The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition
by Lewis Carroll, annotated by Martin Gardner

Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass are two 'books for children' that are considered as classics. The inventiveness of the stories, the various wordplays and strangely logical puzzles and statements still sound very fresh, despite reading them numerous times over the years. Gardner's annotations to the stories are a definite help in revealing even more fascinating bits and pieces about the stories. Having written The Annotated Alice and More Annotated Alice, Gardner has now combine the annotations in those two books, plus updates, and put out a 'definive' annotated version. To add spice, he has included a long lost deleted section to Through the Looking-Glass, called "The Wasp in a Wig".

For those who have never read the stories before, Alice in Wonderland covers the adventures of Alice who follows a white rabbit down a rabbit-hole and ends up in a strange land where her size is never fixed, people and creatures come and go as they please, recited poetry is distored into strange wordplays, etc. Eventually, Alice ends up at a croquet game with a pack of animated cards with the Queen of Hearts constantly shouting out about beheading people. In Through the Looking-Glass, Alice passes through a mirror and ends up in looking-glass world where things behave in a mirror image. Ending up as a pawn piece on a giant chess game, Alice makes her way pass various 'squares' on her journey to become a queen, meeting up with a Knight, the Red and White Queens, Tweedledum and Tweedledee and even Humpty-Dumpty.

As the books were written long ago, some of the words and situations found in the stories may be unfamiliar to modern readers. Even worse, some of the puns are in-jokes, meant for Carroll's close friends or the Liddle family (the stories were written for Alice Liddle). Which is were Gardner's annotations come in very userful. Gardner's intentions in annotating the Alice books is to highlight passages and provide explanations to various parts of the text. He does not concern himself with trying to analyze Carroll (the Reverend Charles Dogson, in real life) or try to find any 'hidden messages' in the stories.

In this, he has succeeded. Some obscure Victorian references (like 'bathing machines') are explained, helping to clarify passages. Other annotations point out changes in the text or changes made when the stories are translated and made in a stage play. The various poems in the books are also annotated by referring to (possible) original version that Carroll has modified in the story.

Possibly one of the best annotated sections of the book is in Carroll's famous nonsense poem, "Jabberwocky", which has been translated into numerous languages and parodied but never surpassed. The annotations help to give added flavour and will help to fill your mind with strange thoughts as you read the poem.

If you have never read the Alice stories before, you should probably read this book through at least once, ignoring the annotations, to get a 'feel' for the stories. Then, re-read it again, following the annotations, to get a better appreciation of the stories.

If you have got the previous annotated versions of Gardner's books, it may still be worthwhile to get this once to find out the latest news and opinions about the books from Carroll researchers world wide. You will also get a 'bonus' in the form of the long lost "The Wasp in the Wig" episode, deleted by Carroll in Through the Looking-Glass, just as Alice is about to make the last leap to become a Queen. You can read it, and the analyses on why it should or should not have been removed, and decide for yourself.

The Alice books are wonderful tales of adventure for both adults and children and, in this annotated version, Gardner has been able to give added flavour and spice to two wonderful tales.

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The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition by Lewis Carroll, annotated by Martin Gardner

The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition
by Lewis Carroll, annotated by Martin Gardner