Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass

Along with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, I reread this one nearly ever year. I enjoy it a lot, but it will never be quite as beloved as Alice.

Charles Dodgson taught maths at Christchurch college, Oxford.

Beside knowing well the matter he was teaching, he was aware it's a teacher's duty to present his lessons in an exciting way to keep his pupils interested. Dodgson was eternally on the lookout for wits, mots and wordplay that dealt with maths, logic and the games which have to do with numbers—as cards and chess. The study of general and symbolic logic (syllogism,) united with a love for pure storytelling, are at the basis of many of his works.

Alice in Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass deal with a game of cards and a game of chess, respectively. Especially in the first book, Dodgson uses traditional figures of storytelling, as the shape shifter (who better than the Caterpillar embodies the skills of the shape shifter—he turns from an egg, to a cocoon, to a caterpillar, to a butterfly;) and the trickster (as the Cheshire Cat is, with his puzzling grin and his maddening skill of disappearing, deceiving the eye.)

Nonetheless, both books deal with logic and the elements which are the building blocks of mathematics. Alice confronts perspective; she's either too tall, or too small—establishing perspective when studying a system is often critical in maths. The Hatter is stuck in a time paradox, because his watch stopped at six o'clock—tea time. There are also many hilarious jokes, as in the Mock Turtle chapter, where they have shorter lessons because they less-on. The White Queen in the second book runs so fast because she actually darts from one corner to the other of the chessboard in one move, and promoting a pawn (Alice) to a Queen is a chess move.

Dodgson weaves in his telling the fondness for his little, beloved friends whom he told these tales first; it's no wonder the strong human dimension they contain has survived mere time. ( )

Carroll's brand of nonsense just ain't my thing. I respect that a lot of people feel differently, but I cannot abide his absolute nose-dive into the abstract that feels like it's supported by hot-air. Honestly? I was just bored by his writing. And I didn't like Alice - she was so flat and terribly middle-class, but without anything else to recommend her to me. ( )

Rating: 3.5 of 5

These two novellas (added together equal one short novel) were what I expected and NOT what I expected. I think the movies might be better than the books ... maybe, I haven't decided for sure yet. Your enjoyment of these two stories will probably hinge on your enjoyment of and attachment to any previously viewed TV or film adaptations.

Fave quotes:

"and even if my head would go through,' thought poor Alice, 'it would be of very little use without my shoulders. Oh, how I wish I could shut up like a telescope! I think I could, if I only knew how to begin." (p.67)

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"And how do you know that you're mad?

'Well, then,' the Cat went on, 'you see a dog growls when it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore I'm mad.'" (p. 115)

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"'How is it you can all talk so nicely?' Alice said.

'Put your hand down and feel the ground,' said the Tiger-lily.

Alice did so. 'Its very hard,' she said.

'In most gardens,' the Tiger-lily said, 'they make the beds too soft -- so that the flowers are always asleep.'" (p.169)

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"Alice laughed. 'There's no use trying,' she said: 'one can't believe impossible things.'

'I daresay you haven't had much practice,' said the Queen. 'When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast...'" (p.207) ( )

If you haven't read these as an adult, I would highly recommend them. I just read them aloud to my children, and they are so deeply strange. And funny, and sad, and beautiful. Clearly written by a major freak, of a particularly Cambridge variety, but one I wouldn't mind meeting for a picnic and rowboat outing, with my kids, so I could eavesdrop on their conversation. I wouldn't leave them alone with him though. ( )