Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Decoded

December 7, 2015
Day (A Dictionary of Tolkien) ably reinterprets Carroll's famous text as a classical primer in disguise, identifying connections with mathematics, theosophy, politics, and philosophy. Day argues that the various existing valid interpretations from these perspectives together constitute a complete classical education, which Carroll intended to impart "secretly and subliminally" to his favorite child-friend, Alice Liddell. Even if the reader isn't ultimately convinced of this conclusion, the various premises Day brings together are strong enough to intrigue anyone who is not already familiar with them. Carroll's text is illustrated with a mix of art by John Tenniel, the book's original illustrator, and later artists; Day's annotations and sidebars include classical mythological art, historical paintings, and photographs. Though this is a handsome addition to any collection of Alice analysis, it inexplicably lacks a full treatment of Through the Looking-Glass, making it a poor substitute for the new edition of Martin Gardner's The Annotated Alice. Likewise, its biographical content (throughout and in a concluding section) is no substitute for Morton Cohen's new edition of Lewis Carroll: A Biography. Day's classical interpretation may make this work more popular among academic readers than recreational ones.

October 15, 2015

One of the most popular and influential stories ever written, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland continues to encourage speculation about its encoded subtexts. In this book that commemorates the 150-year anniversary of the original publication, Canadian writer, poet, and J.R.R. Tolkien scholar Day proposes that Alice is about Victorians of the time, especially those at Oxford University. A staunch conservative Oxford don, Charles Dodgson, writing as Lewis Carroll, strongly opposed the liberal ideas and reforms that were beginning to permeate Oxford, especially those of Dean Liddell, the father of the real life Alice. In addition, Day suggests the book may be read as an education in the classics, with Alice's fall down the rabbit hole being analogous to Persephone's imprisonment in the underworld. For ease of reading, this beautifully illustrated book features a page-by-page commentary alongside the actual Alice text. A short biographical sketch of Dodgson follows the story to further strengthen Day's interpretations. VERDICT Although the book reads like a scholarly text, Day has succeeded in making his thoroughly researched and persuasively argued book appealing also for lovers of Alice as well as for general readers interested in Victorian literature and society.--Nancy R. Ives, SUNY at Geneseo

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