Parasha: Alice in Wonderland May 7th reading
It's a bit odd trying to figure out what to include, what not, etc... since as I mentioned this is a big annotated edition, and even aside from the annotations, it has a poem prefacing it (which I expect are probably part of all/most editions), and the original illustrations (which I suspect may not be)... oh well. I'll mostly go with the text, unless I see something that really calls out for comment. :p
What is the use of a book without pictures or conversations? Oh Alice, Alice. Although really while I can do without the pictures, books without conversations do generally tend more toward the duller side. :p But they can still be useful, obviously!
Well, at least the story makes no bones about being purely in the realms of fantasy. :p Two pages in, and we've already got a talking rabbit with a watch and waistcoat and a girl falling down a rabbit hole after him!
And one of the reasons these books are great is for the subtle bits that kids likely might not get, and even adults don't if they read too quickly: "'Why, I wouldn't say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house!' (Which was very likely true.)"
Huh, Alice has a better grasp of how thick the Earth is than I do, but that's about all that can be said for that. :p
Apparently, the scientifically-thought-out fate for something falling through a whole entirely through the Earth would be that they'd accelerate down to the very center, then decelerate as it goes the last half of the way, until it got to the hole at the other side, at which point it'd fall back through again. It'd keep going back and forth, and with air resistance/friction/etc., eventually would end up halting in the center of the Earth. The initial trip through would apparently take 42 minutes, though I have no idea how they figured that out. Ah, just in case anyone is curious. (That was one of the interesting things in annotations, I thought.)
Well, the bottle's not labeled poison, so that's okay then! I really hope Alice is a bit more cautious in her normal life. :p And I'm a bit confused - she took the key down, and unlocked the door to see into it, and now suddenly the door's locked and the key is unreachable. Oh well, I guess that's just part of how this world works... I mean, if the bottle appeared out of nowhere, there's no reason I guess that the key couldn't teleport and the door suddenly be locked again.
Ah, the good old "curiouser and curiouser" quote. I also enjoy the whole thought process about sending presents to your feet via carrier. And all this for a whole nine feet in height!
Although it doesn't necessarily come across, the notes here have some of Carroll's writings, where he mentions he intended the White Rabbit to be a contrast to Alice, and to be not only timid, but elderly, feeble, etc.
And here's where the annotations also come in handy: providing the original stuff which was being parodied, since we've long forgotten the originals and only remembered Carroll's versions. The "How Doth the Little Crocodile" poem is taking after Against Idleness and Mischief," for example. I prefer Carroll's version.
And yup, the key and door are playing with her, it's official.
Here's a bit on bathing machines, which are referenced here briefly, and which I find fascinating. I wonder what people back then would make of, say, a typical hot springs episode of an anime...
Man, Alice is definitely not good at making friends with rodents, is she? As a quite note also from the annotations (I hope I'm not going overboard with these!), the Dodo was a caricature of Carroll himself, the Duck was Reverend Robinson Duckworth, a fellow friend and companion of Carroll and the Liddell sisters (Alice Liddell being the original Alice), the Lory was Alice's older sister Lorina, and the Eaglet is their younger sister Edith.
...Which, I guess, might have more relevance after the next reading! Because this one's done with.