When I first watched the Disney version of Alice, I felt dumb. What a silly cartoon story. This was not the Alice I had grown up with.
My introduction to Alice came with The Annotated Alice, a lofty tome that my parents purchased at a garage sale when I was smaller than the book itself. My mother would read the story to me when I was a toddler, and I first cracked it open on my own at the age of six to devour the poetic and imaginative writing, and as a curious six-year-old would, began to explore the lengthy notes in the borders of the book.
Now granted, I was six at the time. I was an advanced reader thanks to my mother's love of literature and had already struggled through the Chronicles of Narnia on my own, aided by familiarity with the stories groomed through my pre-reading years by constant readings from my mom. I can tell you that I was the most unimpressed kindergartner in my class, frowning as I informed my teacher that Sam I Am lacked character development and plot. I cringe at the headaches I must have caused my early teachers. Who wants to have a first grader announce that Dick and Jane, while nicely illustrated, offers little in the way of suspense? No wonder they so quickly shifted me into a class with other tiny critics to read more advanced tales.
Thanks to my parents and their patience in explaining advanced terms to me, however, I was able to glean the gist of much of what Martin Gardiner was explaining in such detail. Over the years I read it again and again and to this day cherish the insights and histories that enlighten the reader on the many layers of Alice.
The Annotated Alice covers both volumes of the Alice saga, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There. Gardiner begins with an introduction, wherein he gives an intriguing account of Lewis Carroll and his relationship with the Liddell children, in particular Alice Liddell, upon whom the tales are fantastically based. The odd adult male-young girl charisma is explained with no wild claims made, although the support for illicit feelings on Carroll's part is given in a factual manner. Gardiner also defends his reasons for creating The Annotated Alice, pointing out that a story written in 19th century England is rife with mentions of concepts that 20th (and 21st) century American children will gloss over and not understand as more than random nonsense if no explanation is given. Alice is great literature and deserves a full treatment, children's story or not.
The Annotated Alice, however, is not really aimed at children, but rather serious lovers of literature. As an adult, I gain much more from Gardiner's explanations of the period, the hidden math and physics treats within Carroll's nonsense, and the supplied originals for Carroll's many parodies of the poems children in 19th century England were often required to memorize and recite.
For example, take the comment by Alice in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as she muddles her times tables, then cries "Oh dear! I shall never get to twenty at this rate!" Gardiner cleverly points out that if you continue the progression of Alice's poor math (four times five is twelve, four times six is thirteen..) and keep in mind that times tables traditionally stop at twelve, you will arrive at four times twelve is nineteen, just one short of twenty. Carroll's nonsense winds up being even more amusing when you realize his twisted logic always has a logical conclusion.
John Tenniel's original illustrations only enhance the historical feel of this literary treasure. We see Alice as it was offered to the children of Carroll's day, neither sanitized or updated, and as Carroll wanted them to be seen. Tenniel's black and white inkings are Alice and the creatures she meets, and I have never been able to accept any other version of Alice in art, no matter how beautiful or cute the presentation. Carroll chose Tenniel to bring his characters to visual life, and this is respected by Gardiner.
Chess lovers will thoroughly enjoy Gardiner's explanation of the moves mirrored in the second Alice story, Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There. I personally know very little about chess, although my father loves the game, but thanks to Gardiner I was fully able to enjoy the game within the story and understand the strategy of Alice's travels. The study of physics questions that were hot topics in Carroll's day, such as the reaction of matter to anti-matter, offers quite a mathematical edge to the Looking Glass world, and Gardiner takes us fully back to the intellectual ponderings surrounding Carroll at Oxford as he wrote the tales of Alice. Alice has always had an appeal to linguistics fans, and Gardiner presents us much on the nonsense language of Carroll as well, even including French and German translations of the immortal poem Jabberwocky. No aspect of Alice is left unexplored by Gardiner's spectacular mind.
If you last read Alice as a child or have only seen Disney's version, you simply have to get The Annotated Alice and discover the brilliance behind the nonsense. Travel back and rediscover the joys of a children's book that actually challenges and tickles the adult mind. As for me, I must have my ancient copy rebound for the third time, this long-time companion of paper and ink that has been with me since before I could walk.
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