There’s at least one performance on YouTube of György Ligeti’s take on “The Lobster Qaudrille,” a movement in his later work, the vocal a capella Nonsense madrigals (1988-1993). (Ligeti was a 20th Century Hungarian composer most famous for his experimental music used to great effect in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.) This video is labeled: “Presentación de MCV en el ciclo ‘Pintura de Palabras’ en La Scala de San Telmo. 6 de Julio de 2oo8, Buenos Aires, Argentina.” Thanks for putting this performance up!
“Will you walk a little faster?” said a whiting to a snail,
“There’s a porpoise close behind us, and he’s treading on my tail.
See how eagerly the lobsters and the turtles all advance!
They are waiting on the shingle—will you come and join the dance?
Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, will you join the dance?
Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, won’t you join the dance?
“You can really have no notion how delightful it will be
When they take us up and throw us, with the lobsters, out to sea!”
But the snail replied, “Too far, too far!” and gave a look askance-
Said he thanked the whiting kindly, but he would not join the dance.
Would not, could not, would not, could not, would not join the dance.
Would not, could not, would not, could not, could not join the dance.
“What matters it how far we go?” his scaly friend replied.
“There is another shore, you know, upon the other side.
The further off from England the nearer is to France—
Then turn not pale, beloved snail, but come and join the dance.
Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, will you join the dance?
Will you, won’t you, will you, won’t you, won’t you join the dance?”
All the thrills of the LCSNA Spring 2011 Meeting in the privacy of your own home!
Thanks to our host Brewster Kahle and the magnificent Internet Archive, last month’s San Francisco/Petaluma meeting is now available online. If you missed the event, or would like to relive the highlights, you can download any or all of the meeting segments here.
The mission of the Internet Archive is to offer permanent access for researchers, historians, scholars, people with disabilities, and the general public to historical collections that exist in digital format. We encourage you to watch founder Brewster Kahle’s address to the meeting to learn how the Lewis Carroll Society of North America could, like the Grateful Dead, be at the forefront of media preservation – ensuring the immortality of Alice for future generations.
Assuming the filmmakers don’t meet with a Boojum, there will be a British stop-motion animation of Lewis Carroll’s The Hunting of the Snark released in 2012. Our very own Andrew Sellon (LCSNA President emeritus) recorded some voice over work, including the role of the Judge!
The Hunting of the Snark is an animated feature about a group of strange individuals that embark on a voyage with the aim of capturing “The Snark,” regardless of the fact that none of them even know what it is, or how to catch it, the film is directed by Saranne Bensusan with several other confirmed crew members.
If you’re in Russia this winter, warm up with a new production of “Alice Through The Looking Glass” at the Fomenko Studio Theatre at at 29 Naberezhnaya Tarasa Shevchenko, on December 29th and 31st. John Freedman’s review in the Moscow Times raves about the “visually beautiful production”. Freedman also complains about the slow pace:
[...] Carroll’s rich and inventive language, translated here by Nina Demurova, occasionally paralyzes the action. Alice’s meeting with Humpty Dumpty (rendered in Russian as Shaltai-Boltai and played by Vasily Firsov) seems particularly trapped.
If you’re a fan of Lewis Carroll, Alice, the Snark, and you’re anywhere near the NYC area, you should check out the Eventspage of the LCSNA’s web site to see the full agenda for our fall meeting, to be held in Manhattan on Saturday, November 6th. The impressive roster of speakers includes noted author and critic Adam Gopnik, who will be discussing whether recent adaptations do or do not honor Lewis Carroll’s original works, as well as Carroll biographer Jenny Woolf, who is traveling over from England specifically for this event. Many of the speakers will be signing copies of their latest book(s), available in limited quantity at the meeting for a special 20% discount. There will be a three-course dinner at Josephina’s after the meeting, for the Carrollian cost of $42 per person.
In addition to the wonderful agenda posted on our site, we’ve just learned that member Mahendra Singh will also be on hand to sell and sign copies of his new edition of The Hunting of the Snark. This is a don’t miss meeting. It occurs on the weekend of the NY Marathan, however, so if you need accommodations, you should check with hotels (or local friends!) right away.
Please remember to let Secretary Clare Imholtz know if you plan to attend so that we can keep track of the headcount, as we expect a big turnout and seating is limited. You don’t need to be a member to attend our free meetings. We hope to see you there!
Isabelle Melançon, creator of the new web comic Namesake, which has just launched, promises that Lewis Carroll, Alice, and many familiar fairy tale characters figure prominently in the story. From the web site:
“Namesake is the story of Emma Crewe, a woman who discovers she can visit other worlds. She finds out that these are places she already knows – fantasy and fairy lands made famous through the spoken word, literature and cinema. Her power as a Namesake forces her to act as a protagonist in these familiar stories as she figures out how to get home. But as she travels, she discovers that those controlling her story have their own selfish goals in mind – and her fate is the key to everyone’s happy ending. Join Emma, her sister Elaine and their friends as they tumble down the rabbit hole. If you like, adventure, humor, stories of friendship, fairy tales and fantasy, this is the webcomic for you.”
Click the image on this post to visit the site. Since the comic will have new content three times a week, if you like what you see, you might want to subscribe to the site’s RSS feed to make sure you see the prologue and all subsequent pages.
Andrew Sellon, President of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America, has partnered with Oxford-based Storypods Audiobooks to provide free audio downloads of the two poems that won Storypod’s 2010 Nonsense competition. Storypods launched the contest as a tribute to Lewis Carroll, and received many entertaining submisssions. To listen to the winners and download the audio files, click the image on the right. Enjoy!
For all you Carrollian blog-happy readers, we’ve added a new page to the LCSNA site that brings together blog links listed in various other places of the site. This way, if you’re a fan of following blogs (in addition to this one, of course!), you now have one stop shopping. As always, please keep in mind that listing a site doesn’t necessarily mean we endorse its contents; we merely provide the links for your convenience and enjoyment. You can access the new “Carrollian Blogs” page from the Lewis Carroll menu of our site, or by clicking here.
If you know of more Carroll or Alice-themed blogs, please send us the link(s)!
The current issue of Smithsonian magazine includes Jenny Woolf’s succinct summary of current critical and popular thought around Mr. Dodgson, focusing on how perceptions are at last changing to a less sensationalized and more fact-based, historically appropriate view: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Lewis-Carrolls-Shifting-Reputation.html
If you’re in Russia this winter, warm up with a new production of “Alice Through The Looking Glass” at the Fomenko Studio Theatre at at 29 Naberezhnaya Tarasa Shevchenko, on December 29th and 31st. John Freedman’s review in the 
