It makes sense that the two dominant symbols of the story are the mirror and the chess board-after all, the pieces on a board at the start of play are a reflection of one another. Whereas in the first story, Alice encountered a kingdom of playing cards after falling down the rabbit hole, in the sequel, she stepped through a mirror to find an entirely new wonderland populated by anthropomorphic red and white chessmen. Perhaps none moreso than Charles Lutwidge Dodgson aka Lewis Carroll aka the writer of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. But writers too have found inspiration in the 64 square battlefield. We previously looked at examples from Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray and others. Painters, sculptors and musicians have long since found inspiration in the complex movement of thirty-two pieces across a chessboard. ‘I declare it’s marked out just like a large chessboard!’ Alice said at last.” (original drawing by John Tenniel) There were a number of tiny little brooks running straight across it from side to side, and the ground between was divided up into squares by a number of little green hedges, that reached from brook to brook. “For some minutes Alice stood without speaking, looking out in all directions over the country – and a most curious country it was.
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