This review was fated to be written, really. It took a long time for me to do so (though I did once do a post on the character of Alice, ages ago), but now I’m finally going to review one of my favourite novels of all time.
For me, everything really began with Alice. It’s the reason I ended up getting into the Gothic subculture (I wanted to dress like somebody from the Victorian era, especially if I could wear a top hat like the Hatter’s), and it also started off my love of the absurd and nonsensical, along with the poetry of Edward Lear. Alice made me realise that there is a sense and a beauty to nonsense, which is one of the main points of the book. Lewis Carroll- real name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson -taught maths at Oxford, and so a lot of the silliness that is to be found in the story actually comes from complicated logic problems that Carroll was familiar with. I’m kind of divided about this- on one hand, I find it quite groovy that the mathematics I find so aggravating is actually pretty ridiculous, yet on the other hand, I must admit that it was a little disappointing for me to discover that one of my favourite books was about maths of all things. Still, Alice is a book that can be read on many levels.
I
n some ways, Alice is an underrated novel. It has been criticised for having no real plot, and many see it as just a simple children’s tale. But, I feel that the people who make those points are, well, kind of missing the point. The book doesn’t have a plot because it doesn’t need a plot. It takes place in a dream, after all, and while it may not follow conventional logic, it does possess its own internal dream logic, one that can be found if you look closely enough. As for those who claim it’s childish or simplistic, they probably haven’t read the book, or at least not with an open mind. Silliness doesn’t necessarily mean a lack of depth. There’s the aformentioned logic puzzles, after all, not to mention Carroll’s excellent use of wordplay that is to be found throughout.
Alice is a book that always keeps you guessing. There’s so many unanswered questions. (What does the Cheshire Cat mean when he says that Alice is mad? Where do all the other doors lead to? Why is a raven like a writing-desk?) The theme of identity is especially strong, and when Alice wonders to herself who she actually is, you get the feeling that these are some of the very same things that bothered Carroll himself. Not only that, it has a good amount of emotional depth to it too, and is pretty touching in places. It isn’t until Through the Looking-Glass, however, that things start to get heavy emotionally. (Alice in Wonderland has been described as a summer book, as it is lighter in tone, while Looking-Glass takes place in winter, and is a bit more melancholy.)
Is there really any need for me to summarise the story here for you? Alice is bored, and, just as she’s considering whether or not to make a daisy chain, she notices a white rabbit with a pocket watch and a waistcoat. She follows it down a hole in the ground, and ends up encountering a number of curious characters, including a grinning cat, a hookah-smoking caterpillar, an ugly baby that makes a rather nice pig, a mad milliner, the Mock Turtle, and the Queen of Hearts. Alice is hardly ever shaken by any of these strange and often rude individuals, though she does begin to have doubts about her identity.
This story was first told one golden afternoon, to Alice Liddell and two of her siblings, Lorina and Edith. (Who also feature in the book, as the Egret and the Lory.) Carroll had brought them boating along the river, and so, to amuse them, he made up a nonsense-tale. Alice loved it so much that she begged him to write it down, and so he did, giving her the original version (entitled Alice’s Adventures Underground, and accompanied by some of his own illustrations) as a Christmas present. After it was published, Carroll was reluctant to let people know that ’twas he who had written such a fanciful tale- he’d much rather have been known for all of his mathematical publications. Later on in life, he wrote another children’s book, Sylvie and Bruno, which he considered to be better than Alice, but was far less well recieved by the public. Still, Carroll did love children dearly, and I do feel that he would have been happy to know how many children have found joy in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
If you don’t already own a copy, by the by, I’d suggest either the Annotated Alice, or the edition with illustrations by Meryn Peake.
The Hawkline Monster 