Deep Chronotopes Map

The distinctive fan-shape for Through the Looking-Glass displays a deep chronotopes map in which all sub-chronotopes are connected to encounter. As well as being the most connected node, it is also the largest, making clear that it dominates the novel. The spatio-temporal mood of the whole is born of the chance meetings Alice has on her journey through the looking-glass and across the chessboard (of the 9, 'parlour' is the only chronotope not connected the 'encounter'). Overall, the range of chronotopes speaks for the novel’s mixed character, combining travel (the 'road'), fairy tale (the 'castle', the 'idyll') and fantasy ('distortion'). Only in a fantasy setting, perhaps, could the cerebral time-space of 'distortion' connect directly to the physical, goal-directedness of the road.