Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland

5. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: The Romanian Translations of Lewis Carroll's Masterpiece

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll is a book that delighted me since childhood, and this is the main reason why I have chosen to study it closely. The story is simple: Alice enters the realm of fantasy, where everything is possible. The unmatched talent of Lewis Carroll is to use this "open door" to demonstrate, in an ingenious and subtle way, the fragile difference between dream and reality, between the absurd and logical, without losing the naturalness, the spontaneity and the freshness of the story. No matter how often I read this book and about this book, there is something new to discover every time.

Oliver Lansley (2015), creative director and co-writer of two stage adaptations of Lewis Carroll's story Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, reveals some curious facts about Alice and Carroll, that are not very known:

1) Alice's character was based on a real-life little girl named Alice Liddell. She was in fact not a blonde as illustrated in the book, but a brunette. The real life Alice has been portrayed in fiction almost as many times as the fictional one!

2) The tree that is said to have inspired the Cheshire Cat's tree, stands in the garden behind Alice's home at Christ Church College, Oxford.

3) The Mock Turtle soup is real! It was a popular dish in Victorian times, created as a Cheaper version of green turtle soup. It was made from various odd parts of a calf, such as brains, head and hoof.

4) After reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Queen Victoria, having loved the book, suggested that Carroll dedicate his next book to her! And so, his next work, An Elementary Treatise on Determinants, With Their Application to Simultaneous Linear Equations and Algebraic Equations, was presented to the Queen – perhaps not quite what she'd had in mind…

5) Lewis Carroll's real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. His pseudonym is an Anglicization of Ludovicus, the Latin version of ''Lutwige'', and the Irish surname Carroll, which bares great resemblance to the Latin forbear of ''Charles'', Carolus.

6) Lewis Carroll suffered from a rare neurological disorder that causes strange hallucinations and affects the size of visual objects, which can make the sufferer feel bigger or smaller than they are – a huge theme of the book. The disease, first discovered by the English psychiatrist John Todd in 1955, was later named Alice in Wonderland Syndrome. It was also known as Todd's syndrome.

7) The novel was banned in China in 1931, on the grounds that ''animals should not use human language''.

8) In 1890 Lewis Carroll released a shortened version of Alice's adventures in Wonderland, for smaller children, aged ''from nought to five''. It includes 20 of John Tenniel's illustrations from the original book coloured, enlarged and, in some cases, revised.

It’s sometimes said that Lewis Carroll’s Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was the origin of all later children’s literature, and I’m inclined to agree. There were books for children before 1865, but they were almost all written to make a moral point. Good children behave like this; bad children behave like that, and they are punished for it, and serve them right. In Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, for the first time, we find a realistic child taking part in a story whose intention was entirely fun. Both children and adults loved them at once, and have never stopped doing so. The story is as fresh and clever and funny today as it was a hundred and fifty years ago.

5.1. How was Alice's Adventures in Wonderland born, almost 151 years ago?

Almost 151 years ago, on July 4, 1862, a young mathematician, Charles Dodgson – better known under the name Lewis Carroll – embarked on a boat with a small group, with the intention of reaching Godstow – a small town near Oxford – for a picnic with tea and cakes on the river. Along with Carroll there were: Reverend Robinson Duckworth and three younger sisters of his good friend, Harry Liddell – Edith (8 years), Alice (10 years) and Lorina (13 years). Tasked with the mood of the three young women, Dodgson figured a story about a whimsical world, full of fantastic characters, where the protagonist's name is Alice. Alice Liddell was so fascinated by the story, that she asked Dodgson to write down on paper for her. He complied with her desire, and after some time, he sent her a manuscript entitled, "The Adventures of Alice Underground". The manuscript has been sent to George MacDonald, a model for Dogson, who tested it in the best way possible: he read it to his own children, who were hopelessly in love with the story. Encouraged, Dodgson revised the whole story for publication, changing the title in the one that everybody knows – "Alice in Wonderland" – and adding the famous scene of tea and a new character, Kitty Cheshire, which led to doubling the number of pages compared to the original version, sent to Alice Liddell.

