Seeing Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" last Thursday got me opening my annotated Lewis Carroll book that has been on my shelf since 2005. And even though the Alice books (wonderland and its sequel through the looking-glass) are fairly short pieces--my penguin edition has ballooned to 350+ pages because of all the marginalia, including a 30+-page introduction.
I wanted to skip the intro but found myself reading through it inside a starbucks late one night. and lo and behold i discovered that Carroll aka Charles Dodgson is a sort of Humbert Humbert.
I know! this piece of information got me a little iffy. It turns out that Dodgson harbored a penchant for young girls--and the real Alice--Alice Lidell was one of Dodgson's "Lolitas".
oh the fucked up lives we artists lead...
but i don't know--does it degrade his work in our eyes?
it is a curious thing you know...artists create--but the work lives on...
so i say not really. Even though i have to admit i had trouble finishing Nabokov's Lolita for the simple reason that I'm uncomfortable with the subject matter (and if you find yourself in a similar situation let me tell you one thing...Nabokov's ending is superb--so continue on!).
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A note on the movie
Burton's version is not a sequel or anything--its a retelling. And this just made me smile because it conforms to what Jameson told me about postmodernity--
pastiche.
'nuff said
Enjoy
Sunday, March 7, 2010
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