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Loading... Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll (Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations) (original 2006; edition 2006)by Lewis Carroll (Author), Sterling Professor of the Humanities Harold Bloom (Editor)
Work InformationLewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations) by Harold Bloom (2006)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. I read this because I never had read it before and Andy was assigned this book for class. I wasn't all that impressed with it, and wondered what all the fuss was about. I guess I must be missing something! I actually read the edition illustrated by Helen Oxenbury, but I'm having a hard time finding it on goodreads. no reviews | add a review
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Alice s Adventures in Wonderland began as a tale told by Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson to three young girls (Lorina, Alice, and Edith Liddell) as the group took a rowing expedition up the Thames River. Enthralled by the story, Alice Liddell asked Dodgson to write it down for her, and he eventually did. In 1865, three years after their initial boat trip, Dodgson published Alice s Adventures in Wonderland under the pen name Lewis Carroll. Like its sequel, Through the Looking Glass, Alice is a story filled with imagery, symbolism, and unforgettable characters. As the critics in this volume attest, Alice s Adventures in Wonderland has sparked the imagination of countless children and adults alike, and has served as an influence to storytellers the world over. The critical essays in this volume reflect a variety of schools of criticism accompanied by notes on the contributing critics. Lewis Carroll s Alice s Adventures in Wonderland is an essential resource for those interested in the interpretations of top scholars in the literary field. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)823.8Literature English English fiction Victorian period 1837-1900LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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A very mixed collection. This is, in a way, typical of Lewis Carroll criticism: it's all over the map. Which is singularly unfortunate, because some of it is simply nonsense -- notably Phyllis Greenacre's "The Character of Dodgson as Revealed in the Writings of Carroll" and William Empson's "Alice in Wonderland: The Child as Swain." Both rely on utterly outdated psychology -- and both have been completely blown apart by the publication of Dodgson's diaries. Alice is not about Dodgson's sex life, or Freudianism; it's the flight of an autistic logician's fancy.
Less absurd, but no less out-of-date because of more recent publications, is Florence Becker Lennon's "Escape into the Garden."
Most of the other essays are better. But the whole book has a very peculiar air about it. The Alice books are works of nonsense, folks. Are there hidden meanings? Sure. Hidden meanings for ten-year-olds. Most of the essays seem to be trying to turn Charles Dodgson into Shakespeare, and then blaming him for not being Shakespearean. It's a silly approach. Let Dodgson be Dodgson, and let Alice be Alice. Give me The Annotated Alice and Morton Cohen's biography of Dodgson any day. Not only are they more enjoyable, but they contain less nonsense that is pure nonsense. ( )