THE ALICE BEHIND WONDERLAND

Name: THE ALICE BEHIND WONDERLAND
Author: Simon Winchester
ISBN: 978-0-19-539619-5

by Simon Winchester ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 15, 2011

Quite a slender volume—the actual narrative runs under 100 pages—but, as usual with Winchester, well-founded, witty and...

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Winchester (Atlantic: Great Sea Battles, Heroic Discoveries, Titanic Storms, and a Vast Ocean of a Million Stories, 2010, etc.) offers his take on the relationship between author/amateur photographer Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) and Alice Pleasance Liddell—the “Alice” in his Wonderland and the subject of a certain unsettling photograph.

To fill in the background, the author retraces Dodgson’s early schooling from years at the Rugby School to his arrival at Oxford (that “forcing-house for flaneurs”) and three formative “epiphanies”: the beginning of his side career as Lewis Carroll, a developing friendship with the children of his college’s new dean, Henry George Liddell, and his discovery of the pleasures of the recently developed camera. Dodgson shot albums of photographs, but one image of Alice comes in for particular attention: a portrait of the 7-year-old dressed in rags, bare of shoulder and bearing “an expression of impish, secret knowledge, a winsome look that manages to be both confident and disturbing.” This and other provocative child portraits—along with pages tantalizingly razored from Dodgson’s diaries of the period—fueled modern accusations that have gone so pervasively viral that any random passerby will “know” more about Dodgson’s pedophilia than his literary works. Not so fast, cautions Winchester, making connections and offering counter-interpretations as he goes. The author judiciously considers the evidence, suggesting credible alternative views before finishing off with a quick pass through Alice’s later life and role as unwilling celebrity.

Quite a slender volume—the actual narrative runs under 100 pages—but, as usual with Winchester, well-founded, witty and perceptive.

Pub Date: March 15, 2011

ISBN: 978-0-19-539619-5

Page Count: 128

Publisher: Oxford Univ.

Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2010

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
KNOWING WHAT WE KNOW
by Simon Winchester

- BOOK REVIEW
LAND
by Simon Winchester

- BOOK REVIEW
THE PERFECTIONISTS
by Simon Winchester

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.