Nonsense necessary in a nonsensensical world .
” To write about nonsense is like going to sea in a sieve .” W Tiggs
Nonsense is necessary in an increasingly nonsensical world . ” A little nonsense now and then is cherished by the wisest men ” said Roald Dahl . To which Dr. Seuss added” I like nonsense … It’s more than a matter of just laughing . If you can see things are out of whack, you can see how things can be back in whack .” Nonsense is a double edged sword . It is not just a matter of hysterical laughter . It is a finely honed balance of recognising the levity and nonsensical nature of whatever it is – and at the same time acknowledging reality and acting on that awareness .
We do need that levity – things can’t all be solemnity . There are the masters of nonsense for the sake of nonsense . Edward Lear is a past master . Lewis Carroll an obvious choice . But because Carroll , when open to present day interpretation, is far more complex Carroll will be discussed separately . For the present several uncomplicated examples : As a child I loved the American poet Ogden Nash :
” The ant has earned a name illustrious , by proving constantly industrious But who can blame him, would you be placid If you were full of formic acid ? “
Valley Of the Ants ~ Miniscule.And the Australian artist John Olsen’ paintings of the frog . ” The frog is a key motif … The artist is attracted to the theatre of the frog, their flamboyance… the big eyes.. elongated legs .” John Olsen Art Series .
Frogs. ~ Artist John Olsen Artist John Olsen ” Be kind and tender to the frog… ” Hillaire Belloc” Be kind and tender to the frog And do not call him names The frog is justly sensitive To epithets like these .” Hillaire Belloc
The ant and the frog . Nonsense in its simplest form – just nonsense for the sake of nonsense, Nonsense though has, as above , a further purpose . As in work of another Australian artist .
Leunig
Michael Leunig is an Australian artist, writer, philosopher and poet . His unique artistry and humour – which can vary from gentle contemplation to blistering satire – mean there are few Australians who do not have a Leunig among their possessions . The whimsical Mr.Curly , accompanied by his whimsical duck, offer a curly view of a curly world . Then from the security of a seaworthy ship officials shout at refugees huddled in an open, sinking boat . No humour in that . But this is part of what makes Leunig’s social commentary so effective .There is an expectation of humour . Instead Leunig deftly twists the knife .For over forty years Leunig has provided Australia and the world with gentle humour and critical insight . Leunig’s personal website describes him as exploring the ” fragile ecosystem of human nature and its relationship to the wider natural world – a related and recurrent theme .” Leunig himself describes his work as ” regressive, humorous, messy, mystical, primal and vaudevillian . “
I am restricting myself in writing on nonsense to simplistic ants and frogs . Were I to venture into Monty Python and the Holy Grail and the Goons territory I would be treading on sacred ground . So I will restrict myself to the celebrated Charles ” Dodo ” Dodgson ~ Lewis Carroll – and a few others such as Roald Dahl .
Lewis Carroll
” I know what you’re thinking about ” said Tweedledee ” but it isn’t so, no how .Contrariwise … if it was so , it might be ; and if it were so, it would be, but as it isn’t , it ain’t . That ‘s logic . “
Charles ” Dodo ” Dodgson was a mathematics lecturer at Oxford – a studious, retiring unknown . He assigned the nickname Dodo to himself as he stuttered .Then an idyllic rowing boat trip on a sunny Oxford afternoon changed everything . ” Thus grew the tale of Wonderland .” In 1865 Alice In Wonderland was published . And in 1871 Through the Looking Glass .
Carroll’s work would seem the very epitome of nonsense . Alice asked for a story with ” lots of nonsense in it . ” And the characters are surely among the most extraordinary, rich and diverse created – the time rattled rabbit , the mad cheshire cat and his equally mad acquaintances… In their simplest form they are absolute , utter nonsense .
Yet Carroll was not only a particularly clever writer , he was a mathematician and a scholar with a vast wealth of knowledge to which was added a fine sense of irony and wit . Reading – and re-reading – Alice as an adult reveals a world of significant ideas hidden in the fantasy genre of a children’s book . Read it – and read it again . And supplement with present day analysis written about Carroll . The reading provides thought provoking perceptions . As an example : Alice In Quantumland : An Allegory Of Quantum Physics written by physicist Robert Gilmore has Alice exploring the “nonsensical ” world of quantum physics .
The following may be taken as personal nonsense , but I wonder at Alice’s fall down an extremely large rabbit hole – down, down , down . What sort of world was the mathematician creating ?
Alice , for the artist , offers an extraordinary cornucopia of images. For me, with due respect to John Tenniel – the first artist to illustrate the Alice books – the artist who most effectively captures the imagery and inanity of Alice is Salvador Dali . In 1969 Dali created an extraordinary series of lithographs – characteristically surreal , a style which evokes the complex and surreal Alice herself . And the unreal wotld Carroll created .
The Lobster Quadrille . Down the Rabbit Hole – DaliJabberwocky – Through The Looking Glass,
Jabberwocky : ” ‘ Twas brillig and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe All mimsy were the borogroves And the mome raths outgrabe… ” Surely the ultimate in nonsense . And the lilting, rythmic , alliterative , extraordinarily creative mastery of the English language : .” Twas brillig… gyre and gimble.. snicker-snack ! ” ” O frabjous day ! ” What a wordfest !
