Alternative Alices : visions and revisions of Lewis Carroll's "Alice" books : an anthology

Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking Glass (1871) are among the most enduring works in the English language. In the decades following their publication, writers on both sides of the Atlantic produced no fewer than two hundred imitations, revisions, and parodies of Carroll's fantasies for children. Carolyn Sigler has gathered the most interesting and original of these responses to the Alice books, many of them long out of print. Produced between 1869 and 1930, these works trace the extraordinarily creative, and often critical, response of diverse writers. These writers — male and female, radical and conservative — appropriated Carroll's structures, motifs, and themes in their Alice-inspired works in order to engage in larger cultural debates. Their stories range from Christina Rossetti's angry subversion of Alice's adventures, Speaking Likenesses (1874), to G.E. Farrow's witty fantasy adventure, The Wallypug of Why (1895), to Edward Hope's hilarious parody of social and political foibles, Alice in the Delighted States (1928). Anyone who has ever followed Alice down the rabbit hole will enjoy the adventures of her literary siblings in the wide Wonderland of the human imagination. Publishers Weekly Off with her head! The queen would have been furious at this chaotic tea party of an anthology, hosted by an editor who seems to think more of Lewis Carroll's admirers and disciples than of the honoree. To any grownup reader unfamiliar with Carroll's Alice books, Sigler would give the impression that the more socially enlightened and politically correct spin-offs of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were superior to the original. Unlike the anxiously polite Alice who, like a good Victorian child, attempts to please and placate adults, she comments, Juliana Horatia Ewing's Amelia (of Amelia and the Dwarfs) is powerful and aggressive. In fact she's just plain bad; what makes Ewing's naughty character worth renewed attention is that she's funny. `You seem to think things clean and mend themselves, Miss Amelia,' said poor nurse one day. `No, I don't,' said Amelia, rudely. `I think you do them; what are you here for?' Amelia isn't the collection's only engaging alter-Alice. Among the 20 selections, written between 1869 and 1930 (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland came out in 1865), Sigler finds several gems: delightful homages, determined imitations and devotional sequels to Carroll's works by E. Nesbit, Tom Hood, Anna M. Richards, E.F. Benson and Charles E. Carryl, among others. Unfortunately, Sigler doesn't always distinguish excerpts from full works; even when one reads a piece that seems complete, one still wonders. Illustrations. (Sept.) Twenty Stories By Different Authors Giving An Alternative Picture Of The Heroine Of Lewis Carroll's 1865 Novel, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland. Often Less Flattering Than The Original, They Were Written Between 1869 And 1930. Mopsa The Fairy : Reeds And Rushes; Queen's Wand; Failure / Jean Ingelow -- Amelia And The Dwarfs / Juliana Horatia Ewing -- From Speaking Likenesses / Christina Rossetti -- Behind The White Brick / Frances Hodgson Burnett -- Wanted-a King, Or, How Merle Set The Nursery Rhymes To Right / Maggie Browne -- New Alice In The Old Wonderland : Peggy The Pig; Dutchess And Her House; Tweedles; Pageant / Anna M. Richards -- Justnowland / E. Nesbit -- Ernest / Edward Knatchbull-hugessen -- From Nowhere To The North Pole: A Noah's Ark-æological Narrative : How Frank Fared In Teumendtlandt; What Happened To Frank In Quadrupedremia / Tom Hood -- Down The Snow Stairs, Or, From Good-night To Good-morning : Naughty Children Land / Alice Corkran -- Davy The Goblin, Or What Followed Reading Alice's Adventures In Wonderland : The Moving Forest / Charles E. Carryl -- Wallypug Of Why : Way To Why; Breakfast For Tea; Girlie Sees The Wallypug; What Is A Goo? / G.e. Farrow -- New Adventures Of Alice : Found In The Attic; To Bunberry Cross, Or Along Came A Snipe; Peevish Printer; Fire!! / John Rae -- Uncle Wiggily In Wonderland : Uncle Wiggily And Wonderland Alice; Uncle Wiggily And The March Hare; Uncle Wiggily And The Cheshire Cat / Howard R. Garis -- From David Blaize And The Blue Door / E.f. Benson -- Westminster Alice : Alice In Downing Street; Alice In Pall Mall; Alice And The Liberal Party / Saki -- Clara In Blunderland : In A Hole Again / Caroline Lewis -- Alice In Blunderland, An Iridescent Dream : Off To Blunderland; Ownership Of Children / John Kendrick Bangs -- Alice And The Stork: A Fairy Tale For Workingmen's Children : Alice Visits The American Eagle / Henry T. Schnittkind -- Alice In The Delighted States : Through The Drinking Glass; Jealous Island; Humble Pie; Censor Incensed / Edward Hope. Edited By Carolyn Sigler. Anthology Of Literary Imitations, Revisions, And Parodies Of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures In Wonderland And Through The Looking-glass Published Between 1869 And 1930. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 387-391). Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking-Glass (1871) are among the most enduringly influential works in the English language. In the decades following their publication, male and female writers on both sides of the Atlantic, radicals as well as conservatives, producer no fewer than 200 imitations, revisions, and parodies of Carroll's fantasies for children. In this delightful anthology, Carolyn Sigler gathers twenty of the most interesting and original of these responses to the Alice books, many of them long out of print.Produced between 1869 and 1930 -- the golden age of Carroll's influence on popular literature -- these works trace the extraordinarily creative, and often critical, response of diverse writers. The authors of this period appropriated the structures, motifs, and themes of Carroll's works to engage in larger cultural debates raised by the Alice books and their reception. The stories gathered here range from Christina Rosselti's angry subversion of Alice's adventures, Speaking Likenesses (1874), to G.E. Farrow's witty fantasy adventure, The Wallypug of Why (1895), to Edward Hope's hilarious parody of social and political foibles, Alice in the Delighted States (1928). Original illustrations add to the charm of the stories.Alternately satiric, enchanting, experimental, and subversive, these Alice. inspired works reveal how variously Carroll's books were read, reinscribed, and resisted in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Anyone who has ever followed Alice down the rabbit hole will enjoy the adventures of her literary siblings in the wide Wonderland of the human imagination.

Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland (1865) and Through the Looking Glass (1871) are among the most enduring works in the English language. In the decades following their publication, writers on both sides of the Atlantic produced no fewer than two hundred imitations, revisions, and parodies of Carroll's fantasies for children. Carolyn Sigler has gathered the most interesting and original of these responses to the Alice books, many of them long out of print.

Produced between 1869 and 1930, these works trace the extraordinarily creative, and often critical, response of diverse writers. These writers—male and female, radical and conservative—appropriated Carroll's structures, motifs, and themes in their Alice-inspired works in order to engage in larger cultural debates. Their stories range from Christina Rossetti's angry subversion of Alice's adventures, Speaking Likenesses (1874), to G.E. Farrow's witty fantasy adventure, The Wallypug of Why (1895), to Edward Hope's hilarious parody of social and political foibles, Alice in the Delighted States (1928). Anyone who has ever followed Alice down the rabbit hole will enjoy the adventures of her literary siblings in the wide Wonderland of the human imagination.

Produced between 1869 and 1930 - the golden age of Carroll's influence on popular literature - these works trace the extraordinary creative, and often critical, response of diverse writers. These writers - male and female, radical and conservativeappropriated Carroll's structures, motifs, and themes in their Alice-inspired works in order to engage in larger cultural debates. Their stories range from Christina Rossetti's angry subversion of Alice's adventures, to G.E. Farrow's witty fantasy adventure, to Edward Hope's hilarious parody of social and political foibles. JEAN INGELOW (1820-1897) was a well-known British novelist, children's writer, and poet, who was so highly regarded by such contemporaries as Tennyson, Ruskin, and Christina Rossetti that she was nominated for the post of poet laureate.