Cover not available
Part of
Interconnecting Translation Studies and Imagology
Edited by Luc van Doorslaer, Peter Flynn and Joep Leerssen
[Benjamins Translation Library 119] 2016
► pp. 87–107

Englishness in German translations of Alice in Wonderland

In order to explain away the peculiarity of Alice in Wonderland to a German audience, peritexts in many translations construct nonsense, the author Dodgson/Carroll and the novel itself as particularly English phenomena. Examining forewords and afterwords and some German translations, especially two post-war translations from 1922 and 1949 with clear and distinctive Anglo-German cultural agendas, this article will reveal a central paradox: while Englishness is evoked in these peritexts so that the familiarity of the national tropes may supposedly serve to counterbalance the strangeness of the novel, the translations themselves may, in contrast, actually neutralise or domesticate this purported Englishness. Combining imagology and translation studies, this analysis reveals strangely hybrid translations which peritextually proclaim one thing but in practice do another.
Keywords: Englishness, nonsense, imagology, translation studies, paratexts, narrator of the translation
Article outline
  • Englishness as a trope in German Alice in Wonderland translations
  • Imagology, translation studies and paratexts
  • German Alice in Wonderlands and their peritexts
  • The life and work of Dodgson/Carroll
  • The genesis of Alice in Wonderland
  • The socio-historic context
  • The translations themselves
  • The Englishness of Alice in Wonderland
  • Case study 1: Alice and Anglo-German relations
  • Case study 2: Alice in Wonderland and denazification
  • Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 25 February 2016
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.119.06sul
References (67)
References
Anon. n.d. [1949]. “Vorwort.” In Alices Abenteuer im Wunderland, Lewis Carroll. [Trans. Karl Köstlin; Ill. Lilo Rasch-Nägele], 4. Stuttgart: Riederer.Google Scholar
Bamberger, Richard. 1969. “Trends in der modernen Jugendliteratur.” In Trends in der modernen Jugendliteratur, ed. by Richard Bamberger, 3–32. Wien: Internationales Institut für Kinder-, Jugend- und Volksliteratur.Google Scholar
Barrett, R.G.L. 1922. “Nachwort.” In Alice im Wunderland, Lewis Carroll [Trans. Robert Guy Lionel Barrett;. Ill. F. W. Roth], 155–158. Würzburg: Selbstverlag des Übersetzers. Nürnberg: Der Bund.Google Scholar
Beller, Manfred, and Joep Leerssen (eds). 2007. Imagology: The Cultural Construction and Literary Representation of National Characters. A Critical Survey. Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi.Google Scholar
Bloch, Werner. 1946. “Vom Unsinn im allgemeinen und vom Unsinn in diesem Buch im besonderen.” In Alice im Wunderland, Lewis Carroll [Trans. Werner Bloch. Ill. Gertrud Jungfermann], 146–149. Berlin: Minerva.Google Scholar
Bourke, John. 1965. Englischer Humor. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.Google Scholar
Carroll, Lewis. n.d. [1869]. Alice’s Abenteuer im Wunderland [Trans. Antoine Zimmermann. Ill. John Tenniel]. Leipzig: Hartknoch. (= Carroll/Zimmermann 1869)Google Scholar
. 1912. Alice im Wunderland [Trans. Helene Scheu-Riesz. Ill. Arthur Rackham]. Weimar: Kiepenheuer. (= Carroll/Scheu-Riesz 1912a)Google Scholar
. n.d. [1912]. Liese im Wunderland [Trans. Helene Scheu-Riesz. Ill. Marta Hofrichter]. Wien: Konegen. (= Carroll/Scheu-Riesz 1912b)Google Scholar
