleron
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Father of Iracebeta and Mirana.
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In the arrangement of the pieces before the start of the game, the Unicorn is classified as a white piece, and the Lion is classified as a black piece. The Lion and the Unicorn, according to the King's first statement, are fighting for his own crown. Lion and Unicorn are quite cute animals. The Unicorn tries to make friends with Alice, and the Lion offers to eat pie in honor of friendship. This is where some complications arise. Looking-glass pies must first be distributed and then cut. Alice tried to do everything normally. Suddenly, a drum roll is heard, and Alice finds herself in the forest. Leo can also be seen in the crowd near the carpet
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Lord Ascot's wife
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Business partner of Alice's father and new owner of Kingsley's trading firm
Lowell Manchester
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Unfaithful husband of Margaret Manchester, Alice's sister.
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Alice's older sister, correct in everything and what a real English lady should be
March Hare
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The crazy hare that Alice meets at the Mad Tea Party. He offers the little girl a drink of wine and believes that you should always say what you think. The character was also present at the trial of the Knave of Hearts, where he denied everything. The appearance of the character was influenced by a saying popular in Carroll's time - “Mad as a March hare”.
In the Tim Burton film, the March Hare invites the Mad Hatter to a tea party at his hare house. The hare looks like a paranoid person, he is constantly in a state of anxiety, he is a little crazy, he has the habit of shaking his paws and ears all the time, and also throwing teapots, spoons and other things. He loves to cook and is the only resident of the Lower Region whom the Red Queen has not reached.
Mirana of Marmoreal
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The Red Queen's younger sister, and although she looks white and fluffy, in reality her character is not so flexible. She came from the same place as the Red Queen. She likes the dark side, but is so afraid of going too far that she tends to show everyone only her bright side. When Alice returns to Down Under, the White Queen takes her under her wing, offering her protection, but her motives are not nearly as altruistic as they seem.
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A strange creature from the poem: “It was barking. Squishy little shorts were darting across the nave.
And the Zelyuks grunted like mumziks in a movie."
The Sheep
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The White Queen tells Alice about how you can live backwards and remember the future. The White Queen's shawl flies away, and in pursuit of it, she and Alice cross the stream. The White Queen turns into an old sheep, sitting knitting behind the counter of a shop where “various curiosities” are sold [note 3]. Alice is trying to buy something, but as soon as she approaches one or another shelf, the shelf immediately becomes empty, although the neighboring shelves remain full. The Sheep gives Alice the knitting needles, which turn into oars, and Alice discovers that she and the Sheep are floating in a boat on the river. Soon Alice and the Sheep find themselves in the shop again, and Alice buys one egg, which in the Sheep's shop costs more than two eggs. Alice tries to take the egg she bought from the shelf, crosses the stream, and the egg turns into Humpty Dumpty sitting on the wall
Paloo Hightopp
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Younger sister of Terrant (Mad Hatter). Daughter of Zanik and Tyva.
The life of a modern person is such that he is constantly running somewhere, worrying about something and wanting to do something as quickly as possible. But he completely forgets about miracles. But there are people who notice them, love them, and they certainly happen to them! The girl Alice is a living example of this.
There is probably no other kinder, more fascinating and instructive story than Alice in Wonderland. Let's tell you how a curious girl became convinced that Wonderland existed, and heroically helped its good inhabitants defeat the evil Queen.
We will tell a short plot of the fairy tale "Alice in Wonderland". The characters will also not be left out of attention.
Lewis Carroll - the one who invented Wonderland
A mathematician and a man with a unique imagination is the Englishman Lewis Carroll. "Alice in Wonderland" is not his only work. Soon he wrote a continuation of the adventures - “Alice Through the Looking Glass”.
“The Logic Game” and “Mathematical Curiosities” are Carroll’s books generated by his second calling - the profession of a mathematician.
Was Alice a real girl?
It is known that the fairy-tale Alice had a prototype in real life. She was quite a pretty and funny girl, and her name was the same as the main character.
It was Alice Liddell, the daughter of one of Carroll's friends, who gave the writer the idea for his main work. The girl was so sweet and capable that Carroll decided to make her the heroine of a fairy tale.
Alice Liddell lived a happy and long life: she gave birth to three sons and died at the age of 82.
