Greg Hildenbrandt © kinopoisk.ru
Today, July 4 , book lovers around the world celebrate the birthday of the legendary adventure story "Alice in Wonderland". On this day, more than 150 years ago, the British publishing house "Macmillan" printed and presented the first edition of the legendary book by Lewis Carroll. This fabulous story has become a real legend, a favorite book of millions of readers. We invite you to learn interesting facts about your favorite book, as well as remember catchphrases.
Lewis Carroll © vk.com
The fairy tale about the travels of the girl Alice in the amazing Wonderland was written by the English mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. In 1862, during a picnic, Charles began to tell an invented fairy tale to Alice Liddell, the daughter of the dean of the faculty at Christ Church College, Oxford, where Carroll taught mathematics. A ten-year-old girl was so carried away by a fairy tale that she began to persuade the narrator to write down this story. Dodgson followed the advice and, under the name of Lewis Carroll, wrote the book "Alice in Wonderland", which appeared exactly three years after the fateful picnic. She was destined to become one of the most popular books of all time, which for many years has been fascinated by both adults and children.
Alice in Wonderland has been translated into 125 languages. But the translators had to work hard on the text. The fact is that if you translate the fairy tale literally, then all the humor and all the charm created by the author disappears. The original version has a lot of puns and witticisms based on the peculiarities of the English language.
Alice in Wonderland has been filmed 40 times including animated versions. The first film adaptation was made in 1903. Just a few years after Carroll's death, directors Cecil Hepworth and Percy Stowe made a 12-minute film based on the story. At that time - the beginning of the century - it was the longest film made in the UK.
It is interesting that in the first version of the tale there were no such bright characters as the Hatter and the Cheshire Cat.
In one of the most popular translations, the Hatter was called the Hatter. All this because in English "hatter" meant not only "hatter". This word was called people who do everything wrong. The English even have a saying: "Mad as a hatter" ("mad as a hatter").
There are more than a million paintings created by artists from all over the world, which depict episodes from the legendary fairy tale. Salvador Dali painted 13 watercolors for different situations from the book.
The poem "Jarmaglot", which is included in the fairy tale "Alice in Wonderland", consists almost entirely of non-existent words. However, these words obey the laws of English - and are very similar to real ones.
Top 10 best quotes from the book "Alice in Wonderland":
- You know, one of the most serious losses in a battle is the loss of a head.
- Tomorrow is never today! Is it possible to wake up in the morning and say: "Well, now, finally, tomorrow"?
- The best way to explain is to do it yourself.
- If everyone did their own thing, the Earth would spin faster.
- From mustard - they are upset, from onions - they are disingenuous, from wine - they are guilty, and from baking - they become kinder. What a pity that no one knows about this ... Everything would be so simple. Eat a muffin - and dobrel!
- The more you learn right away, the less you suffer later.
- You are beautiful. Only a smile is missing.
- Don't be sad. Sooner or later everything will become clear, everything will fall into place and line up in a single beautiful scheme, like lace. It will become clear why everything was needed, because everything will be right.
- I saw cats without smiles, but a smile without a cat ...
- Alice was surprised how she was not surprised, but the amazing day had just begun and there was nothing surprising in the fact that she had not yet begun to be surprised.
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27.01.17 10:25
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson - do you know this name? Surely, those who are interested in the work of Lewis Carroll will answer in the affirmative, because that was the name of the British scientist and writer who invented Alice's adventures in Wonderland. The facts are that the author of the legendary fairy tales preferred to distinguish between his mathematical and philosophical works and artistic prose, so he came up with a pseudonym. Published in 1865, the first book about Alice was very popular, it was translated into 176 languages, and how many times the character was used in film and television! Moreover, various adaptations were released - from almost verbatim to free “variations on a theme”.
Today marks the 185th anniversary of the birth of Lewis Carroll, for the anniversary we have prepared 10 facts about Alice in Wonderland.
"Alice in Wonderland": facts about the most absurdist fairy tale
She was a brunette!
The writer was inspired by the daughter of the dean of one of the Oxford colleges (Christ Church, where Carroll himself taught). In honor of Alice Liddell, he named his heroine. When the dean arrived at the place of service (in 1856), he had five children, Alice was then 4 years old. True, there is one significant difference between the prototype and the character: the real Alice was a brunette, not a blonde.
