KNIGHT LETTER. The Lewis Carroll Society of North America. Fall 2017 Volume II Issue 29 Number 99

Transcription

1 d d d KNIGHT LETTER d Th Lwis Carroll Socity of North Amrica Fall 2017 Volum II Issu 29 Numbr 99

2 d d CONTENTS d d Th Rctory Umbrlla Dlawar and Dodson, or, Wondrlands: Ead! Ado! 1 chris moran Drawin th Lookin-Glass Country 11 dmitry yrmolovich Is snark Part of a Cyrillic Doublt? 16 victor ft & michal vrson USC Libraris 13th Wondrland Award 18 linda cassady A Nw Lwis Carroll Puzzl 19 clar imholtz Two Lamnts: On for Loic & On for th Kin 20 auust a. imholtz, jr mischmasch Lavs from th Danry Gardn Srndipity Sic, Sic, Sic 21 Ravins from th Writin Dsk 25 stphani lovtt All Must Hav Prizs 26 matt crandall Arcan Illustrators: Goranka Vrus Murtić 29 mark burstin Nos Is a Nos Is a Nos 30 otz klu In Mmoriam: Morton Cohn 32 dward uiliano Carrollian Nots Mor on Morton 34 Of Books and Thins Contmporary Rviw of Nabokov s Anya Discovrd 36 victor ft Th Albanian Gh Wondrland 36 byron swll Alic and th Gracful Whit Rabbit 37 robrt stk Alic s Advnturs in Punch 38 andrw ous Alic s Advnturs undr th Land of Enchantmnt 39 cindy wattr Alic D. 40 cindy wattr Mad Hattrs and March Hars 41 ros owns AW, ill. Charls Santor 41 andrw ous Rar, Uncollctd, & Unpublishd Vrs of Lwis Carroll 42 dward waklin Th Alic Books and th Contstd Ground of th Natural World 42 hayly rushin Evrrn 43 From Our Far-flun Corrspondnts Art & Illustration Articls & Acadmia Books Evnts, Exhibits, & Placs Intrnt & Tchnoloy Movis & Tlvision Music Prformin Arts Thins 44 Alic in Puzzlland: Th Jabbrwocky Puzzl Projct 34 chris moran

3 d Drawin th Lookin-Glass Country dmitry yrmolovich d Illustrators do not oftn xplain why thy hav drawn thir picturs th way thy did. What inspirs thm and what thy think as thy tak up a pncil or a stylus rmain confind to a black box. But som radrs ar quit kn to know what thouhts and idas hav crossd th artist s mind. A rcnt bilinual dition of Lwis Carroll s Throuh th Lookin-Glass 1 includd my Russian translation of it and my color illustrations (followin a similar dition of Alic s Advnturs in Wondrland). 2 Th books also containd my commnts on th Carroll translator s challns. Lik translation, illustration is a dcision-drivn procss. Th ida of writin about it cam to m latr and took final shap as an onlin ssay in Russian. 3 This articl is an xtract from it, focusin on six out of th book s ihtn color picturs. A litrary dscription is fundamntally diffrnt from a raphic ima. In words, only som parts of a scn ar dscribd in dtail, whil othrs may not b mntiond at all. An artist cannot normally dpict just som dtails and lav blank spots lswhr. Th scn has to b dpictd complt with all its parts, whthr mntiond in th txt or not. What th book dosn t say has to b cratd, prfrably in lin with th author s concpt. But so much for nral statmnts: wlcom insid th black box of an illustrator s mind. In Fiur 1 (pa 12), I wantd paradoxically nouh for a dram tal to achiv a dr of authnticity and rcrat a room in a typical mid-nintnth-cntury styl. My rsarch ld m to conclud that th Enlish middl class of th priod likd to hav a lar bay window in th livin room, with a firplac wall at a riht anl to it, and this is how I dsind my lookin-lass room. In th tal, Alic suspcts from th vry start that th invisibl sids of thins may turn out to b vry diffrnt from what w xpct. For m, this mant that th back of th firplac had to diffr from its front, prfrably in a wird way. Carroll sms to hav mant that, too, as h wrot that th mantlpic clock had th fac of a rinnin old man. Th ida of portraits makin facs mad m think of ihtnth-cntury Austrian sculptor Franz Mssrschmidt, famous for his charactr hads, or busts with countnancs contortd into xaratd motions. Thy inspird m as I drw th two fiurhads that adorn th mantlpic. (Th radr will surly know that artists oftn allud, in thir picturs, to th work of thir collaus. On xampl is Tnnil s Duchss, rouhly basd on a portrait by Quntin Matsys.) Carroll also wrot that th picturs on th wall smd to b all aliv. To m, this mant thy had to b thr-dimnsional, and I drw a man s had stickin out of a pictur fram and makin a fac, also in th styl of Mssrschmidt. Som popl wondr why I dcidd to mak my Alic rd-haird. Wll, Carroll nvr spcifid his charactr s hair color. Alic Liddll had black hair, but th writr nvr wantd his hroin to look lik hr, and Tnnil drw hr as a blond. But why couldn t th Alic of th book b rdhaird? Th Enlish ar famous for thir inr royals and clbritis, such as Hnry VIII, Elizabth I, Princ Harry, or Eddi Rdmayn (a tllin nam!). Studis hav found that a third of th population of Britain and Irland carry rd hair ns. 4 Not only dos rd hair add to my Alic s Enlishnss, but rd is an advantaous color from th artistic point of viw. On th tabl, Alic finds a book with th pom Jabbrwocky. I drw it as a miniatur copy of John Tnnil s drawin, anothr allusion to a favorit artist. (My own vrsion of th bast is diffrnt, but I ll discuss it latr.) In Fiur 2 w ar lookin at th sam firplac and charactr hads. As in th first illustration, th carpt on th floor has a chssboard pattrn, for obvious rasons. Whn drawin th tabl on which Alic put th Whit Qun, I dcidd to mak it a chss tabl with a malachit top, to complmnt th rdbrown tons of th firplac and carpt with a contrastin color, rn. Bhind th tabl, parts of th wallpapr s floral dsin combin into anothr wird had, that of a woman with puffy chks. I did it ntirly for fun and as anothr indication that on can xpct anythin to appar on th back of thins, which on dosn t normally s. 11

