I have to do a presentation next week in the German course I'm taking on my favourite book. Even though I thought it may rather bore the rest of the class, most of whom aren't English and all of whom seem like rather serious grown-ups (I'm still not one. Ask me again in ten years.), I chose Alice in Wonderland, because I could talk about it for hours in English, so hopefully I can ramble on for ten minutes in German. Anyway, one of my favourite things about the books isn't in fact the story itself, however good that may be. Rather, I think it's what has captivated generations of children before me - the wonderfully charming illustrations by John Tenniel. These days there are so many editions of the Alice books that it's hard to find these original illustrations, but they remain by far my favourite. Tenniel takes all of the quirky, bizarre and beautiful things that Carroll writes about and transforms them into captivating art, so full of details lovingly drawn. I don't think I could ever get tired of looking at them. It's amazing how a series of simple line drawings have become so firmly ingrained in our culture, but personally I don't think the world would be the same without Alice, and Alice wouldn't have been the same without Tenniel. Just lovely.
The lion and the unicorn
Were fighting for the crown
The lion beat the unicorn
All around the town
Some gave them white bread
And some gave them brown
Some gave them plum cake
And drummed them out of town
0 thoughts:
Post a Comment