The Hunting of the Snark: An Agony in Eight Fits (original 1876; edition 2011)

I'm a big Lewis Carroll fan and this illustrated copy of The Hunting of the Snark is absolutely wonderful. It is very well put together and very attractive piece of work.

"The Hunting of the Snark," Lewis Carroll's fantastically inventive, perfectly metered history of an eventful hunt, is, in the humble opinion of this English major, most certainly not a nonsense poem. That such a charge would be leveled against his work the great author foresaw, and wrote a foreword addressing the claim so that future generations would be clear upon on the subject. Alas, it seems that no one reads forewords anymore, or else readers would see the perfect sense and beauty of this epic quest. I shall attempt to elucidate, by simple literary deduction, the elegant clarity of Carroll's monumental work.

Take, for example, this recurring stanza. The sense of it should be clear to anyone who has ever taken a college English course in one of our learned universities:

They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care;
They pursued it with forks and hope;
They threatened its life with a railway-share;
They charmed it with smiles and soap.

"They sought it with thimbles" — well, as anyone knows, thimbles are a fumbling, seeking sort of thing. Just see how well you can get your finger in one and still be able to sew. Clearly it is a symbol of the difficulty of their venture. "They sought it with care" — naturally hunts are carried out with care, especially when the quarry is so dreadful. "They pursued it with forks," yes, I should imagine they did. Forks would likely prove useful, as a sort of skewering instrument. "And hope" hardly needs explanation: who sets out on a hunt without it? "They threatened its life with a railway-share" — yes indeed, only a personage such as the Banker could contemplate shares and stocks without a tremor, and Carroll is here giving us a rare insight into the personality of the hunted beast. And finally, "They charmed it with smiles and soap" — who isn't charmed by such things? My husband charms me regularly by such means. Apparently Snarks also find smiling, pleasant-smelling people as attractive as we do.

So really, after such a simple exercise it seems ridiculous that anyone could think the poem nonsense — that is, devoid of sense. There are a great many elements of sense, symbols, and semantics stuffed into it, perhaps more than is contained in the average modern misanthropy passed off as literature today. And what is more, Carroll's story rhymes. I should like to see several contemporary authors tell a sensible story in rhyming, rhythmic verse. How quickly we would spot the barrenness of their subjects!

In this lovely hardcover edition by Tundra Books, Oleg Lipchenko's beautiful sepia illustrations form a rich complement to the lavish language and ingenious storytelling of Carroll's poem. He has captured the serious mood of the piece while keeping its light dressing: an enviable feat. If I had the Bellman's bell, I would ring it to honor Mr. Lipchenko's success.

In short, "The Hunting of the Snark" is a deeply moving work that has found an enduring place in the great literary tradition of quest tales. Whether that quest was successful or not, I shall leave to future generations of critics to determine. But it does seem as if the essence of Snark (different, of course, from mere Sarcasm or Snip, those imposters) has been disseminated among many today. Perhaps we did catch it... or has it caught us? ( )

I am a fan of Lewis Carroll, but I had never read the entire poem of "The Hunting of the Snark." So I was delighted to receive this new edition of the poem illustrated by Oleg Lipchenko from Library Thing Early Reviewers.

The poem is, of course, typical Carroll nonsense. A bit of math, a bit of natural history, some nice rhythm and crazy characters who have no explainable relationship with one another. The set off on an adventure to find the Snark and bring it in.

Lipchenko's art work is perfect for the story. For just a taste, compare the front cover of the book with the back cover. One can see that the voyage was a rough one! If you are a fan of Carroll's, I think this is a great addition to your library. ( )

I’m not one for poetry at the best of times. At the worst of times, I find it rather pretentious. But the fact that Lewis Carroll wrote this made me realize that this would not be the ordinary poetry that I am not too fond of. In fact, with Lewis Carroll as the writer, I knew I would be greeted with only the highest quality nonsense that one could hope to find in printed work anywhere. And this book certainly provided that.

This poem tells, as described by Sidney Williams and Falconer Madan in Handbook of the Literature of the Rev. C.L. Dodgson, “with infinite humour the impossible voyage of an improbable crew to find an inconceivable creature.” I don’t think there is a way that I could every possibly describe this better than that.

While the poem itself was truly a delight to read, I absolutely adored Lipchenko’s illustrations, and think that they added so much more to the poem. They are beautiful and evoke the nonsense and beauty and madness that Carroll’s poem brings to mind perfectly. And I could definitely spend much more time just exploring everything in the illustrations than I could with reading this poem.

This wouldn’t be up everyone’s alley. Anyone who has no time for nonsense wouldn’t enjoy this, but seeing as it’s always nice to have a quick escape for the serious logical world, I quite thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Bottom Line
I am definitely keeping a copy of this on the shelves, and will be revisiting it time and again, even if only to look at the lovely illustrations!

Review originally published: http://books.moonsoar.com/archives/2013/01/21/the-hunting-of-the-snark-an-agony-... ( )

I've never read this poem before, so didn't have preconceptions. I thought the pictures were nice in sepia, which befit the poem, but could have been a little lighter to show more detail. I did like how Lipchenko didn't really depict the 'mythical' Snark -- or not that I could tell -- since it isn't clearly described in the poem and actually, it wasn't clear to me whether it was actually mythical within the story -- obviously my literary expertise is low. Anyway, I don't remember finding all the nonsense words mentioned in the beginning or in an article I read about this poem prior, but maybe that's the point -- maybe the beginning is about nonsense poems in general and the article I read may have referred more to the Jabberwocky, which I've read, but remember too well. My husband, an Alice in Wonderland and fantasy fan, read it as well and enjoyed it, but I don't think it stood out to him -- probably why Jabberwocky is more well known. Still, would be a very nice intro to poetry and older lit for kids...and adults. ( )