4 Fiur 1 Fiur 2 In drawin chss pics (th Whit Kin, Qun, and Pawn), I trid to rproduc a typical woodn txtur whil ivin thm a dr of plasticity. As for th Whit Qun, sh is, as w know, a truly wird charactr who will vntually drown in a turn, so I av hr a troubld fac with bi round ys. Now th fir scrn, or fndr. In anothr tribut to Tnnil, I r-drw his famous ima in thick simplifid lins, makin sur that no part of th lattic looks as if it could fall out (and not forttin to mbd my initials in Russian, D and E, in it). Thn I turnd th drawin into a 3D objct and mad it part of this pictur and th prvious on. Fiur 3 took m twic as lon as any othr. In fact, it is two drawins in on. Lt s bin with its lowr half. Sittin opposit Alic (and sn throuh hr ys) is a ntlman drssd in whit papr. H is lcturin Alic with a raisd finr ( So youn a child ouht to know which way sh is oin ). Yt I picturd him as a bon vivant, hnc a ciar in his othr hand; his rd chks and nos indicat h has probably had on or two for th road. W hav, I bliv, all mt with this typ of passnr: a ood-naturd man who asily ntrs into convrsations, but quickly turns into a nuisanc. Th satin of two passnrs in my drawin is slihtly at odds with th book. Th Goat is not riht nxt to th Gntlman in Whit Papr I placd th Btl btwn thm. I didn t want a cluttr of bi bodis: som brathin spac was ndd. Abov th Btl, anothr roup of passnrs can b sn, in- Fiur 3 cludin th Hors. And on thir riht, I addd a train attndant with a fox s had. It is not th Guard mntiond by Carroll, but h is chckin tickts as wll. And now a dirssion concrnin th clothin of animal charactrs. Tnnil drssd his animals 12

