The Making of the Alice Books
Lewis Carroll's Uses of Earlier Children's Literature
Description
Analysing Lewis Carroll's Alice books in the context of children's literature from the seventeenth through the nineteenth century, Ronald Reichertz argues that Carroll's striking originality was the result of a fusion of his narrative imagination and formal and thematic features from earlier children's literature. Drawing examples from a wide range of children's literature Reichertz demonstrates that the Alice books are infused with conventions of and allusions to earlier works and identifies precursors of Carroll's upside-down, looking-glass, and dream vision worlds. Key passages from related books are reprinted in the appendices, making available many hard-to-find examples of early children's literature.
Reviews
"The Making of the Alice Books makes important inquiries into children's and Victorian literature that will challenge the way we read, think about, and teach the Alice books." Cathryn M. Mercier, Center for the Study of Children's Literature, Simmons College "Very valuable for academic collections supporting studies of children's literature, both for Reichertz's survey and for the materials reprinted." Choice "An absorbing study in the history of, and influence on, an enduring work of literature ... it offers an original and insightful reading of Carroll's work." SHARP News