In general, Lewis Carroll was distinguished by his funny attitude towards women: he called (considered) them girls until he was 30 years old. However, there is some truth in his words... Scientists have long noticed that there is a category of girls that matures very slowly (at 25, such people look 16 years old).
The plot of the fairy tale. How did the main character get to Wonderland?
Alice was sitting with her sister on the bank of the river. She was bored, frankly speaking. But then a cheerful rabbit ran nearby with a clock in its paws.
The curious girl ran after him... The rabbit was not at all simple - he carried her into the hole, which turned out to be quite deep - Alice flew for too long. She landed in a hall with many locked doors.
Alice was faced with the task of getting out of the room. She dares to eat height-altering items. First Alice turns into a giant, then into a little one.
And finally, almost drowning in her own tears (the author very epically shows the absurdity of a woman’s cry), she climbs out through a small door. A bottomless Wonderland stretches out before Alice...
The Mad Tea Party and the finale
Next, the girl meets interesting characters with whom she has to have tea. On the way, Alice sees the Caterpillar. She advises her to eat mushrooms in order to regain her normal height. Alice follows her advice (even this can’t be done in a dream): after various metamorphoses, normal growth returns to the girl.
During the Mad Tea Party, Alice learns about the evil Queen she must defeat. This happens to the accompaniment of the Hatter's arguments about the nature of time.
Characters from the book "Alice in Wonderland"
Many interesting creatures inhabited Wonderland, let's give a brief description of them:
- The non-growing girl Alice - a separate chapter of our article is dedicated to her.
- The Mad Hatter is one of the participants in the Mad Tea Party and Alice's friend.
- The Cheshire Cat is a magical animal with a charming smile.
- Queen of Hearts - obviously
- The White Rabbit is a positive hero who gave news to Alice about the misfortune that happened in Wonderland.
- The March Hare is a participant in the Mad Tea Party. Carroll gave him the epithet crazy: he lives in a house where all the furnishings are shaped like a hare's head.
- Sonya the Mouse is another participant in the Mad Tea Party. It is distinguished by its ability to suddenly fall asleep and wake up. During his next rise, he gives out some interesting phrase. For example: “I breathe when I sleep” is the same as “I sleep when I breathe!”
- The Blue Caterpillar is a wise character from Wonderland. Asks Alice difficult questions; tells how you can change the size of your body by biting into a mushroom from different sides.
- The Duchess is an ambiguous rather boring young lady who participated in the Royal Croquet tournament.
The first four characters are the main characters from the fairy tale “Alice in Wonderland”. These heroes will be examined in detail.
The ungrown girl Alice
“This strange girl just loved to split herself into two, becoming two girls at the same time.”
Without the main character, the fairy tale “Alice in Wonderland” is unthinkable. The characters are masterfully created, but some still become forgettable over time. It is impossible to forget Alice, she is so unusual and intellectually developed for her age. What is she like, this girl?
The book itself says nothing about Alice's appearance. An illustrator who draws pictures for a children's fairy tale gave the girl blond hair. Carroll, in his drafts, endowed the heroine with a beautiful head of brown hair, the same as that of the aforementioned Alice Liddell. In all other respects, the main character was just a nice child. But with personality traits everything is much more interesting.
Alice is an eternal dreamer. She is never bored: she will always invent a game or entertainment for herself. At the same time, the main character is extremely polite to everyone, regardless of the person’s origin and personal qualities. Well, she is moderately naive - this is due to her young age and dreaminess.
Another integral feature of Alice is curiosity. It is thanks to him that she gets into all sorts of troubles and adventures. In the team she plays the role of an observer: she definitely needs to see how the matter ends. But if she becomes interested, she will go to the end to satisfy her curiosity. And he will get out of any situation unharmed, thanks to his inexhaustible ingenuity.
Alice's friend is the Mad Hatter (Hatter)
“Nowadays everyone travels by rail, but hat transportation is much more reliable and pleasant.”
He is one of the key characters in the fairy tale.
The Hatter and Alice became friends. In Wonderland, the heroes are very different, but the gallant Hatter is one of a kind. This slender young man has a great eye for hats. Expertly makes wigs for every taste.
He delivered Alice to the Queen's palace in his wonderful hat (of course, the main character did not have any problems with reducing her height).
Cheshire Cat
Carroll turned out to be resourceful. "Alice in Wonderland" is full of various fairy-tale characters, but this hero has a special charm.
