Classics: “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”

 

“It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.” [1]

 

<< This book speaks with me ! >>
How many times have we thought that, in front of a novel? A story that really seems to get closer to our daily life , or that for some mysterious reason awakens an emotion , a memory, a smell …
Perhaps the truly biggest benefit of the ” classics ” is to always bring back this wonderful feeling of belonging , of truth . Even if the stories may be distant in time and space , they can remain ever present without delay and find that reader that will exclaim << This book speaks with me ! >> . WITH me, not TO me . There is a difference .
It happens to me every time I read “ Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland . ”

I really feel to throw into its fantastic world and it is as its quotes give me answers to questions I did not even know I wanted to ask.

 “Alice had got so much into the way of expecting nothing but out-of-the-way things to happen, that it seemed quite dull and stupid for life to go on in the common way. So she set to work, and very soon finished off the cake.”[2]

Known first and foremost for the transposition of Walt Disney ( is the 13th animated film, 1951 ) and for the two films produced by the visionary Tim Burton – always for Disney – ( in 2010 and 2016) , few people have actually read the brilliant romance written by the mad Lewis Carroll .

“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” [3]

 

However beautiful , movies, TV series and any other transposition , can not be minimally at the tale quality . Indeed , the two chapters , “ Alice in Wonderland “ and ” Alice through the looking glass “ of the book “ Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland . “
The industriousness of the original text , full of jokes , rhymes , poems and masked literary references and almost untranslatable literally in other languages , it is an eccentric and difficult book that many people underestimate .Carroll was also a brilliant mathematician thus has hidden also many games and logic puzzles between the lines of the novel, the result is that the fantastic adventures of Alice, the girl protagonist inspired by a young girl who Carroll knew, is even more tangled.Born as a children’s book is rather an unparalleled contribution to the literature , which created an autonomous genre, with its specific rules .

“Door: <<Why it’s simply impassible!>>
Alice: <<Why, don’t you mean impossible?>>
Door: >>No, I do mean impassible. (Chuckles) Nothing’s impossible!>>”[4]

 

Alice in Wonderland has been translated into 176 different languages ( including the Zulu language and Esperanto ) . I use it as my personal oracle : If I need advices , I open the book at random and you can be sure that I find what I was looking for! 

“If you don’t know where you are going any road can take you there” [5]

Carroll wrote a story centred on the concept of growth : a voyage in search of ourplace in the world , the right proportions to face life . Alice overcomes any obstacle that stands in front of her , and progressively grows, together with bizarre characters she meets and who , in their own way , force her to look at life with a completely different perspective . The Wonderland stimulates her attention , forces her to think with her head and to choose which alleyway to take in her interior journey . The little girl who falls down the Rabbit hole is not the same that returns there.

It is a much more serious story of what it looks like.

And to deal with it with the right spirit , I suggest to read it in a park in the shade of a big tree and I’d eat some delicious homemade cookies with tea * , strictly British.

 

* Homemade cookies
 (The recipe is from my English friend John )

 

 Ingredients :
– 500 g flour 00
– 1 egg
– 1 egg yolk
– 250 g sugar
– 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
– 300 g butter
– Cherry and apricot jam
– Half a bag of baking powder

 

Preparation :

We press everything together and work as a classic pastry, if necessary to soften we can add a bit of milk ; with the mixture we structure balls then we crush to shape the form we please more. We add a teaspoon of jam in the centre to make them even more greedy and we cook them in the oven, at 180 degrees for about 20 minutes.

 

 

 

 

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Curiosity on the novel, rummaging in the web:
– In the English contemporary, the White Rabbit has become synonymous with an unexpected event and particularly revealing.
– Lewis Carroll suffered from a rare neurological disorder that causes hallucinations and alters the actual size of the objects, as happens to Alice. The disease , discovered by British psychiatrist Todd in 1955, has been called syndrome of Alice in Wonderland or Todd.
– The very first transposition, which lasted no more than 10 minutes, has been filmed in Britain in 1903 and the short movie is still studied for its use of special effects.
– The word “curious” or “curiouser” uttered by Alice for 21 times has been attributed to Carroll by the Oxford Dictionary.
– About 1,200 designers have illustrated the book, including the “first”, John Tenniel, and Salvador Dali.
– The Royal Mail has created a series of stamps inspired by the most bizarre scenes and the most curious characters of the novel .

[1] From the book.
[2] From the book.
[3] From the book.
[4] From the book.
[5] From the book.