. n.d. [1922]. Alice im Wunderland [Trans. Robert Guy Lionel Barrett. Ill. F. W. Roth]. Würzburg: Selbstverlag des Übersetzers. Nürnberg: Der Bund. (= Carroll/Barrett 1922)Google Scholar
. n.d. [1948]. Alice im Wunderland [Trans. Walther Günther Schreckenbach. Ill. Hanne Umrain-Fischer]. Nürnberg: Die Egge. (= Carroll/Schreckenbach 1948)Google Scholar
. 1949. Alicens Abenteuer im Wunderland [Trans. Franz Sester. Ill. Charlotte Strech-Ballot]. Düsseldorf: Drei Eulen. (= Carroll/Sester 1949)Google Scholar
. n.d. [1949]. Alices Abenteuer im Wunderland [Trans. Karl Köstlin. Ill. Lilo Rasch-Nägele]. Stuttgart: Riederer. (= Carroll/Köstlin 1949)Google Scholar
. 1963. Alice im Wunderland. Alice hinter den Spiegeln. Zwei Romane [Trans. and ed. by Christian Enzensberger. Ill. Lewis Carroll]. Frankfurt/M: Insel. (= Carroll/Enzensberger 1963)Google Scholar
. 1967. Alice im Wunderland [Trans. Liselotte Remané and Martin Remané;. Ill. Frans Haacken]. Berlin: Alfred Holz. (= Carroll/Remané 1967)Google Scholar
. 1970. Alice im Wunderland [Trans. Annegret Rausch-Hüger. Ill. Elisabeth Grauel-von Mandelsloh]. Balve: Engelbert-Verlag. (= Carroll/Rausch-Hüger 1970)Google Scholar
. 1985/1986. Alice im Wunderland [Trans. Barbara Teutsch. Ill. Arthur Rackham]. München: Domino. (= Carroll/Teutsch 1985/1986)Google Scholar
. 1988. Alice im Wunderland [Trans. and afterword by Dieter H. Stündel. Ill. Johann Peterka]. München: Goldmann. (= Carroll/Stündel 1988)Google Scholar
. 1989. Alice im Wunderland [Trans. Barbara Teutsch. Ill. John Tenniel]. Hamburg: Dressler. (= Carroll/Teutsch 1989)Google Scholar
. 1992. Alice im Wunderland [Trans. Nanette von Cube. Ill. Siggi Grunow]. Afterword Roger Willemsen. München: Boer. (= Carroll/von Cube 1992)Google Scholar
. 1993. Alice im Wunderland [Trans. Siv Bublitz. Ill. Klaus Ensikat]. Afterword Dieter E. Zimmer. Reinbek: Rotfuchs. (= Carroll/Bublitz 1993)Google Scholar
. 1999. Alices Abenteuer im Wunderland [Trans. Günter Flemming. Ill. John Tenniel]. Stuttgart: Reclam. (= Carroll/Flemming 1999)Google Scholar
. 2005. Alices Abenteuer im Wunderland [Trans. Martin Karau. Ill. Jassen Ghuiselev]. Berlin: Aufbau-Verlag. (= Carroll/Karau 2005)Google Scholar
. 2012. Alices Abenteuer im Wunderland. [Trans. Antonie Zimmermann. Getreu & behutsam erneuert von Gerd Haffmans. Ill. Jonathan Wolstenholme]. Leipzig: Haffmanns. (= Carroll/Zimmermann/Haffmanns 2012)Google Scholar
Enzensberger, Christian. 1963. “Die Aufruhr der Regeln.” In Alice im Wunderland. Alice hinter den Spiegeln. Zwei Romane, by Lewis Carroll. [Trans. and ed. Christian Enzensberger. Ill. Lewis Carroll], 255–265. Frankfurt/M: Insel.Google Scholar
Firchow, Peter Edgerly. 1986. The Death of the German Cousin. Variations on a Literary Stereotype, 1890–1920. Lewisburg, London, Toronto: Associated University Presses.Google Scholar
Flemming, Günter. 1999. “Alice selbdritt. Nachwort.” In Alices Abenteuer im Wunderland, Carroll, Lewis [Trans. Günter Flemming. Ill. John Tenniel], 167–198. Stuttgart: Reclam.Google Scholar
Genette, Gérard. 1997. Paratexts: Thresholds of interpretation [Transl. Jane E. Lewin]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hazard, Paul. 1932. Les livres, les enfants et les hommes. Paris: Flammarion.Google Scholar