The fairy tale would not be so funny if it were not for the Cat. Alice in Wonderland interacts with this character and finds him to be a very intelligent animal.
It is notable for its ability to move in space - to suddenly disappear and appear. At the same time, the Cat himself disappears, but his amazing smile continues to float in the air. When Alice began to be “stupid,” the character annoyed her with philosophical arguments.
In the 2010 film, the Cat confirmed that he is a positive character: he helped avoid the execution of the Hatter.
Queen of Hearts
“Cut off the head” or “Head off the shoulders” are the sorceress’s favorite phrases.
An obvious anti-hero or just a witch (as she was called in the film) is the Queen of Hearts. Alice appeared in Wonderland for a reason, but with the goal of defeating the evil sorceress and restoring justice.
The Queen is a very powerful and cruel woman: she mocks the cute creatures of Wonderland. Believes he has the right to carry out mass executions. Also commands cards and the monstrous Jabberwock. Feeds on people's positive emotions. But she is powerless against the smart and inventive Alice.
The plot of the 2010 film
We will look at the film adaptation of Tim Burton's fairy tale, which took place 4 years ago. The film turned out to be successful, so we recommend watching it.
Alice is initially shown as a little girl who is tormented by the same nightmare. She comes to her dad, he loves her very much and calms her down, saying the phrase “Mad men are smarter than everyone else.”
Next, the main character is shown as an adult 19-year-old girl. She has to marry a man whom she does not love, moreover, he is boring to her to the point of nausea. But then a funny White Rabbit appears on the horizon, waving at Alice for a watch. Of course, the girl runs after him, falls into a hole and ends up in Wonderland...
Various events happen to the main character, quite similar to the plot of the fairy tale. We will not describe them verbatim (if anything, there is a film) and will immediately move on to describing the roles.
Film "Alice in Wonderland", characters
- Alice - Mia Wasikowska. The actress became world famous after playing the role of the main character. She fit into the image one hundred percent.
- Mad Hatter - Johnny Depp. Made up, gallant and extravagant - this is how we know the Hatter. At the end of the film, the actor masterfully dances the Jig-Dryga.
- Red (Red, Evil) Queen - Helena Carter. This actress is great at playing negative roles.
- The White Queen - Anne Hathaway. Kind, thoughtful, affectionate, knows how to prepare various medicinal potions.
Much more than just a children's story
Almost every line of the book has a double meaning associated with mathematics and metaphysics. The Hatter indulges in philosophical discussions about the nature of time during the Mad Tea Party. There is an example of verbal recursion when Alice dreams of chess, and the black king (from the game) dreams of the main character.
“Alice in Wonderland” is a most interesting fairy tale that does not allow us to forget that miracles happen in this world. She is loved not only by children, but also by adults, because she is filled with kindness, subtle humor and optimism. Its characters are also charming. “Alice in Wonderland” (photos of the main characters are in the article) remain in the memory for many years.
"" (distributor - BVSPR company). We invite you to take a closer look at such characters in the film as the Red Queen (role), Knave of Hearts (Crispin Glover), Sonya the Mouse (in the original version of the film - the voice of Barbara Windsor), the White Rabbit (voice) and the Caterpillar (voice).
Iracebetha, the RED QUEEN() – the tyrannical ruler of the Dungeon. This hot-tempered creature, with a disproportionately large head and a manic desire to cut off the heads of his subjects, keeps the entire kingdom in fear. “She’s not all right mentally,” says Bonham Carter. - She breaks down over the smallest trifles. Annoyed like a two-year-old.” Her younger sister, the White Queen, claims the crown that Iracebeth once stole from her.
ILOSOVICH STEIN, JACK OF HEARTS(Crispin Glover) - Warlord of the Red Queen. A giant (2m 30cm tall) with a scarred face and a heart-shaped patch over his left eye. An insidious and arrogant character, always ready to carry out any order of the Red Queen. Only he can calm her down and pacify the attacks of royal rage. “I am responsible for order under the Red Queen,” says Glover. “The Red Queen reacts very violently to other people’s actions, and my character has to be more diplomatic.” But in the dark corridors of the castle hides its dark side.
