Books › The Complete Works of Lewis Carroll
The Complete Works of Lewis Carroll
First published 1900 · 1293 pages
A dizzying plunge into a world where language bends, logic fractures, and childhood dreams reign supreme.
What it feels like
Reading this collection feels like stepping through a warped mirror into a realm where the rules of reality have been playfully rewritten. The pace is inherently meandering, inviting you to wander through episodic fairy tales, dizzying logic puzzles, and rhythmic nonsense verse at your own leisure. The mood shifts seamlessly from brightly whimsical to surprisingly melancholic, capturing both the boundless imagination of childhood and the wistful sorrow of outgrowing it. The prose itself is a playground of puns, paradoxes, and linguistic gymnastics that constantly challenges your assumptions. It is a deeply immersive, surreal experience tailored for readers who love to get lost in language, delight in the absurd, and appreciate the hidden mathematical elegance behind a perfectly constructed piece of nonsense.
- Mood
- dreamlike
- surreal
- nostalgic
- disorienting
- Tone
- whimsical
- absurd
- playful
- satirical
- wistful
- Pace
- meandering
- Themes
- the absurdity of adulthood · linguistic play · dream logic · the fleeting nature of childhood · mathematical paradoxes
- The writing
- The writing is highly inventive and rhythmic, packed with clever puns, logical paradoxes, and musical nonsense verse.
- The arc
- The journey begins with playful, disorienting curiosity, spirals into dizzying absurdity, and ultimately settles into a wistful nostalgia for lost youth.
- Who it's for
- Readers who delight in linguistic gymnastics, surrealism, and the playful intersection of logic and fairy tales will devour this collection.
Content notes
- mild peril
- outdated cultural attitudes
About the book
Lewis Carroll, according to Alexander Woollcott, "wrote the most enchanting nonsense in the English language." And his two most famous works, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, have transcended that language to become part of the folklore of the Western world. They are as familiar in France and Germany as in England and the United States. Written for children—and still enthusiastically received by them—they have also proved irresistible to adults. Less well known but very much in the same vein are the shorter pieces, games, puzzles, problems and acrostics included in this volume. Here, indeed, are all the works that that enigmatic, shy, fussy, didactic clergyman, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, wrote under the name of Lewis Carroll—the works that totally contradict the face that the Reverend Mr. Dodgson presented to the grown-up world.
Originally published in 1936. Includes index.
Description from Open Library.
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