Alice in Wonderland [Norton Critical Edition, 2nd ed.]
by Lewis Carroll 
Alice's Adventures (Collections and Selections — Critical edition)
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Presents the annotated text of "Alice in Wonderland," the story of a little girl who falls down a rabbit hole and discovers a world of nonsensical and amusing characters; and includes background information, as well as seven critical essays.Tags
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waltzmn Explaining the Alice books really requires more than one reference, and Gardner's edition includes far more fascinating details than the Norton edition, although it lacks the background essays found in the Norton collection.
waltzmn The Norton edition of the Alice books contains many chapters of history and criticism -- but almost all of these have been rendered irrelevant by the publication of the (almost) unexpurgated edition of Dodgson's diaries. Cohen's is the fullest and probably the best biography published since then. All fans of the man behind the Alice books should have it.
Member Reviews
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass are so very much more interesting than the 1951 Disney film adaptation ... or any other adaptation I've seen. Carroll's Alice books helped effect a fundamental change in English-language children's literature, opening a path for the whimsy and quirkiness of Dr. Seuss and all sorts of other wonderful stuff we get to enjoy today. But these quick little books are also worth reading on their own merits, for their clever wordplay and their attention to how we perceive the world when we're young and new to it.
[reread Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as a family read-aloud in March 2015, much to the 8-year-old's interest and amusement]
[reread Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as a family read-aloud in March 2015, much to the 8-year-old's interest and amusement]
Any Norton Critical Edition is really two books in one: The original text, and the apparatus around it. Of the original text here, little needs to be said: It's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, and (unjustifiably based on the title but understandably) The Hunting of the Snark. These need no comment; either you love them or you're not the target market for this book.
The apparatus take two parts: A few footnotes on the text of Carroll's three works, plus various essays about the man and the composition.
Of the footnotes, there is little to say. They are useful -- but Martin Gardner's The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition contains all the same information, and much more as well. The Alice Companion also show more offers more.
So that leaves us with the critical essays at the end. A few of these are truly vital to any Carroll scholar, such as the memories Alice Hargreaves eventually dredged up, rather grudgingly, for the Dodgson centenary. But most of the excerpted biographies of Dodgson were written before his diaries were published in full form, and are badly handicapped thereby. The two earliest, those by Stuart Dodgson Collingwood and Isa Bowman, are useful sources but are available from online sources at no cost.
Other essays are based on absurd psychological views of Dodgson (there is a much simpler hypothesis which explains most of his behavior: He had Asperger's Syndrome).
This is not a bad book. Anyone who really wants to know about Carroll/Dodgson should have it. But if you just want an Alice with commentary, get Gardner's. If you want a biography, get Morton N. Cohen's. If you want everything all in one book, you'll just have to wait. show less
The apparatus take two parts: A few footnotes on the text of Carroll's three works, plus various essays about the man and the composition.
Of the footnotes, there is little to say. They are useful -- but Martin Gardner's The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition contains all the same information, and much more as well. The Alice Companion also show more offers more.
So that leaves us with the critical essays at the end. A few of these are truly vital to any Carroll scholar, such as the memories Alice Hargreaves eventually dredged up, rather grudgingly, for the Dodgson centenary. But most of the excerpted biographies of Dodgson were written before his diaries were published in full form, and are badly handicapped thereby. The two earliest, those by Stuart Dodgson Collingwood and Isa Bowman, are useful sources but are available from online sources at no cost.
Other essays are based on absurd psychological views of Dodgson (there is a much simpler hypothesis which explains most of his behavior: He had Asperger's Syndrome).
This is not a bad book. Anyone who really wants to know about Carroll/Dodgson should have it. But if you just want an Alice with commentary, get Gardner's. If you want a biography, get Morton N. Cohen's. If you want everything all in one book, you'll just have to wait. show less
This NCE contains Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, and The Hunting of the Snark. I was pleased with the footnotes, which were helpful in clarifying many of Carroll's jokes. The critical information included some interesting biographies/diaries of Dodgson (Carroll), as well as a few critical essays. I was disappointed in these because although they were mostly good, the editor clearly has some negative feelings about Dodgson's morals and included many unnecessary Freudian-finger-pointing passages. If I were younger or more impressionable, I'd have been left with a very negative view of Dodgson indeed! Because of these attempts at manipulating the readers' good opinions of Dodgson, I wish I had gotten The show more Annotated Alice instead. show less
This is a great edition, because it contains footnotes explaining all of Carroll's political and literary references. If you're trying to actually *understand* what Alice is all about, this is the version you want.
The background and critical essays make this the best portable edition of Alice I know. The only edition that ranks higher in my esteem is Gardner's Annotated Alice. If I had to stuff a backpack with books to take with me to a desert island, the Norton Alice would be one of the first in the bag!
A great book accompanied by essays that provoke you to think about the various subtexts of this iconic story.
I've read this at least twice, once as a child and once in a children's literature class. I think as a child I found it a bit too scary and maybe that's why I don't recall reading it aloud to my own children. But, it's certainly an important part of our culture.
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Author Information
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Charles Luthwidge Dodgson was born in Daresbury, England on January 27, 1832. He became a minister of the Church of England and a lecturer in mathematics at Christ Church College, Oxford. He was the author, under his own name, of An Elementary Treatise on Determinants, Symbolic Logic, and other scholarly treatises. He is better known by his pen show more name of Lewis Carroll. Using this name, he wrote Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. He was also a pioneering photographer, and he took many pictures of young children, especially girls, with whom he seemed to empathize. He died on January 14, 1898. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Lewis Carroll has a Legacy Library. Legacy libraries are the personal libraries of famous readers, entered by LibraryThing members from the Legacy Libraries group.
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Alice in Wonderland [Norton Critical Edition, 2nd ed.]
- Original publication date
- 1992
- People/Characters
- Alice in Wonderland; White Rabbit; Snark; Boojum; Baker (Wonderland); Bellman (Wonderland) (show all 22); Butcher (Wonderland); Banker (Wonderland); Bonnet-maker (Wonderland); Beaver (Wonderland); Billiard-marker; Barrister (Wonderland); Bill the Lizard; King of Hearts (Wonderland); Queen of Hearts (Wonderland); Caterpillar (Wonderland); Mad Hatter; March Hare; Mock Turtle; Gryphon; Lion (opponent of the Unicorn); Unicorn (opponent of the Lion)
- Important places
- Wonderland; Looking Glass Land
- First words
- Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, "and w... (show all)hat is the use of a book," thought Alice, "without pictures or conversations?"
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Lastly, she pictured to herself how this same little sister of hers would, in the after-time, be herself a grown woman; and how she would keep, through all her riper years, the simple and loving heart of her childhood; and how she would gather about her other little children, and make their eyes bright and eager with many a strange tale, perhaps even with the dream of Wonderland of long ago; and how she would feel with all their simple sorrows, and find a pleasure in all their simple joys, remembering her own child-life, and the happy summer days.
- Disambiguation notice
- Do Not Combine: This is a "Norton Critical Edition", it is a unique work with significant added material, including essays and background materials. Do not combine with other editions of the work.
Please maintai... (show all)n the phrase "Norton Critical Edition" in the Canonical Title and Publisher Series fields.
The three editions of the NCE have significantly different contents. Please do not combine.
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- English
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