"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated October 16, 1910:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (FEBRUARY 26, 2021):
There is a lot going on in this strip today… some of which is steeped in both American literary tradition and geography. - 1/13
I'm not ashamed to admit that I had no idea the Catskill Mountains were a real thing. - 2/13
Nor am I *overly* familiar with Washington Irving… I mean, my son *loves* "Sleepy Hollow", but that's the only Irving that I remember reading in it's entirety. - 3/13
And, since I'm a Canucklehead, I had zero idea that Rip Van Winkle was an Irving story… I legitimately thought it was a Grimm Fairy Tale. - 4/13
So… I'm sure I'm missing a lot here… but a few questions that I'm hoping my American friends can assist with. - 5/13
What is the significance of the Catskill Mountains (I read Irving lived there in later years)? Why are those fellas speaking German? Is that building of significance? - 6/13
Now, that said, Nemo recognizes both the Catskills and RVW in his dream. Clearly, he's familiar with the story and he's able to integrate it pretty seamlessly into his dream narrative. - 7/13
Initially, I thought the jolt between the airship scenes and the Catskill/RVW scenes were really jarring… but then I realized that it could (potentially) be Nemo's mother who initiated the shift! - 8/13
In the final panel, she mentions that Nemo would sleep like Rip Van Winkle if he was able… Could he be hearing his mother talk about RVW justifying his entrance into the dreamscape? - 9/13
And all this without even mentioning the near mutiny that happened in the top two tiers… these boys are getting restless… Flip especially. - 10/13
He just wants to see New York City… All without appreciating that he is seeing New York STATE along the way. - 11/13
The Captain also comes out to blast Nemo a little bit, as well. I don't like the Captain. - 12/13
This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #262. What's yours? - 13/13
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