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Alice in Wonderland - Bruno Osimo, traduzioni, semiotica della ...

Alice in Wonderland - Bruno Osimo, traduzioni, semiotica della ...

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cause any <strong>in</strong>conveniences either. In the Remané edition, the illustration<br />

<strong>in</strong>deed shows a Pelican.<br />

Like the Dodo, the Hatter and the March Hare allude to idiomatic<br />

expressions “as mad as a Hatter” and “as mad as a March Hare,” which<br />

have no direct equivalents <strong>in</strong> the other languages. Remané (DE-REM) tries<br />

to preserve the connotation by translat<strong>in</strong>g the March Hare by Schnapphase,<br />

expla<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g the name <strong>in</strong> the context: because he was übergeschnappt<br />

(“mad”). The explanation is not really conv<strong>in</strong>c<strong>in</strong>g. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to German<br />

morphology rules, a Schnapphase is understood as a hare that snatches<br />

someth<strong>in</strong>g away. Whereas the idea of hares which are mad (for a mate) <strong>in</strong><br />

March may be evoked <strong>in</strong> some readers, the idea of a hatter be<strong>in</strong>g<br />

particularly mad will probably not come to the m<strong>in</strong>d of the audiences. But<br />

s<strong>in</strong>ce the Hatter is depicted as a rather weird figure both <strong>in</strong> the context and<br />

<strong>in</strong> the illustrations, this may not be a comprehension problem.<br />

The Cheshire Cat is an allusion to a particular brand of Cheshire cheese<br />

which had a picture of a gr<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g cat on the package and seems to be the<br />

orig<strong>in</strong> of the idiomatic expression “to gr<strong>in</strong> like a Cheshire Cat.” This<br />

connotation does not work <strong>in</strong> the other cultures, and a substitution (e.g., by<br />

a cow <strong>in</strong> French, cf. la vache qui rit, or a honey-cake horse <strong>in</strong> German, cf.<br />

gr<strong>in</strong>sen wie e<strong>in</strong> Honigkuchenpferd) would be out of place because of the<br />

illustrations which show a gr<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g cat. Therefore, the allusions to some<br />

51

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