Carroll almost went broke
Interesting fact: "Alice in Wonderland" was illustrated by the famous English artist John Tenniel. When he saw the first copy of the book, he was horrified - it seemed to him that the drawings were reproduced poorly. To reprint the circulation, Carroll spent more than half of his annual income and found himself in a "financial hole". Fortunately, "Alice" was an instant success.
First film based on the book
You must have watched Burton's fantasy with Mia Wasikowska. And the first film about Alice was released by directors Cecil Hepworth and Percy Stowe - in 1903. At that time it was the longest movie in the UK: a full 12 minutes! Alas, the copy of the film is not very well preserved.
Cheshire cat tree
“My reality is different from yours,” said the Cheshire Cat to Alice. He often left only a smile (hanging in the air near the tree on whose bough he sat). It is said that such a tree also actually exists: in the garden behind the Liddell house on the grounds of Christ Church College.
Queen in awe!
"Alice in Wonderland", according to historical facts, fell in love with Queen Victoria. The crowned lady praised the author and suggested that Carroll would dedicate the next book to her. Alas, the purely algebraic work “Information from the Theory of Determinants” published in 1866 must have disappointed the queen.
soup for the poor
Among the host of strange characters in the book was Quasi the tortoise, a hybrid between a tortoise and a calf. The Red Queen was talking about a quasi-turtle soup that looked a lot like a cheap version of the turtle soup popular in the Victorian era. The poor could not afford such a luxury, so they cooked soup from beef hooves and heads.
No drugs here
The fact that Alice drinks a potion (after which the space around her changes), eats mushrooms, talks to plants and animals, often hears rubbish, led to an erroneous interpretation. Some readers have decided that we are talking about drugs like LSD. Of course, Carroll meant nothing of the sort, because Alice is a little girl!
It turns out that all these hallucinations with a changed space, an increase or decrease in objects, were experienced by the writer himself, who suffers from a rare neurological disorder. The disease was first discovered in 1955 by the English psychiatrist John Todd. The Doctor called it "Alice in Wonderland Syndrome".
The Chinese authorities were against
As for talking with animals, because of this, Carroll's fairy tales were banned in China in 1931. The local government considered that it was not worthwhile to put man and animal on the same level.
zero to five
And the last interesting fact about Alice in Wonderland. In 1890, its author published an abridged version of the book for kids "Zero to Five" with colorful illustrations by the same John Tenniel.
Over the past 20 years that Tim Burton and his "muse" - Johnny Depp have worked together, they have proven that their fruitful duo can show decent results. The gothic beauty of "Edward Scissorhands", the campy farce of "Sleepy Hollow", the mind-blowing insanity of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", each of their joint creations was unforgettable for the viewer.
So fans are eagerly awaiting the result of their latest collaboration, Alice in Wonderland, where Johnny Depp plays the Mad Hatter who meets Alice (Mia Wasikowska).
Let's go behind the scenes to find out that Tim Burton doesn't like motion capture technology, Mia Wasikowska hates green walls, and that creating an animated cat is much more difficult than you might imagine...
Fact 1. This film is not like the previous adaptations of the famous story.
Because, frankly, Tim Burton wasn't impressed with them. “All the versions of Alice that I saw suffered from a lack of dynamics,” says Tim. “They were all absurd stories, showing one phantasmagoric character after another. You look at them and think, “Oh, this looks unusual. Hmm, how strange ... ”and you don’t even pay attention to the development of the plot.
How does Tim Burton plan to avoid all these pitfalls? “We tried to make all the characters more solid and make the story more down to earth, simpler,” explains the director.
“I mean, they are still insane, but we gave each character their own specific insanity and a lot more depth.”
Fact 2. All special effects were obtained by trial and error.
Or, as Burton likes to say, "it was an organic process."
In fact, the special effects team filmed all the scenes using expensive Zemekis image capture equipment to discard the footage.
