Russia through the eyes of Lewis Carroll

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

In 1867, Charles Latuidge Dodgson, known to all of us under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll, visited Russia. Why the convinced homebody Carroll went to distant Russia on his first and only trip abroad is still a mystery.

It may seem like a coincidence, but the lover of oddities and paradoxes sat down for the second part of Alice's adventures just soon after arriving home, so some have always wanted to perceive the mysterious journey as a search for the prototype of the same "Through the Looking Glass".

However, he and his friend Henry Liddon still had an official "cover" for the Russian holidays. The priests of Christ Church College came with a diplomatic mission: to establish contacts between the Anglican and Russian Orthodox Churches. More precisely, to celebrate the anniversary of Metropolitan Philaret with a congratulatory letter from the Oxford Bishop Wilberforce. The British were in time for the holiday, but the letter was not handed over on time - perhaps the beauty distracted it.

St. Petersburg in July immediately amazes and enchants the discerning English eye: there are huge colorful signs, blue domes covered with golden stars, and magnificent buildings. Compared to the streets of London, the width of even minor cuttings seems extraordinary to the British.

Carroll calls Nevsky Prospekt with undisguised admiration "one of the most beautiful streets in the world", and Peterhof Gardens, in his words, "overshadow the gardens of Sanssouci with their splendor." The diary of a strict English mathematician records very apt observations. So, for example, Carroll notes that on the monument to Peter the serpent is not at all crushed by the rider. "If this monument stood in Berlin, Peter, undoubtedly, would have been busy with the direct murder of this monster, but here he does not even look at him: obviously, the" murderous "principle is not recognized here." Colossal stone lions Carroll sees so peaceful that they "both, like kittens, roll huge balls in front of them."

Moscow seems to Carroll as a city of white and green roofs, conical towers and gilded domes, "where, as if in a crooked mirror, the pictures of city life are reflected." And behind the majestic panorama of the Moskva River, Carroll sets off for Vorobyovy Gory, from which Napoleon's army first saw the city. Together with his guide, Mr. Penny, he watches with interest the "extremely interesting ceremony" - the Russian wedding, and soon watches "The Burgomaster's Wedding" at the Maly Theater. In Nizhny Novgorod, the British walk around the fair and buy icons, and after a typical Novgorod panorama they climb the Minin Tower.

As a priest who pushed for the unification of the Eastern and Western Churches, Carroll, of course, is interested in church services, in his words, "so much speaking to the senses." He especially notes the unusually beautiful church vestments, sonorous voices and, of course, icons. “The difficulty for us was not what to buy, but what not to buy,” Carroll writes about the icons from the Trinity Lavra, which Prince Chirkov, incredibly attentive to foreigners, helped him acquire.

However, theaters and art galleries seem to the English writer in places no less spiritual. Not understanding Russian words, Carroll, nevertheless, admires the acting, and after watching several plays in a row at once, he, clearly tired and enthusiastic, ambiguously remarks in his diary: "Everything went in Russian." In general, the Russian language is a special topic for the author of Jabberwocky. Most of all, Carroll was struck by the Russian word for "defenders", which in the English transcription seems really monstrous: Zashtsheeshtschayjushtsheekhsya. But then he buys a dictionary and phrasebook, writes himself items from the menu like "parasainok", "asetrina", "kótletee", and soon he is confidently bargaining with the cabbies.

The goal set by Carroll and Liddon was only partially achieved in the end. The meeting with Metropolitan Philaret at the Trinity-Sergius Lavra on August 12, 1867 made a deep impression on the British. But it was not possible to meet with other prominent Russian figures and convey messages to them - you can hardly meet anyone in the city at the height of summer. But the gentlemen clearly had plenty of pleasant impressions. Carroll hardly spoke of Russian beauties as a diplomat: the notes he made during the trip were not intended for publication. But, fortunately, they have not sunk into oblivion and are now known under the name "Russian Diary".

25 quotes from "Alice in Wonderland", the meaning of which is revealed only to adults

We begin to understand these clearly not childish statements only when we grow up!

1. You need to run as fast just to stay in place, and to get somewhere, you need to run at least twice as fast!

2. Everything has its own morality, you just need to be able to find it!

3. - You can't believe the impossible!

“You just have little experience,” said the Queen. - At your age, I devoted half an hour to this every day! On some days I managed to believe in a dozen impossibilities before breakfast!

4. You know, one of the most serious losses in a battle is losing your head.

5. Tomorrow is never today! Is it possible to wake up in the morning and say: "Well, now, finally tomorrow"?

6. Few people find a way out, some do not see it, even if they find it, and many do not even look for it.

7. - Being serious about anything in this world is a fatal mistake.

- Is life serious?

- Oh yes, life is serious! But not really …

8. I have seen such nonsense, compared to which this nonsense is an explanatory dictionary!

9. The best way to explain is to do it yourself.

10. If each person did their own thing, the Earth would spin faster.

11. - Where can I find someone normal?

- Nowhere, - answered the Cat, - there are no normal ones. After all, everyone is so different and unlike. And this, in my opinion, is normal.

12. Just think that because of some thing you can decrease so much that you turn into nothing.

13. No matter how she tried, she could not find a shadow of meaning here, although all the words were perfectly clear to her.

14. If your head is empty, alas, the greatest sense of humor will not save you.

15. - What do you want?

- I want to kill time.

- Time does not like it very much when it is killed.

16. She always gave herself good advice, although she rarely followed it.

17. - Don't be sad, - said Alice. - Sooner or later everything will become clear, everything will fall into place and line up in a single beautiful pattern, like lace. It will become clear why everything was needed, because everything will be correct.

18. - And what are those sounds, over there? - asked Alice, nodding at a very secluded thicket of some pretty vegetation at the edge of the garden.

“And these are miracles,” the Cheshire Cat explained indifferently.

- And.. And what are they doing there? - asked the girl, inevitably blushing.

“As expected,” the cat yawned. - Happens …

19. If it were so, it would still be nothing. If, of course, it was so. But since it is not so, it is not so. This is the logic of things.

20. Everything that is said three times becomes true.

21. Never consider yourself not what others do not think you, and then others will not consider you not what you would like them to appear.

22. Ten nights is ten times warmer than one. And ten times colder.

23. - Tell me, please, where should I go from here?

- Where do you want to go? - answered the Cat.

- I don't care … - said Alice.

- Then it doesn't matter where you go, - said the Cat.

24. The plan, to be sure, was excellent: simple and clear, it’s better not to come up with it. He had only one drawback: it was completely unknown how to carry it out.