Do They Teach Linguistics in Wonderland?

Speaking another language is a joy.. It gives you the power to pick up your favourite novel by Coelho or that sharp-witted play by Moliere and read them in original. No ill interpretations , no mediators, no misunderstanding ( well, that depends on the level of your language proficiency). Anyway, no one wants to be lost in translation…

Being a language lover myself, I will be the first one to say: You can’t learn all the languages in the world but you can surely die trying.

What if you don’t speak a language, does it mean you won’t be able to enjoy a piece of literature written in it, say Alice in Wonderland? Of course not!

I personally read Alice in 3 languages and I must admit it does sound a bit different but never wrong.

So in this post I want to share with you Alice in Wonderland book covers published in Iran, Russia and Spanish-speaking countries.

Iran

ماجراهای آلیس در سرزمین عجایب

Majeraha-e Alees dar sar zameen-e ajaeb

Russia

Приключения Алисы в стране чудес

Preekloocheniya Aleesi v strane choodes

Spanish-speaking countries

Las aventuras de Alicia en el país de las maravillas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So in which language the word “wonderland” sounds more wonderful to you?

American Alice, How You Came To Be?

It’s not a secret that different countries like to adopt successful folklore, book or movie characters fitting them into their own cultures wiping off  their foreign shiny colors so that they look native through and through. That’s happened with Winnie-the-Pooh, Pinocchio, Princess Frog and most recently with Harry Potter. Nowadays it became a way of plagiarism when writers/directors/designers just incorporate what is tried and tested to make it sellable. But actually there is nothing wrong with using some popular character as a source of inspiration like  L. Frank Baum did. He used Lewis Carroll’s Alice as a base for his main protagonist – Dorothy – while creating his The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (published 1900).

Alice and Dorothy are so similar and poles apart at the same time: an English girl who was taught to do curtseys and recite “Father William” and a Kansas orphan raised on the farm by her uncle and aunt. All that Dorothy wanted was to come back home; Alice in her turn didn’t care much about it, she wanted adventures and it was her choice to follow the White Rabbit. Dorothy on the contrary was’t expecting to embark on a journey it was more of a challenge for her.

But all in all Oz is a wonderland full of bizarre creatures – big and small, good and bad. But unlike Caroll’s Wonderland that is a pure product of imagination ( it is a good summertime dream, indeed), Oz exists not only for Dorothy it’s absolutely real. It was surely visited by people before whe come to know it when the Wizard of Oz himself narrates his story (which became a plot for a new Disney’s OZ movie).

With all this being said, there is one thing that unites these two child-heros: after their adventures are over they become so much more mature, they get a better understanding of who they are, what they are made of and what they are capable of.

To me the best Oz movie showing this big transition of growing up is The Wiz (1978), very inspiring and encouraging.

Living here, in this brand new world
Might be a fantasy
But it taught me to love
So it’s real, real to me

And I’ve learned
That we must look inside our hearts
To find a world full of love
Like yours
Like me

The musical’s closing song “Home” is extremely touching and powerful. There is no such place as home, they say. But it really lies in our hearts more than anywhere else.

I hope you’ll stop by and listen to this sweet song.

And Alice Grew Up

I can’t go back to yesterday because I was a different person then.

 ― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

Growing up is hard…

We all have to do it one day even if we don’t want to, when we least expect it. And sadly, it’s not about changing your height…

We come to realize that we need to make decisions and be responsible for them.

We start to understand that life can be a fairytale only if we begin to write it with our own hands.

When does this revelation moment commence?

It can be a marriage proposal like in Tim Burton‘s movie – a moment you see you are not a little girl anymore but a wife-to-be.

It can be the death of parents and loved ones like in American McGee’s Alice, when there is no one in the world to look after you.

Or you can be desperate to reunite with your beloved and you’ll take whatever pill you’re offered and eat from whichever side of the mushroom to make it happen.