In 1865, John Tenniel realized the illustrations for the first version of the book. In connection with this collaboration, Martin Gardner tells a funny anecdotal in his book The Annotated Alice (1959: 35):

Drawing Tenniel's Alice is performed by the image of Alice Liddell, who had dark hair, cut short with bangs. Carroll sent to the drawer a photography of Mary Hilton Badcock, another girl, recommending him to use it as a model. If Tenniel followed the advice or not is debatable. Failing to do that, is suggested by rows below excerpts from a letter that Carroll wrote shortly after the book was published …

In the letter that Lewis Carroll published (1865), he said about John Tenniel that:

Mr. Tenniel is the only artist who drew for me and who refused resolutely to use a model, saying that he does not need it and that rather than pestering him, it would be better to solve a math problem. I dare to say he was wrong when he refused to draw after a model, resulting a total disproportionate Alice, having a too big head and too small feet.

5.2. About Mr. John Tenniel and the illustrations for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Sir John Tenniel (1820 – 1914), an English illustrator and political cartoonist for the Punch magazine, made the illustrations for both Alice in Wonderland books. For many aspects of the illustrations, he got precise instructions from author Charles Dogson. Therefore, we can be fairly sure that the pictures give an accurate representation of how Dodgson imagined the characters and the events.

It is said that Dodgson had driven Tenniel almost crazy by providing him with so much details and instructions, and therefore he almost turned down the request when he was asked to illustrate the sequel. However, whether this really is true, is debatable. Surviving letters seem to suggest Dodgson was quite willing to accept the artist’s ideas, and in the illustrations the typical style of Tenniel is recognizable. He may even have added his own subtle references in the illustrations.

The influence Tenniel had on Dodgson is illustrated by the fact that Dodgson recalled the first edition of his book, only because Tenniel expressed dissatisfaction about the quality of the printing of the pictures. Also, Dodgson dropped an entire chapter from his book on Tenniel’s suggestion.

It did, however, indeed take long for Tenniel to accept the job of illustrating Through the Looking Glass and what Alice found there, probably because he had a very busy schedule. Dodgson therefore was forced to consider other illustrators. Fortunately, none of these plans came through and finally, after two and a half years of persuading, Tenniel did agree to illustrate the second book as well, being it only ''in the time he could find''.

5.2.1. Creating the illustrations

According to Rodney Engen, Tenniel’s biographer, his method for creating the illustrations of the Alice books was the same as the method he used for Punch, namely preliminary pencil drawings, further drawings in ‘ink and Chinese white’ to simulate the wood  engraver’s line, then transference to the wood-block by the use of tracing paper. Then the drawings were engraved to the highest standards, in this instance by the Dalziel Brothers.

Carroll appears to have ordered many (expensive!) changes to them. The final stage in the reproduction process was to make electrotype plates from the wood-engravings, using them as masters. The electrotype plates were used for the actual printing.

Because of the difficult process of creating wood-blocks involved, sometimes concessions had to be made as to the overall design of the illustration. For example, a character might be moved into a different position – which probably happened with the ape in the illustration of the Dodo with the thimble. And, once wood had been removed, it could not be put back without a great deal of difficulty. A small number of Alice wood-blocks have had alterations or repairs made to them, that are in some cases detectable from the proofs which have been taken directly from the blocks. For example, the wood-block of the Hatter at the trial scene, the section showing the Hatter’s cup with a piece bitten out, had to be repaired and re-engraved.

In 1981, the original wood-blocks were discovered in a bank vault where they had been deposited by the publisher. They are now at the British Library.

Tenniel made some mistakes in his illustrations: In chapter 1 we are told: “[…] she found herself in a long low hall, which was lit up by a row of lamps hanging from the roof.” In Tenniel’s illustration of Alice and the White Rabbit running through this hall, no lamps are visible however.

