Customer Reviews

The Annotated Alice: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Perhaps no other set of works in literature benefits more from annotation than "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Class." Martin Gardner, the author of a regular monthly column on recreational mathematics for "Scientific American," provides expert commentary on all the jokes, games, puzzles, tricks, parodies, obscure references and other curiosities with which Lewis Carroll saturated his writing. That means that you will find out who was the original model for the Chesire Cat and how the "Jabberwocky" poem translates into French. Actually, the definitions of all of those strange words in "Jabberwocky" is quite a load off of my mind. Besides, this edition also contains the full text of each tale, together with all of the original Sir John Tenniel illustrations in their proper places. The annotation runs concurrently with the text and Gardner also provides an introduction that covers both the story of how the books came to be written and some of the most interesting analyses of Carroll's works, such as those always fun Freudian interpretations. The bottom line is that either one of these books gets 5 stars by itself, so when you put the two of them together and add all this annotation, there is nothing to complain about. This is the perfect book for re-reading these books; I would never send anybody here for their first exposure to Alice, but once they are hooked on Carroll's sublime nonsense this will open up a whole new dimension or two (or three) of his work for them.

Alice in Wonderland is an extraordinarily fascinating and delightful story, replete with jokes, puzzles, and nonsense of the highest order. But in order to appreciate it fully, the modern, non-Victorian reader requires some guidance, as well as an adequate background on the man and the times that produced Alice. Martin Gardner, the greatest figure ever in recreational mathematics, provides readers with all the information they need to appreciate this story at its various levels. This book occupies a place of privilege in the library of every serious Alice fan.

As the cover says:

Said Gardner to Carroll,/ Come let us not quarrel/ 'Bout Looking-glass logic/ Or Wonderland lore

I'm a man without malice,/ I'll annotate Alice,/ Yes, I'll wake up the Dormouse/ And tell him the score.

I'll translate the Jabberwock,/ Show who the turtles mock,/ Tame the Mad Hatter,/ And analyse Chess,

I'll spice and I'll season/ Your rhyme with my reason,/ And we two'll give Alice/ A new party dress.

Victorian-era readers of Lewis Carroll's delightful fantasies knew the poetry and song and public figures referred to; we moderns need to have the jokes explained to us, and Martin Gardner does a masterful job of it. We're fortunately past the more bizarre Freudian and Marxist interpretations of Alice that Gardner takes to task in his preface, but Gardner's annotations survive, as they should. The White Knight's encounter with Alice is heartbreaking when you know the background information, the lyric the White Knight's doggerel alludes to. By all means, give this to children at risk of being pithed by exposure to a certain indigo reptile; as children, they'll appreciate the story, and as they mature, they'll appreciate the commentary, and you'll have saved a budding intellect.

A joke is always funnier if you understand it, and the Alice tales are so full of inside jokes that you need someone to explain them. The Annotated Alice does just that. Carroll's tales are here, complete and unabridged, and the editors have painstakingly provided every piece of explanation and commentary you could ever wish for. Complete with Tenniell's original illustrations (although, alas, not colorized), this is a book any girl, little or big, can cherish.

Victorian-era readers of Lewis Carroll's delightful fantasies knew the poetry and song and public figures referred to; we moderns need to have the jokes explained to us, and Martin Gardner does a masterful job of it. We're fortunately past the more bizarre Freudian and Marxist interpretations of Alice that Gardner takes to task in his preface, but Gardner's annotations survive, as they should. The White Knight's encounter with Alice is heartbreaking when you know the background information, the lyric the White Knight's doggerel alludes to. By all means, give this to children at risk of being pithed by exposure to a certain indigo reptile; as children, they'll appreciate the story, and as they mature, they'll appreciate the commentary, and you'll have saved a budding intellect.

I read this for the first time some 23 years ago when I was a young boy of twelve, and I found myself unexpectingly enjoying a story I never thought I would like. If you loved the stories in and of themselves, the annotation in this edition will provide a new appreciation of Carroll's humor and insight into the world as he saw it.

One of the most in depth books I've found as of yet. Not only does it go into detail on key points of interest but it has a thurough bibliography and listings of books for further reading. The annotations are intuitively writen and not excessive like so many I've read. This book has been unfortunately out of print for a number of years. It's so exciting to see it returning. Deffinately one of my favourite books.

This is the best book I've ever read! I'm fourteen and it's not "cool" to stay home and read "baby" books (Which it is definitly not!). I LOVE this book and I DO read it over again once I finish. I usually can only manage a couple of chapters a night but that's ok. My fav character will always be the White Knight!

This book has been around for a while. "Alice" has a lot of double-entendre (sp.) and other veiled messages that the authors reveal in sidelined notes. Also, the Jabberwocky peom that so many people admire has serveral translations in foreign languages! The original illustrations and text make it an original from the initial print; the annotations make it an intersting study of what the book was intended to convey some years ago. Quality-wise it's a book with a lot of content, and a screaming deal if it's the 13 dollars or so advertised!