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Informationen zum Autor Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English writer, mathematician, logician, and photographer. He is especially remembered for bringing to life the beloved and long-revered tale of Alice in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass (1871). Klappentext A fresh! practical approach to two of Carroll's most beloved works! which chronicle the magical! captivating adventures of Alice in Wonderland. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass INTRODUCTION Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass: TAKING CHILDREN’S LITERATURE ITSELF DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE The Fourth of July may be America’s national holiday, but a specific fourth—July 4, 1862—is famous for what began as a picnic. On that date, a slightly eccentric young man with a stammer, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, went rowing up the Thames River from Oxford, where he taught mathematics at Christ Church, one of the constituent colleges of the great English university, to Godstow. With him were Robinson Duckworth, a colleague and friend, and three of the daughters of Henry Liddell, the dean of Christ Church. To keep the girls amused during rowing and while they had tea along the riverbank, Dodgson made up a story about an adventure Alice Liddell, the middle sister at ten years old, had when she followed a rabbit down a hole. The story might have ended with the picnic had Alice not pestered Dodgson—her own word—to finish the story, which he eventually did, writing it out longhand and adding his own illustrations. The single, leather-bound copy of what Dodgson called Alice’s Adventures Under Ground was delivered to Alice Liddell for Christmas in 1864. Others read the manuscript and convinced Dodgson to have it published. In 1865, the book appeared before the general public as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland—Dodgson thought the original title sounded too much like a textbook on mining—under his chosen pen name, Lewis Carroll. And his legend began to grow. Both the book’s reviews and sales were good, in part because of the quality of the illustrations. Carroll’s publisher, Macmillan, had commissioned one of Great Britain’s most famous illustrators for the book: John Tenniel, who worked for the flourishing humor magazine Punch. When people see Alice today, they picture Alice as Tenniel first drew her (even the Walt Disney version looks comparable). The success of the first book led to a sequel, published in 1871, which achieved even wider acclaim. The books are almost always published as one volume as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. Popular culture has shortened the title to simply Alice in Wonderland, and scholars often refer to the two as “the Alice books.” In both books eccentricity is the order of the day. While Alice tries to keep her wits about her and behave in a “civil” fashion, to adopt the word that Carroll uses most often in the text, the characters around her violate logic and common sense with enthusiasm. Almost all the animals can speak (the puppy near the start of Wonderland is an exception), and when they talk, they convey rudeness and wild irrationality. Carroll has rewritten the familiar verses of the era so that the original meanings disintegrate. When Alice frequently tries to deliver these verses in the manner of a good schoolgirl, they come out all wrong. Carroll is also remarkable in his ability to refrain from correcting Alice’s behavior; in this, his work is unlike nearly all other children’s books of his time, which were designed to serve as mo...
