AAW is only 118 pages long (in the edition I read) so it is one of those books where the movie really tells the entire story. Actually, it tells the entire story plus some. For example--Tweedledee and Tweedledum and Humpty Dumpty aren't even in AAW; They are characters in the sequel--Through the Looking Glass.
I learned in the introduction that there was an edition of AAW released in 1999 called Annotated Alice. This edition includes footnotes explaining insight that Victorian readers would have understood but that are lost on modern readers. I wish I would have picked up Annotated Alice. I think it would make the story far more insightful and amusing. What makes AAW entertaining is the plays on words, the quirky characters and plot, and the random, dreamlike feel of the entire book.
The most interesting thing I learned was in the introduction and was the following. Lewis Carroll had a strong affinity for photographing young girls nude. He apparently had an innocent obsession with children--especially female children. He was friends with a family--one of the daughters was named Alice and he was in love with her. He told her the story of Alice in Wonderland (originally titled Alice's Adventures Underground) and later wrote it down for her. He supposedly mentioned the possibility to Alice's parents of his marrying her someday at which point Alice's parents promptly severed ties with Lewis. Curious.
Favorite Quotes: I don't have a favorite quote, but I enjoyed the section about the Mock Turtle and the Gryphon.
If this were a movie, I'd rate it: G
Overall Grade: B-
Would I recommend this book to my friends: Yep.
I was so intrigued by this review I just spend half an hour reading about Lewis Carroll, or rather "Dodgson" as they called him which confused me at first until they brought up what his pen name was. Anyway more or less everyone has decided he was a paedophile even though there is no real evidence other than the photos and whether he was or not there is one very clear thing is that he never acted on his feelings. Poor fellow but clearly someone who takes pictures of young girls naked is not right. Also there is evidence to suggest he was having it off with Alice's eldest sister and the governess and that led to the break with the family not an affection for Alice. So in short I learned Carroll was odd, like most really imaginitive people are, and you shouldn't try to have an affair with the children of your friends or their governesses.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting--but really, not surprising--this is a very weird story which clearly didn't come from a "white bread" mind.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the additional info!