Alice and the White Rabbit

If we compare Tenniel’s first drawing of the White Rabbit with his second one, we observe that in the second one the Rabbit’s vest is checked just like his jacket.

picture 1 picture 2

When Alice meets the Cheshire Cat sitting in a tree, he vanishes and reappears again at once. When Alice walks on, he reappears again on a branch. This time, he disappears more slowly, on Alice’s request. However, the picture of this slow vanishing shows the Cheshire Cat sitting in exactly the same tree as he was in when Alice met him before walking on.

picture 1 picture 2

In two illustrations, the Hatter’s bow tie has a pointed end on his left. In a later illustration, the pointed end is on his right.

picture 1 picture 2

If we compare the frontispiece illustration with the second illustration of the King of Hearts during court, there are several inconsistencies: the crown is different, spectacles have appeared, the orb and sceptre have disappeared, and the court officials have fallen asleep.

picture 1 picture 2

In spite of these small mistakes, John Tenniel's illustrations for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland have taken their place among the most famous literary illustrations ever made.

5.3. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll is greater than any other motivational book!

The narrative of the story Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll was integrated in the popular culture, inspiring numerous artistic projects. Although the author has devoted particular story of a child, Alice Liddell, the text became guide all those who are preparing to become adults. Illustrated teachings are needed by every anxious child across the adult's world. For this reason, I will share with you the lessons that I have acquired chasing the rabbit with jacket and watch.

Keeps curiosity. Unfortunately, maturation tends to reverse a prerequisite knowledge, namely curiosity. Adults turn into sullenly and bored creatures, that make you wonder why they no longer see the world's wonders. Once activated, curiosity must be kept, because it does not anticipate the future, but promises surprises. Without it, Alice would not have access the underground land, and she would have remained simply to nap in the garden. Curiosity fosters growth and replaces the fear generated by the unknown world of adults.

Find the logic of the absurd. For a child it is handy to ignore normality. Many of the rules of our world may seem to him/her absurd and boring. Because we accept and we adapt to the absurd of ''Wonderland'', we observe that the story is nothing else but a parody of the adult world. Before adulthood we laugh, because we know that we will participate in it soon. Absurdity has also a logic, so that the order can be found even where it seems to patronize anarchy and madness. Finding the logic of the absurd, it is much easier to us to adapt to confusing situations and to overcome them unaffected.

Accept your change. Life has certain stages, but a child is disoriented when he goes through them. They try to slow their growth or conversely, to hurry it up. Caterpillar teaches them that change is not at all frightening. Who else would know better about metamorphosis, if not this future butterfly? You can know who you were in the morning, but to change several times during the day, up to completely forget who you are. No matter how much panic would cause partial loss of identity, does it scare me that I do not know to answer the question who I am? We grow up all the time, so we can only be sure on ourselves, learning to manage changes.

The language is insufficient. We constantly enrich our vocabulary. In Wonderland we get used to various meanings that a word acquires. We are dealing with riddles, rhetorical questions and confusion generated by homonymy. Ironies and sophistry put us on another level of communication, a more familiar one for adults. We encounter many plans of a discourse that it seems impossible to convey the message properly. We learn to be playful or demanding with language forms, in our attempt to translate our inner world.

Behave nicely. Duchess gives an inadequate example than a child should be educated, because she is a violent person. Parents and teachers teach us how to live according to others and induce us the need of membership in certain social groups. We believe that ideas about education help for a better life. However, the story shows us how funny can be sometimes these conditions for participation in the world. We do not always need geography and Latin lessons mechanically stored. Among many pretentious labels, we get bored exactly as our character. Sometimes we are practicing courtesy, sometimes we consider society a circus of the rules of social conduct.

It's okay to be a little mad, we're all so. I learned not to judge others, no matter as eccentric as their behaviour would be. Each manifestation of personality is fascinating. Mad Hatter, as the personification of madness, shows us a way to be privileged, because it ignores normality in which we thought before reading this. He introduces himself with an exaggerated cheerfulness that he masks in songs and dance. We accept inclusive our own madness, manifested in thought or in speech. Eventually, life is where we practice the roles of the most curious.

