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The Hunting of the Snark

@snarkhunt.bsky.social

Mainly about Henry Holiday's illustrations to Lewis Carroll’s "The Hunting of the Snark" by @goetzkluge.bsky.social ※ My Snark blog since 2017: https://snrk.de ※ SNARK! card game: @snark.games ※ 150th Snark anniversary 2026: @snark150.bsky.social

2020 Posts901 Follower1316 Folgt
The Hunting of the Snark@snarkhunt.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark", where since 150 years the readers can decide whether the hunting party consists of nine (as depicted by the illustrator Henry Holiday) or ten (if the 'Boots' and the 'maker of Bonnets and Hoods' are two different characters) Snark hunters.

Two illustrations by Henry Holiday to Lewis Carroll's 'The Hunting of the Snark' (1876) Details: https://snrk.de/boots-bonnetmaker/ Let us take all the nine crew members in order of their introduction in Lewis Carroll and Henry Holiday's tragicomedy: (1) The Bellman, their captain. (2) The Boots, a maker of Bonnets and Hoods. (A correct non-sequential interlaced portmanteau can be built from Bonnets and Hoods. Try under Linux: an -w 'Bonnets and Hoods' | grep boo) (3) The Barrister, brought to arrange their disputes, but repeatedly complained about the Beaver’s evil lace-making. (4) The Broker, to value their goods. (5) The Billiard-marker, whose skill was immense, might perhaps have won more than his share. From John Tufail I learned that in Henry Holiday’s illustration the Billiard-marker is preparing a cheat. (6) The Banker, engaged at enormous expense, had the whole of their cash in his care. (7) The Beaver, that paced on the deck or would sit making lace in the bow and had often (the Bellman said) saved them from wreck, though none of the sailors knew how. (8) The Baker, also addressed by “Fry me!”, “Fritter my wig!”, “Candle-ends” as well as “Toasted-cheese”, and known for joking with hyenas and walking paw-in-paw with a bear. (9) The Butcher, who only could kill Beavers, but later became best friend with the lace-making animal.
Jan Peter@jpprenger.bsky.social · 5h ago

Als het niet om het plezier van de tekst zelf gaat, dan wel om lol die de vertaler er in had. Het uitgebreide commentaar van Robbert-Jan Henkes maakt dit boekje pas echt de moeite waard. (En de ingekleurde illustraties.) @robbertjanhenkes Floris Tilanus Uitgeverij Van Oorschot #lewiscarroll

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The Hunting of the Snark@snarkhunt.bsky.social · 4h ago

Voor de meeste vertalers zijn 'Boots' en de 'maker of Bonnets and Hoods' twee verschillende personen. Eén Duitse vertaler beschouwt hen als dezelfde persoon. Een Spaanse vertaler handhaafde de ambiguïteit in de regels 9 en 10 van Lewis Carrolls *The Hunting of the Snark*.

https://snrk.de/monumental-snark/ The discussion whether there are 8 instead of 9 Snark hunters (or 9 instead of 10 Snark hunters, if you include the talking Beaver) certainly addresses more points than just the portmanteau argument; e.g., among other points, the fact that Henry Holiday only drew 9 Snark hunters (including the Beaver again). To keep things simple, let’s focus on the portmanteau issue. It doesn’t threaten your life to claim that that Boots might be a bootblack, and also undeniably is a portmanteau for Bonnets+Hoods: If you cannot verify that yourself, run $ an -w -m 5 "bonnets hoods" | grep "^b" | grep -v "'" | sort under BSD or Linux etc., and you’ll see that boots is among the generated portmanteaus (bends, bents, besot, besots, bests, bodes, bonds, boned, bones, booed, boons, boost, boosted, boosts, booted, booth, booths, boots, bossed), which all are, like boots, meaningful English words. Thus, the question is not whether Boots is a portmanteau or not. The question rather is whether Carroll intended to use Boots as a portmanteau. Another question is whether the lines 9 and 10 are intentionally ambiguous. Is there a Boots who is a maker of Bonnets and Hoods, or are the Boots and the maker of Bonnets two different characters? I suggest that Lewis Carroll left it to the readers to choose between 9 or 10 Snark hunters.
150 Years of Snark@snark150.bsky.social · 3w ago

Mae Losasso thinks that "The Hunting of the Snark" probably has been written in response to his godson’s death from tuberculosis at the age of 22. But this just is one of many assumptions. @theobserveruk.bsky.social missed the 150th Snark anniversary.

