Surviving as a Plagiarist in Another World - Chapter 24: Alice in Wonderland

< Chapter 24: Alice in Wonderland – 2 >

The illustrations for Alice in Wonderland were done by Lucia Barton, who also illustrated “The Little Prince.” She was originally just a girl who loved drawing, but now she had become a professional illustrator, quite famous in her field.

“If it’s a novel by Homer, I must do it! No, please let me do it!”

Of course, as soon as she heard that it was a fairy tale I had written, she eagerly came and drew the most splendid illustrations.

As a result, the plagiarized Alice in Wonderland became something close to perfection. Perhaps among all the novels I had plagiarized so far, the completeness of Alice as a ‘plagiarized work’ was the highest.

[Alice in Wonderland]

Thus, Alice in Wonderland was officially published. It was Homer’s second fairy tale. Because of the element of co-writing with a disciple, there were doubts that it wouldn’t show the same quality as previous works.

“Alice in Wonderland is a masterpiece!”

“Is Homer… truly a god?”

Those doubts soon disappeared. Alice in Wonderland was the most fantastical fairy tale.

* * *

Alice in Wonderland is a fairy tale themed around dreams. No, it was a dream itself.

Like a dream that flows without coherence, Alice falls, grows, shrinks, crosses spaces, and meets strange people. Everything is chaotic, and only intuition exists. In the dream world, logic does not work, but everything flows in a way more natural than logic.

Like a well-crafted wordplay.

If “The Little Prince” was a fairy tale for adults, Alice in Wonderland was a fairy tale that adults could not understand.

The world of dreams is, after all, a pure and energetic world of children.

“Wow! This is… a fairy tale by a great writer…?”

“It’s so much fun… even though it’s a fairy tale…?”

And it was a fairy tale that was fun precisely because it couldn’t be understood.

The random events that controlled the pace arbitrarily, the unique and exaggerated characters, and the wordplay that formed the sentences.

It was a delightful joke in itself.

It was the kind of joke that made you tap your forehead in excitement as you understood each context, and burst into laughter with each sentence you read.

The most entertaining fairy tale. A story full of wit and joy.

Those who were most deeply moved by this fairy tale were those involved in the field of ‘art.’ Especially the critics who loved to bicker over other people’s works were the first to raise their voices.

“Alice in Wonderland is pure art!”

“Homer, who opened a new horizon of fantasy with Don Quixote, completed that fantasy with Alice in Wonderland.”

Critics tended to favor works open to interpretation. Alice in Wonderland was a fairy tale brimming with interpretative possibilities.

It also helped that the somewhat lacking writing skills were supplemented by the genius of ‘Rolls Camel’.

As a result, Alice in Wonderland received evaluations from critics, placing it just after Don Quixote.

“If I could express the inspiration I received from Alice in Wonderland through music…!”

“It’s like my dreams have been dissected and displayed in writing….”

Artists from various fields—music, painting, and magical performance—were captivated by the peculiar fairy tale of Alice in Wonderland.

The story itself was a dream, and dreams were the very source of inspiration.

Anyone working in the cultural and artistic fields couldn’t help but draw great inspiration from this tale.

Alice in Wonderland soon became a dominating trend in the art world.

Many artists depicted Alice and the strange land through their art.

“Oh, nanny. Wearing an apron dress at my age… doesn’t it seem a bit childish?”

“My, what are you saying~? Who suits a blue apron dress better than you, Miss Riddle? You’re still young, so when else would you wear such clothes?”

In social circles, the blue apron dress symbolizing ‘Alice’ became a trend among young women. Since it didn’t suit those slightly older, the apron dress became essential attire for young girls debuting in society.

“Author Homer is truly a god! But who is this Rolls Camel co-author mentioned alongside him?”

“I heard she’s a disciple of Mr. Homer. It’s said that most of the sentences and dialogues in Alice in Wonderland were written by Rolls Camel.”

“She must be an outstanding disciple….”

“Indeed, she must also be an excellent educator!”

And thus, Rolls Camel successfully debuted both as a writer and as a disciple of ‘Homer’.

Wealthy patrons lined up to sponsor the new author Rolls Camel.

