Great Works of English Literature: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Welche Bücher haben die englischsprachige Literatur geprägt? Die Rubrik „Great Works of English Literature“ stellt einige der bekanntesten Werke vor. In der aktuellen Ausgabe der Read On folgen wir Alice auf ihrer Reise ins bizarre, verrückte Wunderland. Einen Auszug aus dem Artikel über den Klassiker der Nonsensliteratur lesen Sie hier.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

One of the first examples of nonsense literature in the English language may actually be exploring the limits of logic.

By John Bilstein

1                 This book begins with a long, long plunge down a rabbit hole into a world where everything is different from what children learn at school.

2                 When young Alice falls asleep on the banks of a river near Oxford, she follows a white rabbit and enters a weird dreamland that is both dark and funny.

3                 It is not like the typical kids’ literature of the 19th century that British parents would have used to teach their children manners and morals. It’s more of a book about limits and what happens beyond them.

4                 Published in 1865 by the young Oxford mathematics professor Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832–1898) writing under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll, Alice’s adventures involve lots of animals in human clothes doing human things, like having a tea party.

5                 It’s not a normal tea party, though: White Rabbit’s pocket watch is broken, so it’s always teatime, and the party never ends.

6                 There’s also a weird Duchess whose baby happens to be a pig, and a crazy Queen of Hearts from a pack of playing cards. Although the Queen is a great fan of beheadings, she turns out to be quite harmless in the end.

7                 The book appears to be mocking anything that is seen to be unquestionable, from the concept of absolute power to the idea of absolute time.

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Den vollständigen Artikel lesen Sie in der aktuellen Ausgabe der Read On.

Vocabulary

0–1             Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland dt. Titel: Alice im Wunderland — nonsense literature Nonsensliteratur — to explore s.th. etw. ausloten — plunge Fall

2–5             to fall asleep einschlafen — bank Ufer — weird sonderbar — manners Manieren — morals Moralvorstellungen — beyond s.th. jenseits von etw. — though allerdings

6                 duchess Herzogin — to happen to be s.th. zufällig etw. sein — Queen of Hearts Herzkönigin — playing card Spielkarte — beheading Enthauptung — to turn out to be … sich als … erweisen

7                 to mock s.th. sich über etw. lustig machen — unquestionable unbestreitbar — absolute power absolute Macht

Foto: KI-generiert