The Observer@theobserveruk.bsky.social · 4w ago

Down the rabbit hole In Oxford, 4 July is Alice’s Day, when the city briefly turns into Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland Words by Mae Losasso https://bit.ly/4pfl3i8

The Hunting of the Snark@snarkhunt.bsky.social · 2w ago

«Snark» es anterior a Lewis Carroll. La palabra ya se utilizaba en el siglo XVI.

“Snark” is older than Lewis Carroll – The Hunting of the Snark

snrk.de

JGLG@jglg.bsky.social · 2w ago

«“La caza del Snark" (1). Tres obediencias», de @jglg.bsky.social. Primera entrega de una pequeña serie dedicada a ese poema de Lewis Carroll y sus traducciones, coincidiendo con el 150 aniversario de su primera edición. cvc.cervantes.es/trujaman/ant... Créditos de la imagen: @mahendra.bsky.social

Ilustración de Mahendra Singh para «The Hunting of the Snark», de Lewis Carroll (Melville House, 2010)
The Hunting of the Snark@snarkhunt.bsky.social · 7mo ago

※ Left: Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger: Catherine Killigrew, Lady Jermyn (1614) ※ Center: Henry Holiday: Segment (in mirror view) from an illustration to Lewis Carroll’s "The Hunting of the Snark" (1876) ※ Right: Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger: Mary Throckmorton, Lady Scudamore (1615)

Source: https://snrk.de/page_inspiration-by-re-interpretation/
The Hunting of the Snark@snarkhunt.bsky.social · 3w ago

Douglas Adams knew Lewis Carroll's writings. Let's assume, that Adams had a random generator in his brain which generated the 42. Latest after that happened, he knew that readers of Carroll's works will discuss whether his 42 is a nod to Carroll. Screenshot from snrk.de/douglas-adam...

From https://snrk.de/douglas-adams-and-lewis-carroll/ : By Douglas Adams, alt.fan.douglas-adams (quoted in http://groups.google.com/groups?safe=images&as_umsgid=adamsd.1102700746A@news.cerf.net), 1993: It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat at my desk, stared into the garden and thought ‘42 will do.’ I typed it out. End of story. That said (by the author himself!), did Adams know after the number 42 popped up in his head that Lewis Carroll used that number in his Alice books and in The Hunting of the Snark? Might he have enjoyed the thought, that some readers would interpret the 42 as a nod to Carroll?
The Hunting of the Snark@snarkhunt.bsky.social · 2y ago

All episodes of the BBC radio drama "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" were referred to by Douglas Adams as "Fits", like in Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark: an Agony in Eight Fits", where "Rule 42 of the Code" is quoted and 42 Boxes (snrk.de/category/cre...) are left behind.

Henry Holiday's depiction of some of the Baker's boxes in Lewis Carroll's tragicomedy "The Hunting of the Snark".
The Hunting of the Snark@snarkhunt.bsky.social · 3w ago

According Google's AI, "boots" is not a portmanteau made from "bonnets"+"hoods". According to the same AI, "Rilchiam" is not a portmanteau either. Lewis Carroll made it from "Richard"+"William". As for deciding whether "boots" can be a portmanteau, my reference is Lewis Carroll, not any AI.

