Friday, October 16, 2020

Funny flies

 Lewis Carroll was great at throwaway details. I mean, on first glance everything in the Alice books is a throwaway.

The insects that the Gnat describes to Alice are a case in point. Bread-and-butterfly, Rocking-horse-fly, and Snap-dragonfly. While the Disney adaptations use at least one of them, Carroll only needed them for that one chapter, that one passage. To show that we're playing by his rules now. The Snap-dragonfly is inspired by a mostly forgotten game, one that sounds intriguing.


John Tenniel was a painter and a political cartoonist. He serves Carroll well as an illustrator. These creatures look like they're from a nature book of the period, albeit with absurd features.



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2 comments:

susan said...

It's amazing what people would do for amusement in times past, isn't it?

'Look, his face is on fire! Hilarious!
What do you mean it's my turn?'

I certainly never heard about that particular game before but I do recall
the lights being turned out after the Christmas dinner when the ceremonial
plum pudding was set alight.

Lewis Carroll's genius was well matched by John Tenniel's creative skill.

October 17, 2020 at 10:18 PM
Ben said...

Yeah, it's a good thing they kept the brandy bottle out. A little anesthetic/Dutch courage.

Some of these old English customs are cool and a

little mysterious. Like how did this come to be, and come to have this particular flavor?

Carroll would almost have to be described as a genius. One way or another he hits just about all of the definitions.

October 28, 2020 at 9:04 PM

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