Face authority. The rules often seem out of control, and the judgment is not always right. Including between children and adults, there will always be a relation of inequality, so you must learn to handle any situation. The laws take the form of mandatory and they are accompanied by great expectations from sovereigns. In case of violation, the penalties can be disproportionate, as the characters in the story are threatened with beheading. Often, citizens are mindless obedience. Alice teaches children to say aloud how much nonsense exist in all of these. In some situations, children should have the courage to show the injustice. Immorality appears naked like the Emperor, whom people are afraid to say the truth.

Follow your own advice. Alice gave herself good advice, although rarely she followed it. We all offer recipes for life, pretending to be followed. Instead, we can not trust ourselves that we'll turn theory into practice. The most important is to weigh what we believe to be right and to allow ourselves to make mistakes, because these are part of our transformation. Based on the experience, it follows that the advice that we give ourselves to become clear rules, which ones we can follow with confidence.

Just as the Duchess says in the story, "everything has a moral if you find it." On the one hand, Lewis Carroll used young audience with bizarre maturity. On the other hand, adult became children again, making fun of their apparent seriousness. In fact, all adults are nothing else but children disguised in adults. By following the Wonderland's model, life becomes a game in which to be crazy is a norm. Where there is a game, time becomes eternity, and you can think of in the morning to at least six impossible things, because the only thing that remains to appoint reality is imagination. Alice in Wonderland has given us a world turned upside down, so that the world that we belong, suddenly became accessible, enabling us to play at will, fearless.

5.4. Alice's Adventures in Romanian language

At the time of publication (much less at the time of writing) Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) Lewis Carroll does not suspect the brilliant and constant success (both from the public and critics) that the book will have. Although critical comments from that era are rather reserved (moderate laudatory, in the best case) – perhaps because the text is "enlisted" without hesitation in the minor system of "children's literature" – the destiny of the first Alice's Adventures book is considered to be exceptional, immediately after launching it on the market. Being a best-seller in the UK (25,000 copies sold in the first five years, 86,000 by 1898, when Charles Dodgson dies), the story of the amazing adventures of Alice begins its international career by author's caring, who issues the first translations (in French and German – in 1869; in Italian – 1872), by hiring himself translators and watching closely the process of transposing the original text, in those languages. In the eighth decade of the nineteenth century, also appear some translations into Swedish, Danish, Dutch and Russian. Then there appeared tens and hundreds versions of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, in all languages ​​of the world (even in Latin and Esperanto), Carroll's fiction assuring her own (along with the Bible and Shakespeare) a permanent place in the forefront of the most often translated books in the world.

In Romania, Alice arrives in the twentieth century, after more than 70 years after the book's launch. From 1939 to 1997, there are six translations of the first Alice's Adventures and only three – in 1939, 1971 and 1977 – of the second, because the second one, Alice through the Looking Glass, put infinitely more linguistic problems. The two books have appeared in tandem only in 1939, in one volume, and in 1997, as twins volumes .

The first three attempts to familiarize the Romanian receiver with this Lewis Carroll's texts, are absolutely deplorable in every aspect. Graphical presentation is, in each case, very modest and illustrations beneath criticism: dull (often inept), free styled and inexpressive; otherwise, no one recognizes his/her responsibility of the errors. Only in the 1939 edition, there is a signature enigmatically Rab. In the 1947 edition, illustrations are obviously realized by two or more different people, among which collaboration or, at least, artistic compatibility, is completely missing. So it is that, in the same book, only a few pages away, Alice shows when a robust and ruddy peasant , with long hair, gathered in ponytail, when precious ingenue, with a bob haircut, with studied and artificial attitudes. The illustrations are placed on the page without any system, and sometimes mistakenly placed in the context of the narrative.

Beside all these signs confusing and dissuasive, translations themselves are added, which are of a very poor quality: full of clumsiness, with uninspired equivalents, inconsistent and with plenty of language errors.