“In the scene with the Jack of Hearts (Crispin Glover pictured) and the tweedles, we used motion capture,” says lead animator David Schaub. “Knave in the story is 2.5 meters tall, so we thought that motion capture would be the best way in this case. But in order for the tweedles' eyes to be directed correctly, we had to put the actor on stilts. As a result, all captured images depicted the actor on stilts. It looked ridiculous. ”
“Were you sorry to throw away the footage?”
“It's Tim's choice, he acted from his own experience and what he saw and the technique he used,” answers David Schaub.
“We discussed all the things we like and don't like about image capture technology. I had some heated discussions with the animation team, but personally I think this technology looks weird,” says Tim Burton.
Fact 3. You will not understand what is real and what is not.
“There are only three live actors in the film: Alice (Wasikowska), the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) and the white queen (Anne Hathaway). Tweedles and Jack of Hearts are real heads mounted on animated bodies, it looks very unusual, you have not seen anything like it. This is very cool.
At the same time, the red queen is a combination of several different methods, which we eventually distorted somewhat.
But one of the most difficult tasks was the creation of the Cheshire Cat. The difficulty was that he flies. And we thought, if cats could fly, how would they do it?
Then he always shows his huge smile, which causes problems, since he must have emotions. But how to convey other emotions, except for happiness, if he is constantly smiling? It was complicated.
As for the wonderland itself, it is completely modeled on a computer. Except, perhaps, for one scenery - this is the staircase that Alice descends after falling into the rabbit hole.
The result certainly looks amazing, but try to understand poor Mia Wasikowski.
“It was three months before the green screen,” sighs the actress. “I had to keep in mind that I would have an animated character in front of me. But this is very difficult to do when you have only tennis balls and duct tape in front of you.”
Fact 4. The Mad Hatter is a Depp/Burton creation.
“It’s funny,” says costume designer Colleen Atwood, who has worked with Tim Burton for 20 years, “but when the three of us made sketches of what we thought the Mad Hatter should look like and compared them to each other, they looked very similar” .
“One of the very interesting features of the Hatter's costume is that it is able to change its color, depending on the mood of the owner.”
“I did a lot of sketches of costumes, different colors and shades, and then it was all enhanced with the help of computer graphics. It will look very cool.”
Fact 5. Mia Wasikowska is the new Cate Blanchett.
“She's just a delightful young lady,” says Colleen Atwood, “she has no head in the clouds, is extremely hardworking and has a great sense of humor, which is a must when making such a crazy film.”
“She reminds me a lot of Cate Blanchett in the sense that they are both very talented and easy to talk to. And they are both from Australia.”
“Mia has a very mature soul, but there are elements about her that make her feel very young and naive,” agrees Tim Burton. “She is perfect for the role of Alice, as she plays herself. She, too, is at a crossroads in her career right now, and this movie will probably be the weirdest movie she's ever made. It is very unusual even for me.”
translation (c) Ptah
This year marks the 150th anniversary of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
Of course, now there are already and there will be many more publications on this topic, and each gives his own idea of the fantastic events in the life of Alice or Carroll.
Before breakfast, Alice said, there are six impossible things; but I offer you seven real things: little-known ideas in this special combination of madness and sanity, maturity and childhood of Alice in Wonderland.
The original title of the tale was Alice's Adventures Underground, and it would seem that our heroine was supposed to meet the Queen of Moles and not the Queen of Hearts.
Luckily, Carroll was self-critical enough to offer several options to his friend, writer and editor Tom Taylor.
Some titles, such as Alice in Among the Goblins, were even worse, but luckily Taylor helped with the selection and Carroll settled on the Wonderland we have today.
He called himself too cumbersome. Charles submitted four drafts to his editor for his consideration: Edgar Cuthwellis, Edgar U. C. Westhill, Louis Carroll, and Lewis Carroll.
2. Alice's story started on the same day.
It's not always possible to pinpoint the birth of a book in a single day, month or year, but with Alice we have that luxury thanks to the author's extensive notes.
On July 4, 1862, Carroll took little Alice Liddell and her sisters Laurina and Edith for a boat ride. To entertain the girls, he fashioned - seemingly out of thin air - a series of adventures in an unknown land in which Alice became the heroine.
(Lorina and Edith were given less glamorous roles: Laurie and Eaglet).
