Jabberwocky
Jabberwocky [ ˈdʒæbəˌwɒki ] is the title of a famous nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll from the book Alice Behind the Looking Glass ( 1871 ). The first stanza can be found in Mischmasch, a family magazine of his family , as early as 1855 . Much of the words used are made up. The poem achieves its effect through onomatopoeia, suitcase words and word associations.
The original poem
A translation in the traditional sense is not possible, but there are numerous adaptations in various languages. German translations exist from Robert Scott [1873], where the Jabberwock is called “Der Jammerwoch”, from Lieselotte Remané & Martin Remané [1967], who call him “Brabbelback”, and from Christian Enzensberger [1974], where he called him “Der Zipferlake ”.
- Jabberwocky
- by Lewis Carroll
Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!
He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.
And as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.
And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!
He chortled in his joy.
Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.
When Carroll was asked in 1887 by the editor of the school newspaper at the Girls' Latin School (now the Boston Latin Academy ) in Boston for permission to call it The Jabberwock , Carroll also gave the following subsequent meaning of the name:
“The Anglo-Saxon word 'wocer' or 'wocor' signifies 'offspring' or 'fruit'. Taking 'jabber' in its ordinary acceptation of 'excited and voluble discussion' ”
“The Anglo-Saxon word 'wocer' or 'wocor' means 'descendant' or 'fruit'. In addition, there is 'jabber' in its usual meaning as an 'excited and eloquent discussion' "
The figure
As in the picture by John Tenniel shown , the Jabberwock is a kite-like creature that combines the physical characteristics of western and eastern dragons, as can be seen from the clumsy body with unusually long limbs. Instead of the usual fangs of dragons, the teeth of the Jabberwock are rather smooth like those of a rodent. Because of the buttons on his stomach, it looks like he's wearing a vest.
Receptions
- The name of the American dance group "Jabbawockeez" is derived from the creature.
- The stop-motion animated film Jabberwocky by Jan Švankmajer (1971) refers loosely based on the poem by Carroll. It can be heard in full at the beginning of the film.
- The 1977 film Jabberwocky by Terry Gilliam is directly related to the poem by Lewis Carroll. The script was written by Charles Alverson and Terry Gilliam.
- Jabberwocky was set to music by the Dutch pagan folk band Omnia on the 2010 album Wolf Love .
- Donovan also set the poem to music.
- The American synth-rock band The Crüxshadows quotes the poem in their song Jabberwocky.
- The chatbot Jabberwock, awarded the Loebner Prize in 2003 , is based on the figure of Jabberwock.
- In empirical linguistics, “Jabberwocky” is a language that is syntactically correct, but does not make sense in terms of content because the words used do not contain any meanings. Such language finds z. B. Application in neurolinguistic research.
- In the 12th episode of the series Better Off Ted - Die Chaos AG , a non-existent project is called Jabberwocky.
- In the Super Nintendo role-playing game Secret of Mana , the Jabberwock is an intermediate opponent.
- The Australian band Brillig named itself after a word from the poem.
- In the film Thank You for Bombing (Austria 2015), the poem is recited by the protagonists, war reporters, during the credits.
literature
- Lewis Carroll: Alice in Wonderland. Alice behind the mirrors. With 37 illustrations by the author. 2 novels. Translated and edited by Christian Enzensberger . Insel Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1963.
- Lewis Carroll: The Brabbelback. Translated into German by Lieselotte and Martin Remané. Verlag Sauerländer, Düsseldorf 2003, ISBN 3-7941-5006-6 .
- Douglas R. Hofstadter : Translations of Jabberwocky. In: Hofstadter, Douglas R .: Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid. Basic Books, New York 1980, ISBN 0-394-74502-7 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Robert Scott: The Jabberwock, full text
- ^ Lieselotte & Martin Remané: Brabbelback, full text
- ^ Christian Enzensberger: Der Zipferlake, full text
- ^ Lewis Carrol: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Through the Looking Glass (= Oxford World's Classics ). New edition. Oxford University Press, 1998, ISBN 0-19-283374-X , pp. 268 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- ^ The History of the Jabberwock - Established February 1888. (No longer available online.) Girls' Latin School - Boston Latin Academy Association, Inc., archived from the original on January 20, 2013 ; accessed on April 5, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.