Jabberwocky though is not all nonsensical nonsense . With ” eyes of flame ” and ” jaws that bite… ” it is monster made all the more frightening by the alien world Carroll’s wordplay creates .
It is tempting to write at indeterminate length on the complexity of Carroll’s character . In addition to Alice… Carroll/Charles Dodgson was also the author of a Manual Of Euclid ” its main features (the) sequence and numbering of Propositions and… Parallels ” . In the context of the Manual though he manages to call into question the undue solemnity of scientific reasoning . ” Thinking it far better that the purchaser of this little book should read it… with a smile .” And who better than Dodgson to leaven the seriousness of science with a little necessary nonsense ?
In writing on nonsense one could also be entirely serious . And follow a scholarly approach beginning with the work of the ancient Greek playright Aristophanes . And The Frogs – singing a chorus of nonsense verse . ” A shoal of little songsters… mere degraders of their art .” Dionysus says ” Search where you will, you’ll never find a true Creative genius… ” And Heracles replies ” I vow its ribald nonsense .” Shakespeare layers sense and nonsense – with a ” hey nonino .” (As You Like It .) And there are modern masters aplenty .
I would like to conclude though with personal choices . Initial choices were Maurice Sendak and Roald Dahl . Sendak for his talent in entering the world of childhood and at the same time making meaningful nonsense of the adult world . When Where The Wild Things Are was published in 1963 , an American reviewer wrote that the book was entirely unsuitable for adults as it may well scare them . Dahl I have chosen for his unique ability to make something seemingly nonsensical carry a significant meaning .
Sendak’s work , like Carroll’s , is also replete with ” terrible teeth and terrible eyes .”- (Where The Wild Things Are .) Sendak’s monsters though have a very special meaning – Max conquers the Wild Things .and becomes their king . But unlike Carroll’s Alice who would find pleasure in ” remembering her own child-life and the happy summer days ” , Sendak’s memories are sombre . There is a little known and particularly haunting photo of Sendak’s cousin . A solemn little six year old, still resident in wartime Poland , in a dark jacket – and stitched to it a yellow star . Sendak never saw his childhood friend and other members of his family again . And the loss affected him deeply . So while Sendak makes a nonsense of the constraints of adulthood, he is also seeking to capture the unconstrained delights of childhood . As in the The Sign On Rosie’s Door – make beleive that most young children act out when growing up . Sendak, as an adult , sought to recapture ” the simple pleasures ” of childhood . Imbued with a rich and vivid imagination . And again from Alice :” Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality .”
Maurice Sendak – wartime photo of his six year old cousin in Poland .And eventually I decided I could not place Sendak in the context .of nonsense . There was too much underlying sadness in his life .The final choice then is Dahl – aided and abetted by the wonderful Quentin Blake. The artist’s exaggerated line drawings – as in James and the Giant Peach and The BFG – complement Dahl’s writing perfectly . And the exuberant illustrations for Matilda convey perfectly Matilda’s indefatigable spirit . The original meaning of the word Matilda is ” mighty in battle . “
There is ” rommytot ” aplenty in Dahl’s writing . ” A catasterous situation is very bad indeed, and a catasterous disastrophe is the the worst of all .” Dahl’s work, like Sendak’s could well have an underlying solemnity . His eight year old daughter daughter Olivia died of measles related encephalitis . And his first wife suffered a series of debilitating strokes . Yet Dahl’s genius somehow allowed him to turn these savage losses into a deeper understanding of childhood tribulations – and allow them to inhabit a courageous and wonderful, highly imaginative world . Matilda is not squashed by her appalling parents , but instead travels far and wide . ” She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and to India with Rudyatd Kipling …” Matilda says. ” Be outrageous . Make sure everything you do is so completely crazy it’s unbeleivable . ” Dahl’s courageous little character carries a timeless message for both children and adults .
Dahl created a Phiz Wizzing collection of characters – Willy Wonka, Fantastic Mr Fox,, James and the Giant Peach , the BFG – forty five books in all .And each with its own unique characterers . And Dahl’s writing is enhanced by Quentin Blake’s artwork . And further enhanced both by the writer and the artist’s sense of nonsense .
Frabjous Beasts and Frumious Birds . Artist Quentin BlakeIn conclusion I would like to quote the words of a student of Bryn Mawr College . From Serendip Studio – and with the kind authorisation of Ann Dixon – a definition of nonsense : ” Nonsense . It is the absence of logic … At the same time, nonsense is a challenge . It forces us to encompass a different mindset… Nonsense is a tool that can aid us in discerning our reality .”( Shayna 26/3/2010 ) Nonsense entertains and amuses, relaxing inherent defences . And arousing a search for sense iñ the nonsense . Presented with a perfectly coherent, logical, well structured academic proposition , we would seek to answer in a similarly coherent manner . But a generôus helping of nonsense allows us the freedom to explore and to question .
Artist Quentin Blake . Road Dahl-The BFG . Quote Robert Frost
And I will finish with my own piece of nonsense :

Acknowledgements : Serendip Studio, Michael Leunig, John Olsen, Graphics AE: Adobe Photoshop, Typorama, @gpiczoo#PICZOO . Google search free images .