Synopses & Reviews
Lewis Carroll's incomparable tales about Alice, the seven-year-old Victorian girl who journeys to worlds populated by some of the oddest beings ever imagined, have delighted children for generations. Carroll originally created the dream adventures to amuse Alice Liddell, his young neighbor, and the riddles, puns, parodies, and absurd arguments about meanings and manners brilliantly mock -- and undermine -- the rules and social conventions adults invariably impose on children. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1872) have also always attracted and intrigued older, more sophisticated readers. From the critic William Epsom's ground-breaking Freudian interpretation of the books to Virginia Woolf's declaration that "the two Alices are not books for children, they are the only books in which we become children", to countless studies by philosophers, linguists, mathematicians, and literary critics, it has long been acknowledged that Carroll's masterpieces redefined our notions of "children's literature". In the Introduction, Hugh Haughton chronicles the genesis of the Alice books and frankly discusses Carroll's infatuation with Alice Liddell and his life-long fascination with preadolescent girls, the subject of much speculation during Carroll's lifetime and ever after.
About the Author
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, known by his pen name, Lewis Carroll, was a man of diverse interests - in mathematics, logic, photography, art, theater, religion, medicine, and science. He was happiest in the company of children for whom he created puzzles, clever games, and charming letters.
As all Carroll admirers know, his book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), became an immediate success and has since been translated into more than eighty languages. The equally popular sequel Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, was published in 1872.
The Alice books are but one example of his wide ranging authorship. The Hunting of the Snark, a classic nonsense epic (1876) and Euclid and His Modern Rivals, a rare example of humorous work concerning mathematics, still entice and intrigue today's students. Sylvie and Bruno, published toward the end of his life contains startling ideas including an 1889 description of weightlessness.
The humor, sparkling wit and genius of this Victorian Englishman have lasted for more than a century. His books are among the most quoted works in the English language, and his influence (with that of his illustrator, Sir John Tenniel) can be seen everywhere, from the world of advertising to that of atomic physics.
Table of Contents
Alice's adventures in wonderland -- Through the looking glass -- Alice's adventures under ground.