Literatura e sociedade: o dialogismo entre Alice no país das maravilhas, de Lewis Carroll, e o período vitoriano

Abstract

Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland (1865) can be looked at from various epistemological perspectives, given the variety of themes and meanings observed in it. This final paper proposes an analysis of this story, translated by Nicolau Sevcenko in 2009, especially with regard to some parallels between elements of the narrative and the patterns and customs of Victorian society. In order to understand Carroll’s text, we have tried to understand what fantasy and nonsense are – literary modes that structure the narrative of Alice in Wonderland. For these topics, scholars such as Tzevtan Todorov (2004), David Roas (2014) and scholars of nonsense in Carroll’s texts have been important. We have also tried to learn a little about the Carroll’s life and work, in order to understand the process and context in which the story was created. Finally, we have verified some relevant characteristics of Victorian society so that we could draw some parallels with Carroll’s work, highlighting possible critical elements of the Victorian Era. Alice in Wonderland reveals metaphors that allude to the social relations presented through representative elements of the time that shape the plot. This work aims to highlight how literature is intrinsically linked to society, using the work as a vehicle to explore and understand critical aspects of Victorian society and, furthermore, seeking to find elements that are favorable (or not) to our formation as readers and appreciators of reading and culture.