In N. Ionescu's translation into Romanian from 1947, inexplicably, the Gryphon becomes … Scorpion. The Mock Turtle is the "turtle-headed calf" without any explanation, likely culinary, that could clarify the situation or the wordplay, or, in other translations it is simply, called "The false turtle" but the image, copy of the original illustration signed by John Tenniel, makes a mess of things, presenting, however, the character with calf head by not providing a minimum explanation required.

In B. Eugen's Romanian translation from 1998, the Caterpillar is a lady caterpillar in the text, while the illustration is assigned a clothing and accessories that define a man.

In such unfortunate "mirrors", the text can not be understood, but trivialized, distorted, reduced to a hypostasis that is not worthy to be read. Low triage of that books "solves" somewhat the difficult problem of a possible contact, in the best case insignificant, of the Romanian receptor to these unsuccessful translations. We still hope that not many were those who knew Lewis Carroll exclusively through these dull channels, graceless and fun, except for the involuntary, only that our hope, drastically decreases and we are disappointed again, because, is re-launched on the market in 1999, as endorsed by the publisher Regis, just one of the incriminated translations – the one signed by Nora Galin, who, as consolation, scheduled or not, is at least accompanied, this time, of Tenniel's drawings.

The first honourable Romanian translation is Elizabeth Gălățeanu's Alice in Wonderland, from 1958. The famous conversation on the curriculum in which ''The False Turtle'' is studying, conveys only partially the puns that arrived at maximum intensity, so that the Romanian receiver can accede only slightly in the original spiritual verve:

,,[…] -Profesorul era un învățător bătrân căruia noi îi spuneam Țestosul… .

– De ce îi spuneați Țestosul dacă nu era țesos? întrebă Alice''. Confusion arises because in English language, ,,țestos'' (tortoise) and ,,ne învăța'' (taught us) have a similar pronunciation and the Mock Turtle confuse these words. The similarity between the English words: reeling and reading (reading – citire); writhing and writing (writing – scriere); ambition and (addition – adunare), distraction and decreasing (decreasing – scădere) and the coined word uglification, also creates confusion.

It is not clear what would be "a cross Caucus" or why lobsters became crabs, as unjustified is transforming the name Lacie (anagram for Alice) to Lucie. The attempt to recreate a character's name ambivalence – Bill from Chapter IV ( in Romanian language Bill / bilețel) when " The Rabbit sent a note (note translation into Romanian is bilețel) on the horn" – is rather forced and disturbs somehow relational network, even if it changes character's genre, along with the name: Bill, the gardener and the handyman who lives around the White Rabbit's house becomes in the translation ''The flower'', confusion occurring due to the fact that ''The Rabbit sends a flower". Overall, however, this is a good translation and allows, indeed to the Romanian's reader to understand the story. An advantage of this editorial variant is represented by the black and white colour illustrations plus 12 colour drawings, one for each chapter, made by the graphic designer Mabel Lucie Attwell. Even if Mabel Lucie Attwell is counting on entry in a register which, stylistically, it's pretty unlikely to come into line with the text of Carroll, illustrations are professionally made and with evident concern to serve the story, and their cuddly grace is probably more appreciated by sentimental people.

Until the newest Romanian version from 2007 by Mirella Acsente, which is the most faithful, literally speaking, to the original and which is accompanied by Tenniel's classic illustrations, the landmark translations of both Alice books belong to Frida Papadache. Her translation has a quite remarkable coherence and fluency, it has stylistic unity and manages to communicate largely the crazy charm that vibrates the fictional world proposed by Lewis Carroll. Finding the right tone is almost magical, which, just like in prototype, does not deviate neither in the gracious register, nor in the false and exaggerated one. The atmosphere created by the exceptional text and the images that are connected to it – all the characters, realistically transposed, have shadows with abstract shapes, that are, actually, projections of chess pieces they represent – is one of spiritual elevation. The book's format, the quality paper used, the font used, the chromatic sumptuousness of the cover, are details that places Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in the space of illustrated books, that are different in editorial design by the English editions – usually with a reduced format, communicating indirectly that it is a book "to read" not "to browse". This Romanian version is a winning bet from all points of view, but we have only to regret that, for reasons quite obscure, the copies in circulation are very rare – although, this time, a re-edition would be more than welcome!