Hermans, Theo. 1996. “The Translator’s Voice in Translated Narrative.” Target 8 (1): 23–48. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hoenselaars, Ton, and Joep Leerssen. 2009. “The Rhetoric of National Character. Introduction.” European Journal of English Studies 13 (3): 251–255. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Horton, David. 2002. “Describing Intercultural Transfer in Literary Texts: Alice in Wonderland.” In Kultur und Übersetzung. Methodologische Probleme des Kulturtransfers, ed. by Gisela Thome, Claudia Giehl, and Heidrun Gerzymisch-Arbogast, 95–113. Tübingen: Narr.Google Scholar
Hühnerfeld, Paul. 1955. “Drei kleine Mädchen und ein Dichter.” In Alice im Wunderland, Lewis Carroll [Trans. Sybil Gräfin Schönfeldt, Ill. Hildegard Hudemann], 5–12. München: Obpacher Buch und Kunstverlag.Google Scholar
Kellman, Steven. 2010. “Alien Autographs: How Translators Make Their Marks.” Neohelicon: Acta Comparationis Litterarum Universarum 37 (1): 7–19. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kent, Peter. 1972. “Nachwort.” In Alice im Wunderland. Eine Geschichte für Kinder, by Lewis Carroll [Trans Antonie Zimmermann, adapted by Peter Kent. Ill. John Tenniel], 189–191. Zürich/Köln: Benziger.Google Scholar
Köhler, Peter. 1990. “Nachwort.” In Das Nonsens-Buch, ed. by Peter Köhler, 333–351. Stuttgart: Reclam.Google Scholar
Kovala, Urpo. 1996. “Translations, Paratextual Mediation, and Ideological Closure.” Target 8 (1): 119–147. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lassen, Henrik, and Roy Sellars. 2009. “The Fawlty Rhetoric of National Character.” European Journal of English Studies 13 (3): 319–31. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lathey, Gillian. 2010. The Role of Translators in Children’s Literature: Invisible Storytellers. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Leach, Karoline. 1999. In the Shadow of the Dreamchild. A New Understanding of Lewis Carroll. London: Peter Owen.Google Scholar
Leerssen, Joep. 2007. “Imagology. History and method.” In Imagology: The Cultural Construction and Literary Representation of National Characters. A Critical Survey, ed. by Manfred Beller, and Joep Leerssen, 17–32. Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi.Google Scholar
Leonard, T.J. 1947. “First Steps in Cruelty.” British Zone Review: A Fortnightly Review of the Activities of the Control Commission for Germany (B.E.) and Military Government 1 (37): 10–13.Google Scholar
Liede, Alfred. 1963. Dichtung als Spiel. Studien zur Unsinnspoesie an den Grenzen der Sprache. Berlin: de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lindseth, Jon A., and Alan Tannenbaum (eds.). 2015. Alice in a World of Wonderlands. The Translations of Lewis Carroll’s Masterpiece. 3 vols. New Castle, Delaware: Oak Knoll Press.
Nord, Christiane. 1993. “Alice im Niemandsland. Die Bedeutung von Kultursignalen für die Wirkung von literarischen Übersetzungen.” In Traducere Navem. Festschrift für Katharina Reiß zum 70. Geburtstag, ed. by Justa Holz-Mänttäri, and Christiane Nord, 395–416. Tampere: Universität Tampere.Google Scholar
O’Sullivan, Emer. 2000. Kinderliterarische Komparatistik. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag C. Winter.Google Scholar
. 2003. “Narratology meets Translation Studies, or, The Voice of the Translator in Children’s Literature.” Meta 48 (1–2): 197–207. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
. 2011. “A sense of place? The Irishness of Irish Children’s Literature in Translation.” In Young Irelands: Studies in Children’s Literature, ed. by Mary S. Thompson, 137–153. Dublin: Four Courts Press.Google Scholar
. 2015. “Miss Zimmermann’s Legacy: German Translations of Alice im Wunderland .” In Lindseth and Tannenbaum (eds.), vol. 1, 259–269.
