Life is a dream, Mr. Dodgson. Let's Make a Collage - A Contest for All Creatives on Hive - 🎄Christmas Special 🎅🏻 - Round 63
"He’s dreaming now", said Tweedledee: "and what do you think he’s dreaming about?"
Alice said, "Nobody can guess that".
"Why, about you! Tweedledee exclaimed, clapping his hands triumphantly. "And if he left off dreaming about you, where do you suppose you’d be".
"Where I am now, of course", said Alice.
"Not you!" Tweedledee retorted contemptuously. "You’d be nowhere. Why, you’re only a sort of thing in his dream!"
"If that there King was to wake", added Tweedledum, "you’d go out —bang!— Just like a candle!"
Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass, New York, New American Library, 1963.
Alicia dreams and, in her dream, the Red King dreams her. How did we come here? Maybe during the writing of this post I can find out. My message is simple, in principle. I want to wish you a happy Christmas, and more, I want you to have happy holiday times and that next year be kind. Life can be a happy dream, even though it can sometimes seem like a nightmare. I want you to remember that and I want to remind myself of it. I also want the work you do to get what you dream about to be accompanied by beneficial spirits. And that we love imagination, with all its heroes and all its monsters, because it teaches us how to think about our lives in an alternate way. For the time being, I would like to invite those who read this post to participate, review and enjoy the art calls that LMAC makes every week. Here you can see the call number 63, Christmas Special. I wanted to put in my card some of the characters that I associate with the literary imagination, but also with Christmas. If you notice, there are Hansel and Gretel (impossible not to remember them from @shaka's cabin), a girl whit a red hood somewhat peculiar, the Wolf, Alice, the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter. They are accompanied by a stone figure, that wants to represent a baby Krampus and by the Raven King (which is also a way to remember the Witch). In all the stories depicted here there is fear, dark passages, threats... but not too much to worry about: the Witch is baked, the wolf is dead at the bottom of the river, the Crow King inhabits his kingdom of darkness and ruins, far, far away... and Alice wakes up (Wakes up?). The thing is like this: worry a little, monsters exist, but they can be fought and, in time, if you look closely, they are beautiful. I think they also had a childhood and no story is exciting without them. This is the final verse of the untitled poem , with which Lewis Carroll close (open?) the book Through the Looking-Glass. Carroll's works are among my favorite stories, but I won't talk about them here, as they would take up all the space in this post. There is not much to say about it. Fairy tales can be impressive, because they move very deep fibers in ourselves. Hansel and Gretel are abandoned by their parents in the forest and Little Red Riding Hood is sent by her mother through the forest... In the face of these fundamental conflicts, the Brothers Grimm's tale of the Raven King looks a little faded: a husband who forces the proud princess to do domestic work to diminish her pride... Let's just say that the best story of the Raven King I've ever read has nothing to do with this, and its protagonist comes from older and more savage myths. It was written by Susanna Clarke. I read it every year around this time with renewed wonder. I'll tell you right now: the series is very good too. Something better than that: read the book Jonathan Strange y el Sr. Norrell and watch the series. Source Krampus is a creature of the folklore of the Alps, brother of Santa Claus. With a demonic appearance, he punishes children who have misbehaved during the year. I worked with Gimp. I put in a lot of figures that I then took out. I knew beautiful paintings that I didn't use. I made a lot of skies that I then erased. I thought a lot of things I didn't say here. Alicia's images were made for the first editions by John Tenniel, 1871, and were the ones I used for my work. Apparently, Carroll didn't like them. Teaparty Sweets I want to leave you, to say goodbye, a little bit of Christmas from my country. One day I will tell you why I love this piece. La Cabra Mocha, by Pradelio Hernández, 1964, Conjunto SaladilloBalance and the word with eñe
I like the word dream in my language: "Sueño". It incorporates a sound typical of the vigorous and rich personality of my language, but also because it is polysemic: we dream when we sleep, but we also daydream, when we project, plan, and when we imagine. This word is the perfect combination of will and absolute abandonment of will. Yes, life is a dream, Mr. Dodgson.
"Life, what is it but a dream?"
I would, however, recommend reading Alicia's stories. If you speak Spanish, look for the translation by Jaime de Ojeda Eiseley , which was published by Alianza Editorial, you will read the translator's notes as a parallel novel. It is a delight.
I leave you here the complete poem in English, because it is extremely beautiful (it is also an acrostic, that is, the first letter of each verse composes a name or a sentence: in this one you can read the name of the real Alice who inspired Carroll).