MACTWISP, WHITE RABBIT(voice) - always late, always in a hurry, always rushing headlong somewhere. He is tasked with finding Alice and returning her to the Dungeon, where she will fulfill what is destined for her. He shows up at Alice's reception and tries to lure her down the rabbit hole. “He’s a nice character,” says Shin, “but at the same time he can be strict with Alice – all because of his nerves, of course. He is constantly on pins and needles, he doesn’t have enough time for anything. Time is vital for him, but at the right moment he can show remarkable courage.”
MOUSE-SONYA(voice of Barbara Windsor) - a desperate mouse in breeches who lives in the Underground. She refuses to believe that the White Rabbit has found the right Alice - the one who can return the Dungeon to its former glory - and is only too happy to poke Alice with a pin when she assures herself that she is only dreaming. But in difficult times, when Alice is threatened by the clawed Bandersnatch, the daring mouse immediately comes to the rescue. She is recklessly loyal to the Hatter and is always willing to sacrifice her life for him.
ABSOLUTE, CATERPILLAR(voice) - the all-knowing and unquestioning keeper of the Oracle, an ancient document in which all the important events in the history of the Dungeon are recorded, past and future. The White Rabbit, Tweedledee and Tweedledum take Alice to Absolem so that he can make sure whether this is the same Alice who ended up in the Dungeon as a child and who is destined to save them. They encounter a plump blue caterpillar on a mushroom cap, in a cloud of tobacco smoke. Absolem helps Alice better understand herself, forcing her to answer the difficult question: “Who are you?”
Composition
ALICE (English Alice) is the heroine of two fairy tales by L. Carroll “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland” (1865) and “Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Saw There, or Alice Through the Looking Glass” (1871).
The literature devoted to these works of Carroll is several times larger in volume than the texts of the writer himself. The interpretation of “Alice in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking Glass” was carried out by mathematicians, physicists, historians, theologians and, of course, literary scholars. Indeed, the tales of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, an Oxford professor of mathematics who took the pseudonym Lewis Carroll, have complex natural scientific and philosophical implications; in addition, they are based on the old English tradition of nonsense, contain many references, hints and hidden parodies, understandable only to contemporaries, and even then not everyone. And yet we should not forget that the first of the fairy tales was born just as an improvisation, told one summer day during a boat ride to three little girls, the Liddell sisters. The middle one, ten-year-old Alice, became the heroine of famous adventures. And no matter what complex, multifaceted meanings we now put into fairy tales, the image of the cheerful, curious A. is no less important in them than the theories used by Carroll and the latest scientific hypotheses. However, the author himself has repeatedly written that he composed fairy tales primarily for the entertainment of his little friends. And both of these tales are dreams dreamed by A., who so successfully fell asleep: first on the river bank under a tree, and then, for the second time, at home in an armchair.
In the first adventure, A. sees a white rabbit running past with a watch, which he takes out of his vest pocket, and after him jumps into a hole, from where a long tunnel leads her to Wonderland. There A. awaits incredible encounters with animals who can think logically; with pies and mushrooms, after tasting which you can increase or decrease in height; with the king, queen and their courtiers, who will turn out to be just a deck of cards; with the Cheshire cat, who knows how to disappear, but leave behind a smile that slowly melts into the air. “It’s getting weirder and weirder,” says the stunned A., and I have to agree with her. But the heroine herself evokes the admiring surprise of the reader - this well-bred Victorian girl shows extraordinary presence of mind, common sense and the ability of critical judgment. A. is well-mannered and knows how to politely talk with the caterpillar, and with the Griffin, and with the strange turtle Kwazn, without losing her dignity. In addition, she is inquisitive and can accept her surroundings as they are, even if these surroundings are turned upside down. The perfect fairytale heroine! All these valuable qualities will serve her in the second fairy tale, the circumstances of which are even more complex and confusing, since A. finds herself in the opposite world, the world of Through the Looking Glass. Carroll's second tale is based on a description of a chess problem, and all the characters' movements are movements of chess pieces on the board. But how strange these heroes are! What is worth at least one Humpty Dumpty, offering A. a problem from the field of formal logic, or the eccentric Black Queen, whose actions cannot be predicted. And yet, Alice overcomes obstacles and becomes the Queen, while remaining at the same time a cheerful and spontaneous girl, “a girl of bygone days, my long-standing joy,” as Carroll wrote in the final poem.