Scheu-Riesz, Helene. 1923. “An alle deutsche Kinder, die dieses Buch lesen!” In Alice im Wunderland, Lewis Carroll [Trans. Helene Scheu-Riesz. Ill. Uriel Birnbaum], n.p. Wien: Sesam Verlag.Google Scholar
Schönfeldt, Sybil Gräfin. 1991. “Alice unter der Erde.” In Alice im Wunderland, Lewis Carroll [Trans. Sybil Gräfin Schönfeldt. Ill. Julia Gukova], 8–11. Esslingen: Esslinger im ÖBV.Google Scholar
Seifert, Martina. 2005. “The Image Trap: The Translation of English-Canadian Children’s Literature into German.” In Children’s Literature Global and Local: Social and Aesthetic Perspectives, ed. by Emer O’Sullivan, Kimberley Reynolds, and Rolf Romøren, 227–39. Oslo: Novus Press.Google Scholar
. 2011. Die Bilderfalle: Kanada in der deutschsprachigen Kinder- und Jugendliteratur des 20. Jahrhunderts: Produktion und Rezeption. Leipzig. Inauguraldissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades Doktor philosophiae (Dr. phil.) an der Universität Leipzig.Google Scholar
Sester, Franz. 1949. “Vorwort.” In Alicens Abenteuer im Wunderland, Lewis Carroll [Trans. Franz Sester. Ill. Charlotte Strech-Ballot], 7–8. Düsseldorf: Drei Eulen.Google Scholar
Sichelschmidt, Gustav. 1962. “Die hundertjährige Alice.” Jugendliteratur 12, 529–532.Google Scholar
Simons, Anna. 1926. “Das englische Kinderbuch.” Die Literarische Welt, December 3, 9.Google Scholar
Soenen, Johan. 1992. “Imagology and Translation.” Linguistica Antverpiensia XXVI, 127–139.Google Scholar
Stephan-Kühn, Freya. 1995. “Nachwort.” In Alice im Wunderland, Lewis Carroll [Trans. Liselotte Remané and Martin Remané. Ill. Klaus Müller], 173–176. Würzburg: Arena.Google Scholar
Stündel, Dieter H. 1988. “Nachwort.” In Alice im Wunderland, Lewis Carroll [Trans. Dieter H. Stündel. Ill. Johann Peterka], 133–138. München: Goldmann.Google Scholar
Tahir Gürçağlar, Şehnaz. 2002. “What Texts Don’t Tell: The Uses of Paratexts in Translation Research.” In Crosscultural Transgressions. Research Models in Translation studies II: Historical and Ideological Issues, ed. by Theo Hermans, 44–60. Manchester: St. Jerome.Google Scholar
. 2011. “Paratexts.” In Handbook of Translation Studies, Volume 2, ed. by Yves Gambier, and Luc van Doorslaer, 113–6. Amsterdam: Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Teutsch, Barbara. 1989. “Variationen in Alice.” In Alice im Wunderland, Lewis Carroll [Trans. Barbara Teutsch. Ill. John Tenniel], 138–142. Hamburg: Dressler.Google Scholar
Wachsmuth, Gerda, and Peter A. Horn. 1948. “Onkel Dodo.” In Alice im Wunderland, Lewis Carroll [Trans. Gerda Wachsmuth and Peter A. Horn. Ill. Hicks], 181–189. Hamburg: Globus.Google Scholar
Wardetzky, Kristin. 2012. “Märchen in Erziehung und Unterricht.” Evangelische Stadtakademie München. [URL]. [Accessed 10 Januar 2013].
Weinkauff, Gina, and Martina Seifert. 2006. Ent-fernungen. Fremdwahrnehmung und Kulturtransfer in der deutschsprachigen Kinder- und Jugendliteratur seit 1945. 2 vols. München: iudicium.Google Scholar
Willemsen, Roger. 1985. “Nachwort.” In Alice im Wunderland, Lewis Carroll [Trans. Nanette von Cube. Ill. Siggi Grunow], 182–187. München: Boer.Google Scholar
. 1993. “Nachwort.” In Album für Alice: eine Huldigung an Lewis Carroll. Mit Zeichnungen nach seinen Photographien kleiner Mädchen und anderen viktorianischen Kinderbildnissen sowie Illustrationen zu “Alice im Wunderland” [Trans. Antonie Zimmermann. Ill. Albert Schindehütte], 165–175. Hamburg: Hoffmann und Campe.Google Scholar
Cited by (2)

Cited by two other publications

Sorvari, Marja
2024. The reception of post-Soviet Russian fiction through the peritexts of Finnish translations. Perspectives ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Li, Xueyi
2023. Translations of Alice in Wonderland in the Sinosphere. Babel. Revue internationale de la traduction / International Journal of Translation 69:3 ► pp. 353 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 14 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.