Well, I am speaking about Margarita from Bulgakov‘s Master and Margarita. To me she is the Alice that grew up but remained risky and adventurous. I am in no means comparing these two works of literature. I just want you to look at Margarita as once a very curious child like Alice, that is attracted to the unusual and has no fear while interacting with something magical.

She took the cream from Azazello like Alice took that “drink me” bottle with the same caution and the same excitement. While applying the cream she enjoyed observing the changes it was making to her body with an immense curiosity.

She let herself go and release her anger when she felt she had all the power to do so like Alice when she realized that she was dealing with a simple pack of cards.

You can see a lot of similarities between Alice and Margarita when you start thinking about it.

Most importantly she finds peace and serenity when her adventures are over and this time it wasn’t all for herself but also for someone she deeply cared about.

What do you think happened to Alice when she grew up?

The Importance of Being Alice: Part III

She is dangerous

 Alice: But I don’t want to go among mad people. The Cat: Oh, you can’t help that. We’re all mad here. I’m mad. You’re mad.

Just look at her… It is our Alice, she has an angry look on her face standing there with a knife.  The Cheshire Cat couldn’t be creepier…  That’s the vision of Carroll’s sweet fairytale created by American McGee in 2000.

The story is horrifying – Alice’s house was burnt down and she is the only survivor. That is a lot for a small child to bear; after losing her parents Alice needs medical help not only for her body but also for her mind and soul. Her psychiatrist records everything she is saying to him – which is of course about the Wonderland that she recently visited. The only thing that reminds her of it is her White Rabbit stuffed toy which is missing one button eye. He will make Alice travel back to the Wonderland again. But the Wonderland has also gone crazy, it became frightening and fearsome. The only way about it for Alice is to restore the order in the Wonderland which would mean to restore her own sanity.

Though the plot is very dark I really enjoyed playing the game, because all the details are very well thought-out. All the symbols from Carroll’s novel are there just not in the places you would expect them to be. For example, the Duchess whom Alice is supposed to destroy uses pigs to slow Alice down, plus she is trying to shoot her with pepper, saying  “With a proper seasoning you will make a good dish”. Weird, ha? But at the same time clever, in my point of view.

So the game is really curious and is getting curiouser every minute. Because we don’t see the stereotyped Alice here anymore, the story got a truly original twist without getting ridiculous. I think the film adaptation of the game would be a great success but the production is still under question (since 2004). 

I recommend the game to any Alice fan but beware you can get really addicted to it.

The Importance of Being Alice: Part II

Chasing Rabbits

When I first heard “White Rabbit” by Jefferson Airplain as it was played in Fear and loathing in Las Vegas, I was immediately absorbed by this magically phsychedelic song. It is both intimidating and enchanting. It takes you over to a Wonderland and this time it is no longer a childish farytale but a serious adventure.

One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don’t do anything at all
Go ask Alice
When she’s ten feet tall
And if you go chasing rabbits
And you know you’re going to fall
Tell ’em a hookah smoking caterpillar
Has given you the call to
Call Alice
When she was just small

According to Urban Dictionary chasing rabbits means ” doing something totally irrelevant or being distracted from what you intend to do”. Indeed, how does the story of Alice begin? She got distracted from her book that had nothing interesting at all (no pictures or conversations) when she saw the White Rabbit, a very curious creature.

If we take a look at legends and stories many heroes were once or twice triggered to take off in search of their own fate by this White Rabbit disguised as whispering voices, strange visions, glowing mythical creature ( Pixar’s Brave, most recent that I can think of) etc. What comes to your mind?

Sometimes by following these signs the heroes  find liberation but sometimes they find death.

Charmed’s “Malice in Wonderland” episode illustrates that perfectly. In this episode a female demon lures teenagers whose names start from A into a Rabbit hole. She takes up many diguises  to make people follow her: an attractive woman for a teenage boy, a cute white rabbit for a little girl. Then they fall into the hole where they are driven crazy through illusions: a pack of cards is trying to attack them, an axe is chasing their head, sounds familiar?

Well, the story is getting dangerous;

Beware the White Rabbit can be a trap and the adventure can become a nightmare. But more on that later…