5 Fiur 4 Fiur 5 inconsistntly. His Whit Rabbit wars only a waistcoat and lovs (and a pair of pants durin th trial). Th Dodo and th Mous walk around with no cloths on, whil th March Har drinks ta in a full suit. I followd th sam policy or rathr lack throf lavin th Btl with no clothin, but drssin th Goat in a lon coat. Howvr, so as to show its hoovs, I av it no shos. Fox th conductor is, of cours, in full uniform. Carroll was bin mischivous to th limit as h mad a passnr rmark, Sh must draw th train hrslf th rst of th way! I raspd at this and mad it th subjct of th top pictur in a spch bubbl. As th bubbl s tail has to lad somwhr, I pointd it at a woman with a briht oran hat ribbon which stands out visually as if to indicat: sh s th on who said it! Insid th bubbl, a rd-facd and swatin Alic is pullin th locomotiv with an inhuman ffort. This nonsns was fun to draw. It also ld m to undrtak a short study of nintnth-cntury stam locomotivs. I found that most had a shlf in front, onto which an oil lamp with a rflctor was fastnd. I intndd th con of liht from th lamp, contrastin with a loomy cloudd sky, to crat an addd dramatic ffct, alon with bats flyin ovr Alic. And, sinc sh is pullin th nin, th rol of th nin drivr (whom I portrayd as a uina-pi) is rducd to watchin ovr hr and blowin th stam whistl. Fiur 4 dpicts th traic final of Th Walrus and th Carpntr pom. It follows from th Whit Qun s riddl that oystrs wr dirt chap in Enland at th tim. Prsumably, th writr and his child frinds at thm oftn. Th pom thus turns a familiar vryday xprinc, a chap trat, into a mock trady. It is also a spoof of moralizin poms that warnd childrn aainst disobyin ood advic. I am sur that Carroll s child frinds would dissolv into lauhtr whn th pom was rad to thm. So th pictur had to b drawn with a fair shar of humor. Its layout was a challn, too. It is asist to dpict a mal in a horizontal, or landscap, format, with atrs satd nxt to or facin on anothr. But th book s vrtical pa format dictatd that th Walrus and th Carpntr b placd on abov th othr, as if watchd from an lvation. I satd thm sparatly and mad thm look diffrnt ways, rmmbrin that th Walrus was ashamd to look th Carpntr and th unatn oystrs in th ys. This is also why I dpictd him with his back to thm. Bfor drawin th atrs, I watchd svral oystr fstival vidos onlin and found that most popl naw shllfish out of shlls and throw thir hads back so that no oystr juic may miss thir lips. This is xactly th position of my Carpntr. For addd mphasis, his nwspapr hat is fallin off his had. H is liftin a poor oystr to his wid-opn mouth with his lft hand, whil his riht hand holds an ominously shinin knif, which h nds to opn oystr shlls. I also drw th shamlss Carpntr with ys rolld up in anticipation of plasur. 13

6 Unlik his frind, th Walrus cannot bit oystrs out of thir shlls with his hu tusks, so h uss a fork for th purpos, whil th mptid shll rmains in his lft flippr. Ral-lif flipprs ar not ood for holdin thins, so I had to mana to mak thm look sufficintly dxtrous for th task. I av th Walrus a bib to undrscor his hypocrisy, showin that h was vn bttr quippd for th dcit than th Carpntr. As for th oystrs, I wantd to iv thm distinctiv prsonalitis, ach ractin diffrntly to its imminnt dath. On is numb with horror, anothr is tryin to protst, yt anothr hops to scap, a fourth on is bowin to hr fat and so on. I hop ths charactrizations hlp rproduc Carroll s sns of mock trady, contrastin with a romantic and pacful sa with a tall ship in th distanc. Fiur 5 rprsnts ths lins: Th Jabbrwock, with ys of flam, Cam whifflin throuh th tuly wood... On, two! On, two! And throuh and throuh Th vorpal blad wnt snickr-snack! My hro s sword has just choppd off th bast s had, th trophy with which h will alumph back hom. Th sword kps movin by inrtia, and blood is still ushin from th Jabbrwock s svrd nck. Th pom was a spoof of Anlo-Saxon litratur, which Victorian childrn had to study thorouhly nouh so Carroll s parody mad thm lauh, no doubt. John Tnnil convyd th lauhin spirit by puttin a waistcoat on th monstr. Nothin ls! I, too, dcidd to mak my Jabbrwock look funny in polka-dot pantis and bdroom slipprs. To contrast th improbabl with th authntic, I browsd throuh scors of imas of Victorian-ra slipprs and stumbld on a pair that lookd surprisinly similar to thos of my (thn) littl cousin in th lat 1950s (for som rason, I still rmmbr thm). So my Jabbrwock s slipprs happn to b Sovit-styld as wll as Victorian. And now to th monstr killr. Tnnil drw him as a youn boy, somthin that has always surprisd m. Shouldn t a monstr-killr b a stron adult man? Thy ar usually playd by bodybuildrs in th movis. My hro is a stronman. But why is h warin shorts, you may ask? Wll, in old drawins, most pic hros ar drssd in short tunics with nothin to covr thir ls. Som contmporary artists hav takn th tradition furthr. In Robrt Zmckis s 2007 vrsion of Bowulf, th protaonist prpars to mt with Grndl by undrssin himslf compltly, apparntly to rmov any hindranc to th impact of his physical nry. Wll, I didn t nd my hro to o all th way alon that path, so I av him a pair of shorts. Fiur 6 Considr thm a convntional fi laf, or a jocular anachronism to match th Jabbrwock s undrwar. In trms of layout, th hro had to b liftd from th round to rach th Jabbrwock s nck, ivn th monstr s siz. At first, I put him on a hors, but it lookd somhow out of plac. Thn I toyd with a stpladdr but that would b oin too far, as Mary Poppins onc said. Finally, I put my hro on a tr stump a most natural thin to b found in a tuly wood. It was fun drawin this illustration, and it is on of my favorits in th sris. In Fiur 6, w aain s a two-story pictur, but hr th first floor taks up about two-thirds of th ima. Lt s start from th round floor, howvr. Th Whit Qun tlls Alic that sh livs backwards, whil stickin a lar pic of plastr on hr finr. Now, an anatomical dirssion. In my pictur, sh has only four finrs on ach hand why is that? Lt m start with som backround. As I hav writtn arlir, it was a darin litrary innovation of Lwis Carroll s that h supplid many of his animal charactrs with arms, hands, and othr human faturs. 5 Th ida was adoptd by artists, includin Disny, Hanna-Barbra, and othrs, who also cam up with th convntion of makin th hands of thir human-lik cartoon charactrs four-finrd. Thir rasons ar not sufficintly clar. I bliv thy wantd to mphasiz th purly convntional and fictional natur of thos funny animals as distinct from human bins. (I hav rad xplanations that 14

