Lewis Carrol discussion

I can't talk about this book without emotional coloring for it's my favourite forever and ever, so I've got to say I simply love it. To the distracton thing: have you heard of The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Lawrence Sterne?

Well it's basically a satire on everything, I didn't read it although i'd love to. Better summary here The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman :)

well Tristram's story is about hundred years Alice's senior, so it's definitely different style. But I follow what you're saying-Carroll's stories are poetically magical

I always like to believe the world is real and not a dream. :) I guess I'm in denial. Oh well. I like this denial!! Lol

To me it's perfectly real, I take it as in Carroll's mind there was no straight line between dreams and reality and that this could be his reality-in a way of mind, you can't really say what's real just to you and what's for everyone. For example that's what I like about Sylvie and Bruno: there are more than one plot and they're sort of tangled together despite their differences.

In addition to the succesful movies etc.: did you know there is Alice in Wonderland ballet? I think that an adaptation like this is worth seeing, now I only just have to find where are they playing it :D

As for the writing style, e.g. "Alice" and the "Snark" perhaps can be categorized as crossover literature - in the sense that the story and the poem had been written for children and adults as well.

The Mouses Tale, is my favorite quirk in all Carroll's works. Putting the tale in the form of a Tale on the page is only one of the many words he plays with in such a way, I read his work in half for the distraction, and love every minute of it.

Has anyone noticed that Lewis Carroll’s fairy tale about a young girl’s descent underground is literally the oldest story in the world? Originally entitled Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, Carroll’s fairy tale is based on the story of the Mesopotamian goddess Inanna’s descent into the underworld realm of the dead. It is the oldest recorded myth in world literature and one that is retold in the Babylonian myth of Ishtar and the Egyptian myth of Isis.
The story is best known as the Greek myth of Persephone, the goddess of spring whose descent into the underworld was one of the most popular mythological motifs in art and literature throughout Carroll’s lifetime, indeed the entire Victorian age.
In classical times, pilgrims initiated into the Mysteries of the Goddess, dressed in white and wearing wreaths of flowers, entered her temple sanctuary at Eleusis where they re-enacted the descent and eventual celebrated return. Carroll alludes to this ancient pilgrimage in the prelude poem’s final line: “Like pilgrim’s wither’d wreath of flowers / Pluck’d in a far-off land.” Furthermore, and not coincidentally, he photographed Alice Liddell (the real-life model for his Wonderland Alice) as “Queen of the May,” dressed in white and crowned with a garland of flowers like an initiate into the Mysteries.
 

The myth of Persephone begins in an idyllic meadow with her older sister, the earth goddess Demeter, who—in the scandalous way of gods and goddesses—is also her mother. Persephone is idly daydreaming and picking flowers when she falls down an infinitely deep fissure into a subterranean world. She experiences many adventures and trials, but at last escapes and returns to her sister Demeter’s arms.
The frame story of Alice’s Adventures—in both the Under Ground and Wonderland versions— mirrors Persephone’s journey. In Alice’s case, she is sitting in an idyllic meadow with her (rather motherly) older sister, Lorina, and—while idly daydreaming and considering the picking of flowers—drifts into a dream wherein she falls down an infinitely deep hole into a subterranean world. Like Persephone, she experiences many adventures and trials, but finally escapes from the underground world and returns to the arms of her sister Lorina.

I love Carroll's Alice books! They have so much fun wordplay and a lot of subtle humor. There are a lot of random things in the books that I just find funny somehow, like the Gryphon making that "Hjckrrh" sound at regular intervals, and Alice's conversation with the Mutton. I also love the silly little songs and poems sprinkled throughout the books: the Lobster-Quadrille, Turtle Soup, Old Father William, and The Voice of the Lobster. I think the Alice books are genuinely funny at times, and the absurdity of many of the situations makes them even more so.