Russian Anya as an English Girl Alice: Translation as an Adaptation
The tale of Lewis Carroll Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland belongs to the most famous works of world literature. Despite the fact that it is translated into different languages, it counts as one of the hardest novels to translate. In this story, English language is the main actor and powerful character. Alice together with Lewis Carroll peers into the depths of semantic expressions and only juggle with them throughout the story. Those are steady fundamentals of the Carroll’s method. However, in translation middle-high class girl Alice suddenly becomes Russian Anya, which somewhat mimics Alice and follows her steps. The novel Anya in Wonderland is a translation-adaptation from
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This is expressed in Alice's speech: there are a lot of exclamations and amazement. Anya, in turn, is calmer in reasoning. It’s difficult to surprise her and if it happens, she tries to restrain her feelings. Anya reminds more of an adult girl rather than a small girl. She is more inclined to self-analysis, more independent and restrained. That aspect indicates Nabokov’s adherence to adult literature. Initially, russian language in literature and in translation focuses more on humanism, social significance and moral position of the author. In addition, in translation Anya in Wonderland speech of a main character sounds more casual because ‘you’ translated in as a second-person singular ‘ty’ instead of following original english politeness, so Anya’s character made to emphasize the word play of the novel and also demonstrate her childish attitude by language. Nevertheless, she does not lack the inherent feeling of all children - curiosity. If she won’t be curious, she wouldn’t follow the rabbit and the development of the plot will be completely lost. Thus, despite these differences, Anya similar to original Alice. Anya is a child and this, undoubtedly, influences her character during the whole story reader sees Anya’s thoughts, which sometimes are serious or she mocks herself. Her serious character together with her mocking looks hilarious as she doesn’t cry and looks like a child that trying really hard to look older than she is. At the same time enterprising and not deviate from her goals and embody them in life. Anya has very rich imagination so she can imagine out of nothing or imagine something incredible. To support her rich and incredible imagination Nabokov completely changes character names to pun ones that come from their creature name. For example, Yashka is a punning dividend on the Russian word for lizard, yashcheritsa. Anya
Alice’s failure to understand the “native” culture, and her insistence on imposing her own norms and values ultimately culminates in a life-threatening situation.” (Binova “Underground Alice:” the politics of wonderland). Alice is the colonised in the situation with the Queen of Hearts. When she is introduced to the Queen her evil nature is revealed as she orders “Off with her head!” (Carroll 96). However, she is contrasted to Alice’s good nature while she shouts “Nonsense!” ( Carrol 96). The theme of chaos and confusion is brought forward as they play croquet all at once with noises all around and even in the court where everyone is expected to be civil. Although the Queen, as a character reinforces adulthood, subversion emerges again by Alice standing up for herself at this time. Nearing the end of her dream, she stands up against the Queen at court but it dream ends without a resolution. Maria Lassen-Seger says in ( “Subversion of Authority”: In “Alice’s Adventures of Wonderland”), “the relationship between the child and the adult is an impossible power relation in which the child is marginalised and considered powerless, thus, the adults suggest in their books what a child ought to be, what values and images it should accept.” The Queen at this point in the dream would have been the
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a story about a little girl who comes into contact with unpredictable, illogical, basically mad world of Wonderland by following the White Rabbit into a huge rabbit – hole. Everything she experiences there challenges her perception and questions common sense. This extraordinary world is inhabited with peculiar, mystical and anthropomorphic creatures that constantly assault Alice which makes her to question her fundamental beliefs and suffer an identity crisis. Nevertheless, as she woke up from “such a curious dream” she could not help but think “as well she might, what a wonderful dream it had been ”.
“Alice in Wonderland” written by famous author, Lewis Carroll, is a fantasy novel printed with many respects and portrays a vivid reflection of society through satire. For instance, Carroll criticizes that Wonderland is a monarchy and not a democracy; it is separated between different social classes, and clearly speaks volumes of the scheme during Queen Victoria’s rein. During the Victorian Era, British imperial power took a large-scale expansion through many colonial parts of Africa, India, Asia, and other parts of the middle-east. Thus, increasing use of the English language outside of Europe and increasing trade with distant regions. This produced a strong spirit of animosity during Queen Victoria’s rein. However, later in the Age, writer’s like Lewis Carroll rebelled against blasphemy and stereotypical codes of conduct. “Alice in Wonderland” is one work of fiction that Lewis Carroll gives a prime example of his satirical entourage.
Lewis Carroll’s use of creative words, puns, and wordplay is an extremely transparent theme that is vividly present throughout Alice In Wonderland. Carrol’s use of this type of language is significant to the book, as it gives the reader breadcrumbs about what scene is to come through use of foreshadowing, hands out a comical feeling of what Victorian England sounded like, and grab the reader’s attention by providing somewhat ridiculous but creative language as a way to bridge gaps between the reader’s language and the language that Carroll is trying to convey onto his
Bloomingdale, Judith. "Alice as Anima: The Image of Woman in Carroll's Classic." Aspects of Alice: Lewis Carroll's Dreamchild as Seen through the Critics' Looking- Glasses. Ed. Robert Phillips. New York: Vanguard Press, Inc., 1971. 378-389.