7 four-finrd hands ar simply asir to draw, but thy cannot b takn sriously.) I followd th convntion in th cas of my funny animals and chss pics as wll. Thy ar not popl ithr, which is why th Whit Qun has fourfinrd hands and lovs. And now to th uppr story of th pictur. It is, of cours, in a spch bubbl as it rfrs to th Qun s words: Thr s th Kin s Mssnr. H s in prison now, bin punishd. So hr h is, th mssnr Hatta, in stripd prison uniform and chaind to a pillar. Whn drawin th intrior of his prison, I rcalld th Chillon castl nar Montrux in Switzrland, mad famous by Lord Byron s Th Prisonr of Chillon. I hav visitd th castl and takn quit a numbr of photos insid. Th vaultd room whr th prisonr of Chillon lanuishd inspird th intrior you s in my illustration, althouh it is far from bin an xact rprsntation. Now lt s look at som dtails. In my illustrations to Alic s Advnturs in Wondrland, I drw all kinds of impossibl objcts, such as a Pnros/Eschr staircas, a twistd brid, and othrs. Hatta s prison is a rat plac for mor impossibl objcts, to mphasiz th absurdity of livin backwards (th man is srvin a sntnc bfor bin trid or vn committin a crim). First I playd with th columns, drawin som with no bass and som with no tops, dissolvin in mptinss. Two columns hav ambiuous spatial positions: thy ar both farthr away and closr to th viwr than th cll window. Scondly, in th back of th room, thr is a laddr ladin up to a door. If you tak a closr look you will find that th laddr is also an impossibl objct. Havin drawn th door, I flt lik addin anothr fiur, that of a prison uard with a pi s had. Aftr all, what is a door for if not to allow uards to chck what th inmats ar doin? Hatta, who is sittin on th floor, is so unhappy h is in tars. W will larn latr in th book that h was fd poorly in jail. So I addd a rat braznly atin th prisonr s brad and drinkin from his mu. A lon and sad tal has unfoldd out of th Qun s casual rmark. Limitd spac dos not allow m to discuss th rmainin twlv illustrations a task I may pursu in a latr contribution. I bliv, howvr, that I hav mad clarr what wnt on in my black box as I was doin my picturs, and how thy ar connctd with th writr s words and mssas. An illustrator s imaination can, of cours, soar to unlimitd hihts, but th txt bin illustratd is its bst ful. 1 Кэрролл, Льюис. Путешествие в З азеркалье и что там обнаружила Алиса/Пер. с англ., предисл., комм. и илл. Д. И.Ермоловича. М.: Аудитория, (TTLG, trans., annot., and illustr. by Dmitry Yrmolovich). ISBN Кэрролл, Льюис. Приключения Алисы в Стране Чудес / Пер. с англ., предисл., комм. и илл. Д. И. Ермоловича. 2-е изд. М.: Аудитория, (AAIW, trans.,annot., and illustr. by Dmitry Yrmolovich). ISBN S 4 Th Tlraph, Auust 24, Yrmolovich, Dmitry. As You Translat, So Shall You Draw. Kniht Lttr: Fall Vol II, issu 27, No. 97, p. 13. Randall Munro, XKCD (a wbcomic at xkcd.com), usd with prmission 15