The best story of the Raven King is not of the Brothers Grimm
About the process
List of images used for my collage
https://pixy.org/915734/
Alice
https://snappygoat.com/free-public-domain-images-alice_in_wonderland_flamingo/fT4NoBfmnGBYLnXo6ipNIhPVM8QLs6Sr3drLgCEWaLo.html#,0,0.c78a766188e4ac0bd40de2220359575dad45ffed
Cat
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gato_de_Cheshire#/media/Archivo:Tennel_Cheshire_proof. png
Wolf
https://pixabay.com/es/photos/lobo-isegrim-depredador-carn%C3%ADvoros-1336231/
Little Red Riding Hood
https://pixabay.com/es/vectors/vestido-la-moda-mujeres-dama-rojo-1299414/
Hansel y Gretel
https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dosya:Hansel-and-gretel-rackham. jpg
Raven
https://www.redbubble.com/es/people/herizon/works/40061517-una-bruja-bruja-del-cuervo
Crown
https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2020/11/30/12/38/woman-5790790__340. jpg
Krampus baby
https://pixabay.com/es/photos/diablo-decoraci%C3%B3n-estatua-escultura-5616440/
Krampus
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Poertschach_Krampuslauf_30112012_256. jpg
https://pixabay.com/es/illustrations/magdalena-postre-nutrici%C3%B3n-cookies-5718043/
https://pixabay.com/es/illustrations/bast%C3%B3n-de-caramelo-navidad-dulzura-434099/
https://pixabay.com/es/vectors/cookie-chocolate-viruta-borrosa-307960/
https://pxhere.com/es/photo/704352
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vintage_Cookie_(53171142).jpeg
https://snappygoat.com/s/?q=bestof%3Aice+waffle+ice+cream+street+sign+shield+advertising+colorful+delicious#e8f684141e19065d50e86a9f010bea6aa3c27927,1,942.
https://snappygoat.com/free-public-domain-images-lollipop_rainbow_swirl_candy/EjlAvTVcMGH2SEd-kTW_tORM_9aebBcXa2v251C-zlLO.html#,0,38.1dac5be6cd67feb0781e8813b78393e696415c4e
Teapot
https://pixabay.com/es/photos/porcelana-edad-vajilla-vintage-4598273/
Garland
https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1031159
Christmas flowers
https://pixabay.com/es/illustrations/flor-decoraci%C3%B3n-ramo-de-flores-3375258/
By @shakaMerry Christmas, friends of LMAC!
Merry Christmas, @shaka, with my eternal gratitude for everything I have learned here!
Merry Christmas, dear @Quantum, with my gratitude for the gift of knowledge!
My thanks and love to all the friends with whom I have shared rich and exciting exchanges week after week!
Cheers!
Gracias por la compañía. ¡Bienvenidos siempre!
Dear @abnecabrera
La vida es sueno, La Niebla, Las ruinas circulares.....
When I saw your quote: "Life, what is it but a dream?", I didn't think of Lewis Carroll but of Calderon de la Barca. Then I read your essay and very much appreciated your comparative approach. The subject of a nebulous reality has been one that I traced (years ago when I studied) through the literature of different cultures. Fairy tales, folklore, myth...all of these overlap--which you address wonderfully in your essay.
Your collage is a comparatists dream: A medley of symbols from different fairy tales integrated into a cohesive picture. This truly is a work of art. Delightful to look at, and demanding more than one look.
Good luck with this remarkable construction.
Dear @agmoore, Calderón de La Barca is an author that I carry in my heart. I am a lover of the "décima", the way he writes Life is a dream. I had it in mind, but Carroll seemed more appropriate, to work on the concept of imagination, childhood, the stories we inherited...
Then I also thought that putting two titans of that size in the same space is very difficult. They are two voices and two visions so tremendously powerful!
Thank you, as always, for your sharp comments, which always come to enrich the vision of my work.
I wish you a happy Christmas, full of much joy!
Greetings friend beautiful collage that leaves a great message on Christmas, Merry Christmas and good luck in the contest
Hi, @adncabrera, very nice collage and Christmas story you have here. Btw: I know for evil Krampus but don't know that it's a brother or twin of a Santa. Merry Christmas to you, too. 😎 👏 👏
Excellent collage, from a first class plastic and conceptual work, @adncabrera.
PS: It wouldn't hurt to add a Spanish version of the text, if possible.
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