100 books I keep on keeping: Alice in Wonderland

[scripsi]

I love this book so much. This is the first book where I identified strongly with the main character. My mother read it to me when I was quite small, probably not more than four. I was a rather quiet child, and when my sister always looked very happy or very angry on the photos of our childhood, I always look rather grave. I had to ask my Mum if I was as dour as I look, but she said I wasn’t, I was just prone to think about things. And I found the world just as confusing as Alice found Wonderland. At four I had realised you were expected to behave, but that the code for behaviour changed. What was fine at home, was not fine with my parental grandparents, and so on. And I was still small enough to find the concept of magic quite natural, and that it would be perfectly possible to fall down a rabbit hole, or walk through a mirror. I remember staring into mirrors, trying to see a little beyond, to see if everything really was mirror images, or if there were anything which wasn’t. I felt i understood Alice very well, and I found it a comfort in her navigating Wonderland, despite how unpredictable it was. Just a few years ago my Mum confessed she really dislike this book, for exactly the same reasons I love it for. But she still read it to me several times, because I loved it so much.



“My” Alice, is not the classic Tenniel Alice, or Disney’s Alice. Mine was, by necessity, a Swedish translation. I’ve read other Swedish translation, and they usually translate all the poetry verbatim, making them only a little better than gibberish. I suspect an English-speaking child of today may not know the sources Carroll used, but to a Swedish child they are definitely unknown. My translation used well-known Swedish songs and poems instead, making it much easier for me to relate to them. And, my copy had these really wonderful illustration by Tove Jansson. She is famous for her Moomin books, but she sometimes illustrated other authors as well. Her Alice is a grave child, and Wonderland is a bit lonely, forever shaping them so in my mind.









And a fun fact: Wonder in Swedish is “under”, but that’s a word with a double meaning, it also means underneath. And that is how I read it, Alice in the land underneath, which is true too. It wasn’t until I read it in English in my teens I realised it was supposed to be a land of wonders.

Comments

[dunderklumpen.livejournal.com]

Oh, that looks like a beautiful translation indeed. You can actually see that the pictures are made by Tove Jansson. She has quite a distinct style.

And while I'm always for "correct" translations I think that - especially for kids - it's important one gets the ghist of it. If the book still is in the spirit of the author, I'm game!

[thisbluespirit]

Oh, those are excellent illustration! Thanks fro sharing them. :-)

[trepkos.livejournal.com]

So cool that Tove did the illustrations!

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

It is. :)

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

Glad you enjoyed them!

[sallymn.livejournal.com]

Come to my arms, fellow Alice lover!!!


This is wonderful - I love the fact that the translation was sensitive and went for Swedish tales and echoes. And the illustrations are unique and beautiful.

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

Yes, they are certainly very much Tove Jansson. :)

I agree with you. on the whole I think one should strive to be correct, but sometimes you need the gist instead. Like aliteration of The Wind in the Willows, which would be "Vinden i pilarna" instead od "Det susar i säven", which I Think is better in just that case. :)

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

It's such a wonderful book, isn't it? Glad you like the illustrations!

[bearshorty.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous illustrations! I love this post both for them and your recollections.

[the_rck]

I love these illustrations!

[snogged.livejournal.com]

Oh! I love the illustrations.

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

Beautiful illustrations :) Alice In Wonderland really is a classic children's book, I could never get enough of it either

[paynesgrey.livejournal.com]

Wow, I love this artwork for Alice! So beautiful! Thanks for sharing. This is actually a book that my husband and I both love equally. <3

[liadt]

I preferred 'Through the Looking Glass' of the two as a child but I can't remember why!

Lovely illustrations:)

[1-rhiannon-1.livejournal.com]

I love Alice in Wonderland <3

[jaiden-s.livejournal.com]

I remember enjoying the books as a child, but the animated movie scared me.

[herself_nyc]

I usually “disapprove” of Alices other than Tenniel's (including Disney's), but those illustrations are indeed wonderful and utterly fitting. I only became familiar with Jansson a few years ago — somehow her childrens' books weren't in America during my childhood (though they were in ENglish in UK), and I first approached her by reading a couple of her adult novels.

[double_dutchess]

I love Alice too and these illustrations are wonderful. Thanks for sharing!

[qwentoozla]

I always loved Alice in Wonderland as a kid too, and loved having it read to me. I'm used to the Tenniel illustrations, but I love these Tove Jansson ones. Thank you for sharing!

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

Glad you enjoyed them! :)

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

I never saw the Movie until I had children of my own, but I can imgiane it can be scary for a child!

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

It's a lovely book. :)

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

It is! Tove Jansson was an amazing artist! :)

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

For some reason I only saw Through the Looking Glass as a TV-Movie when I was about six, and then didn't read it until I was ten, or so. I loved the Movie, but found the book a bit hard to read. Don't know why, really.

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

Glad you do!

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you like them!

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you liked them!

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

Glad you did! :)

[scripsi.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean- I feel that way about other things. Tove Jansson was a great artist, which I think may contribute. :)