It deserves a separate discussion in the context of the Romanian translation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, a book published in 1998 in Chișinău, which is generously broadcast in Romania. The format is close to the original, it has Tenniel's illustrations, the cover is a lively and attractive collage of images (selected from Tenniel's "portfolio") on a coloured background, suggesting a space of logical, physical and geometrical enigmas. The book has a quality graphical presentation. It also includes a useful chronological table and a selection of critical acclaim, signed by Walter de la Mare, Virginia Woolf, Martin Gardner. With that, unfortunately, it goes off the list of merits of this book, whose weak point is precisely the substance: translation. The first obstacle for a Romanian reader is the abundance of regionalisms, that doesn't fit with the precious and ceremoniously rationality from character's replicas. So, the distribution of this translation outside Moldavia's borders is a monumental mistake, because in a first place it neglects and ignores, an essential aspect of linguistic communication. Secondly, beyond that dialect aspect, this is a failed translation of which Nina Ischimji, respectively Constantin Dragomir (who is also caretaker of this edition) are guilty. The initial meanings are often truncated by approximate or wrong equivalences, caused by a superficial knowledge of English. We say with regret that such a book is not of any help in promoting Lewis Carroll's citadel, because it designs a crooked and clumsy reflex.

5.5. A comparison between Eugen B. Marian's translation (1998) and Mirella Acstente's translation (2007) with the original Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865)

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll is not a mere fiction for children. This classic story is full of philosophy and truisms. The absurdity of the plot is exciting, but the basic message will leave a lasting impression to you, an impression that will remain forever in your mind.

In what follows, I will make a comparison between the original story Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll and two Romanian translations of the story, that of Eugen B. Marian from 1946 and that of Mirella Acsente from 2007. The aspects that I will bring into discussion and I will compare, are puns, phrases, sayings and translation mistakes.

1)

In chapter VI – Pig and Pepper – we encounter this discussion between Alice and the Duchesse , about the Cheshire cat. In the original version of the book, Carroll uses Cheshire cat, having in mind the English phrase ''To grin like a Cheshire Cat''. (translation into Romanian: ''a rânji cu gura până la urechi''). The first appearance of this phrase in literature was in the 18th century. A classical dictionary of the vulgar tongue (1788) by Francis Grose ( The Second Edition, Corrected and Enlarged, London) contains the following entry: ''CHESHIRE CAT. He grins like a Cheshire cat – it is said of anyone who shows his teeth and gums in laughing.'' Eugen B. Marian doesn't take into account this English expression, maybe that's why he uses the verb ,,a surâde'' in spite of ,,a rânji'', leading to an excessive removal of the original text. Instead, Mirella Acsente not only uses in her translation the verb ,,a rânji'' but she also explains the phrase in footnotes.

2).

In the same sixth chapter in the discussion between Alice and the Cheshire cat we encounter the names: the Hatter and the March Hare. At an overview, the two translations seem to be all right, they even resemble each other, but what sets them apart is the fact that Mirella Acsente's translation explains these names. The Mad Hatter and the March Hare are names based on the fact that in England, there are the phrases: ''as mad as a Hatter'' (translation into Romanian: nebun ca un pălărier) and ''as mad as a March Hare'' (translation into Romanian: nebun ca un iepure de martie).

3).

We encounter this question in Chapter VI, in the discussion between Alice and the Cheshire Cat. We can observe that none of translations doesn't reproduce the idea from the original text. More than this, none of the Romanian translations doesn't keep the patronymic used in the original version of the story. Even if the Romanian translators use other words than ''fig'' (smochină) and ''pig'' (porc), it is admirable that they keep the rhyme.

4).

The question ''Who Stole the Tarts?'' represents the title of the Chapter XI. As we can see, Eugen B. Marian uses the noun prăjiturile in spite of tartele when translating the noun tarts. The English translation for prăjitură is cake. The use the word-for-word translation is not usually recommended. here, translating tars by prăjiturile is a mistake. To demonstrate this mistake, I will define the nouns cake and tart.

