Document Type
Poster
Session Format
Oral presentation only (in-person)
Publication Date
3-28-2023
Faculty Advisor
Peter Selgin
Abstract
Lewis Carroll’s (Charles Dodgson’s) Alice stories (1865, 1871) and Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange (1962) remain some of the most linguistically inventive works of English literature. Yet despite their shared fondness for creative wordplay—and due, perhaps, to the stylistic differences of their respective film adaptations—Carroll and Burgess are rarely considered side by side. While some of the parallels between their works can no doubt be traced to James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake—which took inspiration from Carroll and which Burgess, in turn, translated into Italian—the similarities between the Alice stories and A Clockwork Orange are significant enough in themselves to merit attention. Beginning with a biographical comparison of Dodgson’s and Burgess’s backgrounds, this critical-creative essay explores the way the authors’ religious upbringings and intellectual pursuits influenced their creative work. The essay then examines the way that both books use their “coming-of-age” structure as a vehicle through which to explore the power of creative wordplay. As linguistic outsiders in their respective worlds, both “little Alice” and “little Alex” find freedom from the limitations of the adult world through creative expression. By tracing the cycles of growth apparent in both protagonists, we can observe that the narratives also lend themselves toward a liberating stance on language that is of interest to writers, readers, and language enthusiasts of all stripes.
Recommended Citation
Bishoff, Colin, "Alex in Wonderland (or A Clockwork Tour) + Whale Watching" (2023). Graduate Research Showcase. 110.
https://kb.gcsu.edu/grposters/110
Comments
Instead of using the entirety of my presentation to talk about my research, I am going to summarize the main points of my research at the beginning of my presentation. For the rest of my time, I will read from one of my thesis stories that was inspired by Carroll's work.