| The number 42 seems to have had some special signifigance to [Lewis Carroll]. It is reported that 42 was Carroll's [Magic Number], although to be honest i haven't the slightest clue what that means. At any rate the man seems to have [had a ][thing][ going for the ][42|number].
The book [Alice in Wonderland] has exactly 42 [illustrations] not counting the [cover], and near the end references a [Rule 42] in the [judicial code] of [Wonderland]: [All persons more than a mile high are to leave the court].
It is in Carroll's undisputed nonsense masterwork [The Hunting of the Snark], however, that these things begin to get interesting: -
Lewis Carroll was 42 years of age at the time the [The Hunting of the Snark|Agony] was written.
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The [baker], the effective hero of the epic (who, as it happens, is believed by many (including me) to have been intended as a [self-insertion|stand-in or metaphor] for Lewis Carroll himself), is strongly implied to be 42 years of age (see [Snark Fit 3 The Baker's Tale], stanza 5).
- Also, the Baker attempts to take with him on the quest 42 pieces of luggage, which are mistakenly left behind (see [Snark Fit 1 The Landing], stanza 7). Many interpret this as being one bag for each year of the Baker/Carroll's life, the [emotional baggage] that the Baker must leave behind in order to go on his quest for the snark.
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And, of course, the [preface] (see [snark preface]) contains a reference to another [Rule 42], this one the very [Western] [No one shall speak to the Man at the Helm].
This writeup created with the help of the [Annotated Edition] of [the Hunting of the Snark], and http://www.empirenet.com/~dljones/ |