A Cake is a sweet dessert baked in the oven. The modern cakes, especially those with multiple layers, usually contain a mixture of flour, sugar, eggs and butter or oil, all mixed with another liquid (usually milk or water) and leavening agents (such as yeast or baking powder). They can contain flavour ingredients, such as fruit purees, nuts, dried or candied fruits; often adds many substances which substitute these primary ingredients. Cakes are often filled with fruits, cream or butter, and decorated with marzipan or candied fruits.

Meanwhile, a tart is a baked dish consisting of a filling over a pastry, with an open top not covered with pastry. The pastry is usually a short crust pastry; the feeling may be sweet or savoury, though modern tarts are usually fruit-based, sometimes with custard. So, the nouns cake and tart denote two distinct sweet products and that's why Eugen B. Marian's translation prăjiturile, it is not correct in this context.

5).

In chapter IX – The Mock Turtle’s Story – appears the above saying, in the context of Alice's discussion with the Duchess: ''[…] flamingos and mustard both bite. And the moral of that is – 'Birds of a feather flock together'.'' Both translators try to transfer this English saying by replacing it with a Romanian one. Mirella Acsente's attempt is successful, because she uses a well-known Romanian proverb. Eugen B. Marian could match the words better, by using the well-known Romanian proverb ,,Spune-mi cu cine te-nsoțești, ca să-ți spun cine ești.''

6).

We can find these phrases in the ninth chapter of the book. At an overview, the two translations seem to be all right. They even resemble each other, but what sets them apart is the fact that Mirella Acsente's translation adds some extra details in footnotes, in order to explain the provenance of this phrase. She says that the above mentioned phrase is a paraphrasing of the saying ''Take care of the pence and the pounds will take care of themselves'' (translated into Romanian: ,,Fii econom cu paraua și galbenul se va păzi singur'').

7)

We can find the nouns porpoise and purpose in Chapter X, in the dialogue between Alice and the Mock Turtle, in which the use of these two homophones creates confusion. The Mock Turtle refers to a ''porpoise'', a sea creature that he wants to go with on a journey. From the Mock Turtle's speech, Alice infers that the Mock Turtle wants to say that she doesn't know the ''purpose'' a certain sea creature wants to go with on a journey. The Mock Turtle is offended by Alice's remark, and he let us know that he really refers to a ''porpoise'' and not a ''purpose''. This discourse is ambiguous, and the ambiguity results from the fact that ''porpoise'' may be replaced by ''purpose''. Both sentences are intelligible, but their meanings are not the same.

Neither of the two Romanian translators uses homophones as Romanian equivalents for ''porpoise'' and ''purpose''. Eugen B. Marian replaces the homophones with the homonyms ''leu'' and ''leu''. In Romanian language, the noun leu has two different meanings: leu – as a wild animal and leu – as the Romanian national currency. Even if Eugen B. Marian uses homonyms instead of homophones, he keeps the ambiguity transmitted by the author in the original version of the story.

In her translation, Mirella Acsente doesn't use homophones or homonyms for ''porpoise'' and ''purpose'', but she tries to keep some rhyme by using two short nouns: ''scop'' and ''porc''.

8)

The dialogue between Alice and the Mouse from the third Chapter, also creates confusion in Alice's mind. Instead of perceiving sad ''tale'', Alice perceives sad ''tail''. That's why she imagines a ''tale'' written'' in the shape of a ''tail''. Lewis Carroll came up with a solution, writing a story in a shape of a mouse's tail moving in a zigzag.

In the original version of the story, ''tail'' and ''tale'' are two homophones. In both Romanian translations, the translators used the homonyms ''coadă'' – as part of mouse's body and ''coadă'' – as capăt, final, in order to keep the ambiguity transmitted by Lewis Carroll.