Lewis Carroll, world renowned author, known most for his tale of literary nonsense published almost a century and a half ago, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Several conditions of Carroll’s life molded and shaped his writing. Evidence from Carroll’s book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland ,one can conclude that Carroll has engraved moments from his life, people around him ,as well as his beliefs and love of logic into his story, considering these are the things that Alice Liddell would recognize.
The gender roles change from the original to the remake. The original Alice role is defined as a young girl who is able to explore her curiosity, but she is constrained by her feminine characteristics. Alice being a young girl is portrayed as helpless in many situations throughout her journey. The characters of Wonderland offer her assistance, but she remains most times crying by herself. Alice’s character clearly shows the innocence and virtue American society attached to girls roles in the
Carroll, Lewis. Alice in Wonderland . 3rd. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013. Print.
Coming of age does not happen without change, change does not happen without conflict. The Alice in Wonderland books by Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass; and Calvino, Invisible Cities are books that focus on the transformation of the individual and metamorphoses of the collective. This essay will specifically focus on identity and symbolism. Both novels allow us to enter a world of fantasy through distortion and alternate worlds. Thus allowing the reader to determine the underline rational to what is being hidden within the text. .
SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. 2005. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.
Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland follows the story of young Alice trapped in the world of Wonderland after falling down through a rabbit-hole. The rabbit-hole which is filled with bookshelves, maps, and other objects foreshadows the set of rules, the ones Alice is normally accustomed to, will be defied in Wonderland. This conflict between her world and Wonderland becomes evident shortly after her arrival as evinced by chaos in “Pool of Tears” and Alice brings up the main theme of the book “was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I am not the same, the next question is who am I?” (Carroll 18). After Alice fails to resolve her identity crisis using her friends, Alice says “Who am I, then? Tell me that first, and then, if I like being that person, I’ll come up: if not, I’ll stay down here til I’m somebody else” (Carroll 19). Hence in the beginning, Alice is showing her dependency on others to define her identity. Nevertheless when her name is called as a witness in chapter 12, Alice replies “HERE!” without any signs of hesitation (Carroll 103). Close examination of the plot in Alice in Wonderland reveals that experiential learning involving sizes leads Alice to think logically and rationally. Alice then attempts to explore Wonderland analytically and becomes more independent as the outcome. With these qualities, Alice resolves her identity crisis by recognizing Wonderland is nothing but a dream created by her mind.
In such a cherished children’s book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, written in 1865, has caused great commotion in political and social satire. It slowly but surely grew into one of the most adored publications in the Victorian era, expanding into today’s modern age. Lewis Carroll was the pen name utilized by Charles L. Dodgson and has forth created a sequel named Through the Looking Glass, And What Alice Found There composed first in 1871. In short, the text of the story presented with a feminist approach, a corrupt judicial system of Victorian England, the caucus race, and the absence of a childhood, the evolution of species, and Marxism.
Although the novel is notorious for its satire and parodies, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland main theme is the transition between childhood and adulthood. Moreover, Alice’s adventures illustrate the perplexing struggle between child and adult mentalities as she explores the curious world of development know as Wonderland. From the beginning in the hallway of doors, Alice stands at an awkward disposition. The hallway contains dozens of doors that are all locked. Alice’s pre-adolescent stage parallels with her position in the hallway. Alice’s position in the hallway represents that she is at a stage stuck between being a child and a young woman. She posses a small golden key to ...
Lewis Carroll's use of puns and riddles in Alice in Wonderland help set the theme and tone. He uses word play in the book to show a world of warped reality and massive confusion. He uses such play on words to reveal the underlying theme of growing up', but with such an unusual setting and ridiculous characters, there is need for some deep analyzing to show this theme. The book contains many examples of assonance and alliteration to add humor. Carroll also adds strange diction and extraordinary syntax to support the theme.
Alice in Wonderland belongs to the nonsense genre, and even if most of what happens to Alice is quite illogical, the main character is not. “The Alice books are, above all, about growing up” (Kincaid, page 93); indeed, Alice starts her journey as a scared little girl, however, at the end of what we discover to be just a dream, she has entered the adolescence phase with a new way to approach the mentally exhausting and queer Wonderland. It is important to consider the whole story when analyzing the growth of the character, because the meaning of an event or a sentence is more likely to mean what it truly looks like rather than an explanation regarding subconscious and Freudian interpretations. Morton states “that the books should possess any unity of purpose seems on the surface unlikely” (Morton, page 509), but it’s better to consider the disconnected narrative and the main character separately, since the girl doesn’t belong to Wonderland, which is, as Morton says, with no intrinsic unity. Whereas, there are a few key turning points where it is possible to see how Alice is changing, something that is visible throughout her journey. Carroll wants to tell the story of a girl who has to become braver in order to contend with challenges like the pool made by her own tears, or assertive characters, like the Queen.