Question: I can build the word "Rilchiam" from letters contained in "Richard" and "William". Is then "Rilchiam" a portmanteau? Answer (Google AI, 2026-07-14): No, "Rilchiam" is not a portmanteau. Why it is not a portmanteau ※ No blended meaning: A portmanteau must combine both the sounds and the meanings of two words (like motel from motor and hotel). ※ Just an anagram: "Rilchiam" is simply an anagram made from a pool of letters. It does not carry a hybrid definition. ※ No semantic value: The new word has no recognized meaning of its own. Key requirements for a portmanteau ※ Morphological blending: It splices identifiable segments of words together, usually the start of one and the end of another (e.g., smoke + fog = smog). ※ Semantic blending: The new word represents a combination of the two original concepts (e.g., breakfast + lunch = brunch).Q: I can build the word "boots" from letters contained in "bonnets" and "hoods". Is then "boots" a portmanteau? A (Google AI, 2026-07-14): No, "boots" is not a portmanteau.A portmanteau is a linguistic blend where the parts and meanings of two distinct words are fused together to create a new word with a combined meaning (like "smog" from smoke and fog, or "brunch" from breakfast and lunch). Simply being able to spell a word using an anagram or a combination of letters from other words does not make it a portmanteau. Why "Boots" Is Not a Portmanteau ※ No Semantic Blend: "Boots" does not combine the meanings of "bonnets" and "hoods". ※ Accidental Spelling: The fact that the letters b, o, o, t, s exist across those two words is a purely mechanical coincidence. ※ Independent Origin: "Boots" is an old, distinct word with its own separate etymology.https://snrk.de/snarkhunt/#portmanteau (from the preface of Lewis Carroll and Henry Holiday's tragicomedy "The Hunting of the Snark"): «This also seems a fitting occasion to notice the other hard words in that poem. Humpty-Dumpty’s theory, of two meanings packed into one word like a portmanteau, seems to me the right explanation for all. For instance, take the two words “fuming” and “furious.” Make up your mind that you will say both words, but leave it unsettled which you will say first. Now open your mouth and speak. If your thoughts incline ever so little towards “fuming,” you will say “fuming-furious;” if they turn, by even a hair’s breadth, towards “furious,” you will say “furious-fuming;” but if you have the rarest of gifts, a perfectly balanced mind, you will say “frumious.” Supposing that, when Pistol uttered the well-known words​— “Under which king, Bezonian? Speak or die!” Justice Shallow had felt certain that it was either William or Richard, but had not been able to settle which, so that he could not possibly say either name before the other, can it be doubted that, rather than die, he would have gasped out “Rilchiam!”»$ an -w -m 5 "bonnets hoods" | grep "^b" | grep -v "'" | sort bends bents besot besots bests bodes bonds boned bones bonnet bonnets booed boons boost boosted boosts booted booth booths boots bossed
The Hunting of the Snark@snarkhunt.bsky.social · 4w ago

There is an ambiguity in "The Hunting of the Snark": the "Boots" and the "maker of Bonnets and Hoods" are either one person or two persons. One response to my assumption was: "I can't comprehend why anyone would believe that Carroll was intentionally having fun with us." See also: snrk.de?s=9.5

2026-07-07 Good morning, ...., I don't think that Carroll was intentionally having fun with us in a malicious way. In contrary, Carroll's puzzles enrich the life of his readers. "It is possible that the author was half-consciously laying a trap, so readily did he take to the inventing of puzzles and things enigmatic; but to those who knew the man, or who have divined him correctly through his writings, the explanation is fairly simple. Mr.Dodgson had a mathematical, a logical, and a philosophical mind; and when these qualities are united to a love of the grotesque, the resultant fancies are sure to have a quite peculiar charm, a charm so much the greater because its source is subtle and eludes all attempts to grasp it." Henry Holiday, 1898-01-29, "The Snark's Significance" https://snrk.de/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/HenryHoliday_TheSnarksSignificance__searchable.pdf Rather than using ambiguity to maliciously annoy his readers, Carroll plays with ambiguity to provide them with rich intellectual stimulation where words and sentences hold multiple meanings. That's more than just clever. "They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care, They pursued it with forks and hope" is a mixing up of two meanings of the word "with". As if this was not enough, Henry Holiday added a third meaning by personifying Hope and Care. Carroll liked that. I am not making this up; the example is described in Holiday's  "The Snark's Significance". Best regards from Munich, Goetz ---------------------------------- See also: https://snrk.de/?s=9.5
The Hunting of the Snark@snarkhunt.bsky.social · last mo.

The rules for ZZOTA's "SNARK!" seem to be quite challenging. And I am very slow in generating virtual playing cards from my scans of the original cards. Nevertheless, if you can imagine playing the game (snrk.de/the-snark-ru...) for 2 to 4 players on a virtual desktop, please follow @snark.games.

The SNARK! rules – The Hunting of the Snark

snrk.de

SNARK!@snark.games · 5mo ago

1a/🧵 I rescanned the rules of the SNARK! card game. ※ 10 MB PDF file: snrk.de/wp-content/u... ※ Text: snrk.de/the-snark-ru...

Rules of JJ Secker and Xanna Eve Chown's SNARK! card game. ※ 10 MB PDF file: https://snrk.de/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/SNARKrules.pdf ※ Text: https://snrk.de/the-snark-rules/ Keywords: TheHuntingOfTheSnark | games | videogames | computergames | cardgames | game | videogame | computergame | cardgame | gamedesign | underdevelopment | The Hunting of the Snark | Lewis Carroll | card games | virtual cards | virtual tabletop | game rules | gamerules