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 – Dali
Jabberwocky – 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 Blake
In 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 .