Some sponsors even sought to contact other disciples of the Literary Academy in advance.

This demonstrated the widespread influence of Alice in Wonderland across various sectors of society.

“Congratulations on becoming a great writer in advance, Rolls Camel.”

“Am… am I worthy of such high praise? To be honest, the entire story was created by Mr. Homer….”

“Instead, the person who finished the story with splendid sentences was Rolls Camel. You can be confident about that.”

“Heh, heheh…”

He thought about fanning the flames of this trend.

Alice in Wonderland—, the Alice series was not going to end with just that.

“Rather, let’s talk about writing.”

“Y-Yes?!”

“We need to write the next story of Alice.”

“T-The next story…?”

As before, he took out a bundle of manuscripts from his bag.

The front page of the manuscript had a title written in elegant cursive.

[Through the Looking-Glass]

“Let’s write about Alice’s new dream.”

“Y-Yes, y-y-y-yes!”

* * *

Through the Looking-Glass.

The sequel to the Alice series was a fairy tale filled with riddles and paradoxes just like Alice in Wonderland.

The difference was that, unlike Alice in Wonderland, which [didn’t care where you went], Through the Looking-Glass had a direction—moving forward.

“Promotion… It’s Harren Kingdom-style chess, isn’t it?”

“Oh, don’t they have such board games in the Empire?”

“Th-There is chess in the Empire, but… Empire’s chess doesn’t have promotion…”

Alice in Wonderland was a world inspired by ‘cards’, while Through the Looking-Glass was a world inspired by ‘chess’.

Alice, entering the world beyond the mirror, reaches the end of the chessboard and becomes a queen.

It was the promotion in chess.

However, the chess in this world had slightly different rules. There was no promotion, and there were a few more sub-rules.

“Oh, but still, there are many people who enjoy Harren Kingdom-style chess… and since it’s hard to strictly follow board game rules, it should be fine!”

“Is that so?”

“Y-Yes! And the story of a girl becoming a queen is very nice! Hehe…”

“You can do this like last time, right?”

“O-Of course! It might take a bit more time… but having done it once, I can do it better this time!”

Rolls Camel said this and once again immersed herself in writing.

It seemed like a lot of paper and pens would be needed this time as well.

“Oh, especially, please pay attention to the ‘Jabberwocky’.”

“O-Of course!”

Jabberwocky.

This nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll was acclaimed as one of the greatest poems in English literature. Despite being composed of perfect wordplay and neologisms, making it impossible to understand, it was also a story that stimulated poetic imagination in its own right.

Naturally, the Jabberwocky I translated into this world’s language wasn’t such an exceptional poem.

I could only hope that Rolls Camel would turn my ludicrous poem into a splendid one.

“I guess I shouldn’t worry too much. The Alice series itself is a great masterpiece. Even if it’s somewhat lacking, literature will thrive just from that alone.”

The Alice series.

“Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking-Glass” are symbols in their own right.

Symbols of fantasy, dreams, and strangeness in some fundamental sense.

If the psychologist Carl Jung categorized the symbols of dreams, Lewis Carroll created them. All art that pursues dreamlike and fantastical inspiration is indebted to Lewis Carroll.

Thus, the Alice series has been recreated countless times.

In the most famous film adaptation, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and “Through the Looking-Glass” were blended into one work. In fact, in many secondary creations, the two works were often recreated without distinction.

For example, the “Red Queen,” the “Jabberwocky,” and “Humpty Dumpty” all appear in “Through the Looking-Glass.”

However, in my past life, many people simply believed they appeared in “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”

“In this world, they’ll likely think so even more. Given that they were published in succession without any time gap….”

Thus.

Shortly after the publication of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”

“Through the Looking-Glass” was published.

* * *

“Author Homer is definitely from the Harren Kingdom!”

“People who have seen author Homer testify that he has an exotic appearance. He must be of mixed blood from the Harren Kingdom.”

“I heard that in the Harren Kingdom, royals who are pushed out of the line of succession often abandon their names and change their identities. Could it be…?”

“Gasp.”

Strange rumors began to circulate in the Empire.