Enthralled by the stories, the girls asked Carroll to write down the tales. Two and a half years passed and Carroll completed the manuscript as a Christmas present in 1864.
3. Complex mathematics and Christian secret symbols in Alice's Adventures.
Carroll's father, a clergyman and later archdeacon, instilled in his eldest son a passion for mathematics and a strict adherence to Anglican doctrine.
Some critics, for example, saw the tale as Carroll's rebellion against the restraining socio-religious context of Victorian England.
Alice "fought", after all, against quirky characters who impose strict, nonsensical rules.
They wrote that the book refers to popular mathematical discoveries.
The Caterpillar, the Hatter and the Hare became irrational proponents of the new in mathematics, and the Cheshire Cat delighted the emissaries of Euclidean geometry, his smile is the shape of an ellipse.
4. Carroll's attitude towards Alice may not have been platonic.
Great book 150th anniversaries tend not to focus on negative stories, but Carroll's tale has a sinister side to it.
Although his recordings brought him fame, Carroll's main artistic preoccupation was the photography he produced.
Often his models were scantily clad girls. In fact, he wrote in his letters, "I don't think he would agree that girls' uniforms should ever be closed." (Recent biographers have attempted to normalize this behavior in the eyes of society and clear their name.)
The exact nature of their relationship is murky - his diaries from April 1858 to May 1862 are missing - but Alice played at least the problematic role of Carroll's little muse. (He was 20 years older than her).
In Alice's writings on this subject, no hints of sexual relations are found, but there is something clear in the photographs.
5. Alice has since become a muse for generations of artists and writers after Carroll - including Vladimir Nabokov.
Virginia Woolf: "Alice is not a children's book," she once said. "They are the books with which we become children."
Wolfe meant that these fairy tales restore the ability to think creatively. They remind adult readers how even the dystopian world of the heartless Queen of Hearts can become a series of delightful games.
The surrealists André Breton and Salvador Dali also took a particular interest in Wonderland.
Other writers were struck by the dark side of the tale. Vladimir Nabokov, who translated Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in Russia, was heavily influenced by Carroll's books when he wrote his classic Lolita.
6. There are about 20 first editions of the book - and only one original manuscript.
7. Alice's pictures can be even more important than her words.
Illustrations are secondary to most authors, but, as the Morgan exhibition highlighted, this is not Carroll's case. He made 37 pen and ink sketches for the original manuscript.
Although he had the eye of a photographer, he lacked the talent of a draftsman.
He invited Sir John Tenniel to make illustrations for Alice. Tenniel, as we know, is the first illustrator of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, whose illustrations are considered canonical today.
On July 4, 1865, the first edition of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was published.
Alice in Wonderland is probably one of the most famous works in the world. Meanwhile, the main character of the story had a very real prototype, Alice Liddell. Telling her stories, Lewis Carroll wrote his famous work.
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The real Alice from Wonderland, photograph by Lewis Carroll, England, 1862
Alice Liddell lived a long and happy life. At the age of 28, she married Reginald Hargreaves, a professional cricketer for Hampshire, and had three sons. Unfortunately, both of the elders - Alan Niveton Hargreaves and Leopold Reginald "Rex" Hargreaves - died in the First World War. Alice died at her home in Westerham in 1934, at the age of 82.
The story was originally titled Alice's Underground Adventures, and a handwritten copy given to Alice by Lewis Carroll was sold by her for £15,400 to Eldridge R. Johnson, co-founder of the Victor Talking Machine Company, in 1926.
Adult Alice from the Looking Glass.
After Johnson's death, the book was purchased by a consortium of American bibliophiles. Today the manuscript is kept in the British Library.
Alice Liddell, photograph by an unknown photographer.
Alice was 80 years old when, while on a visit to the US, she met Peter Llewellyn Davis, the one who inspired J. M. Barry's famous work "Peter Pan".
Alice Liddell Hargreaves Pleasence in old age, 1932
The minor planet 17670 Liddell is named after Alice Liddell.
Last page of L. Carroll's original manuscript of Alice's Underground Adventures.
Some more rare original photos of the real Alice from Wonderland.
Alice Liddell (right) with her sisters, photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1859
