earticle

영어

This essay examines the dissolution of what Heidegger calls 'the age of the world picture' in Lewis Carroll’s book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. 'The world picture' is a term coined by Heidegger to express the essence of the modern age. It does not simply mean the image of the world, but signifies the world as represented or set up by 'the I' who has a continuous and stable identity. Heidegger suggests that the modern age started with the liberation from the bonds of the Middle Ages, but argues that the essence of the modern age lies in the fact that the certainty of truth is only found within 'the I'. According to him, by acquiring the validity of subjective truth, humans consider their own conception of the world as the 'true' world. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland presents some circumstances that the validity of 'the world picture' is no longer guaranteed. As a person who sticks to the “above ground” order and values, Alice tries to arrange and give order to things in Wonderland according to her own norm, but doing that she only finds her efforts fail her. She even feels that her own identity is unstable. In Wonderland every ground order and system is ignored or blurred: the hierarchy between man and animal is overturned; the roles of animate things and inanimate things are switched; there are no rules on games and trials. Perhaps Carroll, like Alice, feels more comfortable with the modern age where the world is orderly and comprehensible. However, in many cases he must feel that real circumstances are absurd or discordant to the existing world order, as is reflected in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Reluctant as he may be to admit it, he feels what Heidegger calls 'the age of the world picture' is nearing the end.