1st Edition

The Place of Lewis Carroll in Children's Literature

By Jan Susina Copyright 2010
    248 Pages
    by Routledge

    248 Pages
    by Routledge

    In this volume, Jan Susina examines the importance of Lewis Carroll and his popular Alice books to the field of children’s literature. From a study of Carroll’s juvenilia to contemporary multimedia adaptations of Wonderland, Susina shows how the Alice books fit into the tradition of literary fairy tales and continue to influence children’s writers. In addition to examining Carroll’s books for children, these essays also explore his photographs of children, his letters to children, his ill-fated attempt to write for a dual audience of children and adults, and his lasting contributions to publishing. The book addresses the important, but overlooked facet of Carroll’s career as an astute entrepreneur who carefully developed an extensive Alice industry of books and non-book items based on the success of Wonderland, while rigorously defending his reputation as the originator of his distinctive style of children’s stories.

    List of Figures Series Editor’s Foreword Acknowledgments Introduction 1: "Respiciendo prudens": Lewis Carroll’s Juvenilia 2: Lewis Carroll and the Literary Fairy Tale 3: The Play of Letters in Lewis Carroll’s Alice Books: Ravens and Writing-Desks 4: Multiple Wonderlands: Lewis Carroll and the Creation of the Alice Industry 5: Imitations of Alice: Lewis Carroll and the Anxiety of Influence 6: Too Gaudy or Not Gaudy Enough: Lewis Carroll’s The Nursery "Alice" 7: The Beggar-Maid: Alice Liddell as Street Arab 8: Coffee or Tea: The Two Nations of Victorian Children’s Literature 9: "To Strike Out Yet Another New Path": Cross-Writing and Boundary-Crossing in Lewis Carroll’s Sylvie and Bruno 10: Alice in Consumerland: The Marketing of a Children’s Classic to Contemporary Readers 11: Cyber Alice: Wonderland as Hypertext 12: Show Me, Don’t (Re)Tell Me: Jon Scieszka Revises Wonderland Afterword Appendix Notes Bibliography Index

    Biography

    Jan Susina is professor in the English Department at Illinois State University, and has served as both the editor and the book review editor for The Lion and the Unicorn.

    "…informative, enlightening, and highly recommended book, an important addition to the literature for general Carrollian readers as well as academics." --Clare Imholtz, Knight Letter, Lewis Carroll Society of North America

    "The opportunity to learn more — to be startled by facts and surprising pieces of information and perception — is exactly what Susina provides us in this capacious, remarkable book that has broad appeal to nonacademics, scholars, and Carroll specialists. It is a text that generates delight, enthusiasm, and wonder." --Dorothy G. Clark, The Lion and the Unicorn

    "Susina's text offers a wonderful starting point to researchers who are new to the study of Carroll... he realistically situates Carroll's contributions to children's literature, publishing, and popular culture within their historical, literary, and social context." --Sarah Minslow, Children's Literature Association Quarterly