#annotated alice

[penguinofspades]

I got the Annotated Alice today which is very exciting. I can't wait to re-read "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There ".

[rosecorcoranwrites]

[atlasandartemis]

Book Review: The Annotated Alice, (the definitive edition) by Lewis Carroll

★★★★☆: Such an educational read, brings new insight into Wonderland!

This book follows the journey of Alice, as she runs after a curiously dressed white rabbit and falls head first down a rabbit hole into the wonderful world that is Wonderland. Cue the little bottles marked “drink me,” the cakes marked “eat me,” and all manner of weird and wonderful creatures who strike up conversations with Alice.

“Well! I’ve often seen a cat without a grin,” thought Alice; “But a grin without a cat! It’s the most curious thing I ever saw in my life!” (pg 67)

I’ve always been a fan of Wonderland and all its whimsy, it is very inspiring to a fantasy writer. What I love about this edition of the story is that a fellow called Martin Gardner has collected all of the notes that correspond to the narrative, the author and the real people who inspired the characters and compiled them all in this edition of Alice in Wonderland. Thus I learned that Alice changes size about 12 times throughout the story, and that there are a fair number of death jokes, which one wouldn’t expect in a children’s story. I love that I was able to see the familiar story in a new light, and I think this is something I could read again and again and learn something new each time.

“For, you see, so many out-of-the-way things had happened lately, that Alice had begun to think that very few things indeed were really impossible.” (pg 16)

[livewriters]

Writerscast host David Wilk interviews Mark Burstein, editor of the Annotated Alice 150th edition by Martin Gardner, original book written by Lewis Carroll

I suspect many of us take Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Lewis Carroll for granted, assume we know all about the book and its eccentric author from what we read when young and subsequently have picked up over the years. This beautiful and wonderfully produced book is the corrective – for most of us, everything we could possibly want to know about the author and his work will be found here – and more. Charles Dodgson – Lewis Carroll’s real name – was a thoroughly interesting man, mathematician, scholar, an odd Victorian whose fascination (obsession?) with the young Alice Liddell prompted him to invent a strange and compelling world that has fascinated so many of us. And that, of course, included Martin Gardner, himself a brilliant thinker, writer, and mathematician whose own oeuvre is incredibly rich and diverse.

[1000booksbehind]

susanandherbooks said: I own it, it is really great to read the annotations along with the story (although I do collect different copies of Alice’s adventures in Wonderland, this is definitely one of my favourites). The annotated Brothers Grimm is also really great :)

Good to know! Thanks!

[1000booksbehind]

I stumbled across this in my research, and in the future, I definitely would love to read this copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. I feel like there's so much more I could get out of the text in understanding the historical and literary context.

[disneymoviesandfacts]

Just thought you should know you spelled Alice Liddell wrong. It should have two Ls at the end. Also, I do recommend the Annotated Alice as well, but the reader has to be careful as to what's said about Lewis Carroll in that book. It was written before new research was done and Gardner has manipulated it to make Carroll seem obsessed with the real Alice.

My mistake was fixed! Thanks for pointing it out!And there you go anon, another recommendation for Annotated Alice!