Commentary: Alice through the looking glass, Lewis Caroll

Résumé du document

From an English very ancient songette, whose first version dates from 1797…

Extraits

[...] Alice recognizes the egg, she knows its existence and its name. Besides she's able to quotes the riddle lines 6 to 9. The contine does not contain the description of Humpty Dumpty but Alice knows it's an anthropomorphized egg, The beginning of the conversation starts about what the egg looks like : « you look like an egg » (line because it seems unlikely to Alice to find an egg on a wall. They continue to discuss about the « shape » (lines 16 to 17, three times) but it seems not to be a real conversation but a two levels conversation : « it wasn't at all like conversation » (line 4). [...]

[...] The name « Alice » does not make sense for him : «my name means the shape I am » (line 16) and « With a name like yours, you might be any shape » (line 17). HD is logic, he wants to know her « name » and her « business » (line 13). Their conversation transports us to the universe of language and logic. They let us wonder about names' origin and their definitions. Alice thinks the egg is fussy, so she asks questions she considers simple, line 21 : « Don't you think you'd be safer on the ground ? ». [...]

[...] At the end of this text, the understanding is done with the hand that the egg offers to Alice « you may shake hands with me « (line 34) ; and that shake is symbol of belief in story and not in logic. This shows that the system of logic and language has its own limits ; and it's the story which permits it. The name « Humpty » let us think about « empty », however the egg is full of words and logic. [...]

[...] Falling on the ground means to die for us, but HD refers to the belief of the chidhood contine « the King has promised me » (line 25). This reference transports dialogue on the origine of the contine. Is really HD aware about the story ? Alice says the information comes from a book « It's in a book » (line 31) and maybe it's the first time that she takes power over the egg, and conversation slides from logic to story. [...]

[...] Here it talks with Alice and occupies her during an entire chapter of Alice Through the Looking Glass (1862-1863), a novel from Lewis Carroll, a 19th-century English writer. This dialogue, where an egg placed on the top of a narrow wall speaks like a person of great power, has become a commonplace in the discussions and this questions us about games about language and reasoning. It's the subject about the shape of the egg that brings the conversation about essential, the sense of the words. [...]