Thursday, November 19, 2009

A picture or conversation, please!

The immortal "Alice's adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll begins thus:

Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, 'and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice 'without pictures or conversation?'

I really love the way Alice expresses her preferred condition for a book, namely "with a picture or conversation in it".
A picture or a conversation is like a scaffold which attracts a child's attention. As one is drawn deeply into the story, other things come to the rescue of the "keep going on", but there must be some initial inducers.

The necessity for a "spoonful of sugar" continues well into adulthood. There are things that makes our eyes gleam with kindled enthusiasm when we encounter a strange thing.

We are children deep inside, with things setting fire to our investigative mind in a manner like that "all in a golden afternoon".

Therefore, "a picture or conversation, please!"


Here's a picture. The white rabbit alluring Alice into Wonderland.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

It was very interesting for me to read that post. Thanx for it. I like such themes and anything that is connected to this matter. I definitely want to read a bit more soon.

Tak said...

I have "Alice's adventures in Wonderland"(PUFFIN CLASSICS) in my bookshelf.
And I am delightful to find the same picture of the rabbit in my book!!
I love the pictures and conversations in this book.
They make me very happy.
And your blog makes me happy every day.

Anonymous said...

Apparently, this "Wonderland" concept is what has driven us to where we are today, our quiet universe of manga and games. Many are subconsciously yearning for Mr. Carrol to bring them back to when and where their frequent journeys to Wonderland began first, yearning for a better sense of the people and the realities they interact with, if ever, which is what makes our country's own fantasy tale all the more horrifying.

Einstein's Brain said...

It's interesting that Lewis Carroll was a mathematician. Queen Victoria loved his children's books so much that she decided she wanted all his works. She was surprised to get a stack of math books. His children's books have some things to do with mathematical formulas and truth statements, and the like.

Anonymous said...

It is very interesting for me to read that article. Thank you for it. I like such topics and anything that is connected to them. I would like to read a bit more soon.

Anonymous said...

The last section of the story goes like this: (According to my memory alone)
----When being a grow-up, Alice will recall this afternoon as her childhood's memory.

This section has a rather different tone from the rest of the parts, and the section alone is realistic, and to me, it is the most beautiful part of the story.

Anonymous said...

Is the white rabbit Ken Mogi?
I am Arice,still Alice.
I had dream,today's golden afetrnoon.I will go to a terminal station tomorrow.

yuzu said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
yuzu said...

Dear,Mr.Mogi
When I was a kid, I read "Alice's adventures in Wonderland"first time, I was not calmly inside me.
I think it was thrill. I remember that beat my heart fine.

I am curious that we are children deep inside.
I think "A picture or conversation,please " is fascinating forever.

砂山鉄夫(Tetsu Sunayama) said...

When I was a high school student, we were given homework for reading Alice for the summer. The story had both feelings funny-haha and funny-strange. Besides it was very difficult.

After that, how many summers passed? I can say I am still working on that homework...