Alice in Wonderland

It is hardly worth introducing readers to Lewis Carroll. His story about Alice's adventures has been translated into more than a hundred languages around the world. There are even special studies on the peculiarities of translating his books into national languages, as it is a very difficult task. Carroll's text is saturated not only with witticisms, puns, and verbal paradoxes but also with poetic parodies of verses well-known in his time. Therefore, a literal translation of «Alice» will be incomprehensible or overloaded with comments, while a too free translation risks straying far from the original and losing the English national flavor. There have been attempts to «Russify» Carroll. In 1879, an anonymous retelling was published - «Sonya in the Kingdom of Marvels». In it, all English realities were replaced with Russian ones. For example, the Mad Hatter became Ilyushka-the-lying. In Nabokov's translation published in 1923, Alice became Anya, and the Cheshire Cat became Maslenichny. Against this background, the classical and closest to the original is Demurova's translation. It is no coincidence that it was published in 1977 in the academic series «Literary Monuments». Nevertheless, as Demurova herself noted, «it is impossible to accurately convey concepts and realities in another language that do not exist in that other language». Therefore, each translation of Carroll's text has its own advantages and disadvantages. The published translation in this book by the remarkable writer and poet Boris Vladimirovich Zahoder has many such advantages. He made Carroll's book understandable for schoolchildren, enriching it with Russian-language puns. After shedding a sea of tears, Alice finds herself in a lamentable situation, and to her remark about wanting to have a good time, the Hat (Hatter) replies: «You can't spend time». Zahoder has many such puns; thanks to them, the whimsical and bizarre spirit of Carroll's fairy tale is preserved.

Zahoder's translation, published in 1971-1972 in the magazine «Pioneer», was illustrated with magnificent drawings by Viktor Alexandrovich Chizhikov. In this edition, they are presented in color. Chizhikov's sparkling talent adds extra colors to Carroll's story. Alice and almost all the other characters in the fairy tale, unlike the classic drawings of Tenniel, often smile. Chizhikov constantly plays along with Zahoder. For example, he depicts the Fish Delicacy as a sturgeon with an empty caviar can on its head. In his drawings, thanks to a crossed-out letter, drawing thanks to a crossed-out letter turns into spinning, and history turns into hysteria. It is delightful when two talents work on a book together. Happy reading!