9)

Lewis Carroll likes playing with words in an original manner, creating puns. In the dialogue between the Duchess and Alice from the Chapter nine, the Duchess creates an original pun, using two lexical items mine. The first one is a noun referring to the place the mineral substances are extracted from. The second mine is a possessive pronoun related to the individual who speaks, which is put in opposition with the possessive pronoun yours. The ambiguity is created by the words more and less. We don't know if the Duchess refers to a tunnel dug into the ground or if she only likes to find unusual combinations of words.

Translating puns is a hard work. As a proof we have the two Romanian translations of the above mentioned pun. Both Romanian translators try to keep the pun, but Mirella Acsente's translation is more successfully, because she keeps the ambiguity created by the words more and less.

5.6. The comparison of John Tenniel's illustrations and Mabel Lucie Attwell's illustrations from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Mirella Acsente's Romanian translation of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (2007) keeps the original illustrations, that of Tenniel's, while the translation of Eugen B. Marian (1998) uses the illustrations made by Mabel Lucie Atwell, which are of much lower quality than the originals and which contain many mistakes.

In what follows, I will make a comparison between the original illustrations used in Mirella Acsente's translation from 2007 and those of Mabel Lucie Atwell, used Eugen B. Marian's translation from 1998.

In chapter 5, named Advice from a Caterpillar translated by Eugen B. Marian – ,,SFATURI DIN PARTEA UNEI OMIZI'', the Romanian translator talks about a lady caterpillar, while in the illustration we can see a caterpillar using accessories that define a gentleman.

Illustration by Mabel Lucie Atwell

Just a few pages away, the image with the caterpillar reappears, but we can see that this one no longer resembles the one before. In addition, Alice looks like a little boy, wearing shorts and not a dress, as in the other images or as in Tenniel's original illustrations.

Illustration by Mabel Lucie Atwell Illustration by John Tenniel

Below we see two pictures depicting the character Queen of Hearts. We can observe that the original illustration, that of Tenniel's is of a higher quality than the other one, that of Mabel Lucie Atwell, in which the Queen of Hearts looks more like a witch.

Illustration by Mabel Lucie Atwell Illustration by John Tenniel

In these two pictures we can see exactly what I mentioned above: the quality of Tenniel's illustration is higher than Mabel Lucie Atwell's illustration. In the first picture the ''pretty dog'' looks more like a lamb, having no facial expression, while, in the second picture the dog looks extremely expressive and the illustration shows the undeniable Tenniel's talent.

Illustration by Mabel Lucie Atwell Illustration by John Tenniel

These two pictures illustrate the scene in which Alice meets the Cheshire Cat. The Cheshire Cat is the cat of the Duchess. Alice meets it when she leaves the Duchess house, and finds it in a tree. It constantly grins and can disappear and reappear whenever it likes. Sometimes it disappears and leaves its grin behind. While in Tenniel's picture we can see the cat's grin, and it is quite scary; in Atwell's picture we can see just a cute kitty smiling. Maybe that's why Eugen B. Marian translates the noun ''grin'' with the Romanian nouns ,, surâs'' and ''zâmbet'' instead of ,,rânjet''.

Illustration by Mabel Lucie Atwell Illustration by John Tenniel

5.7. Concluding remarks

In this case study I offered an overall image of the Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, of its author Lewis Carroll and of its illustrator John Tenniel. Then I have illustrated, using examples from the Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, the importance of reading this book by children and what they can learn from it.

I tried to provide an overview of many Romanian translations of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by arranging them in the order of their quality, while presenting their shortcomings or strengths. Then I put two Romanian translations, made by of Eugen B. Marian (1998) and Mirella Acsente (2007) face to face with the original Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I compared the two translations in terms of translation itself and of the illustrations used, showing that the translator's skills make a successful translation.

Theoretically, it is obvious that the existence of several translations of the same text is a good thing; the reader may face and can choose; he/she can privilege a translation or another. In practice, however, especially considering the concrete circulation in Romania of the texts here under discussion, the simultaneous and unreported / unrated critic presence of such translations, can only generate a confusion or reservation – even a refusal from the reader. But, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is not a ''some''. It is a major communication gate with Europe, and with our integration with the whole world – over borders, economic political, social, linguistic or cultural challenges.