Comments on: Alice

By: marly

marly — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 21:22:36 +0000

Alicia,
Ashley (a zigzag around the corner from me) gave me a signed copy of your first book, and I’ve been meaning to look you up to say that I liked it very much. We have an intersection of topics here and there, as well–and here you turn out to be a fellow Alice devotee. I was passionate about those books as a child. Once I read all of the first one aloud to my feverish little daughter while she sat in a bath of cool water. I’m ordering the newish collection–somehow I didn’t realize there was another until today.

By: Alicia (AE)

Alicia (AE) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:32:48 +0000

I think my mother still has the records in the basement somewhere. I keep meaning to record them digitally to play for Jason someday. My attachment to that reading of the book is very strong. It is neat to hear from someone else who listened to it!
Yikes! Of course it is Allen Tate! Oops. Nice thing about blogs is you can correct them. Thanks, Steve.
It’s true Alice might be better known than Achilles–but it probably helps that Disney made a cartoon of her. Maybe Hercules fairs better for that reason? (I remember strongly objecting to the Disney cartoon as a kid, too, precisely because I was so steeped in the book and objected to the liberties. There is no orthodoxy like the orthodoxy of childhood.)
Rigoberto–thanks. I am excited you’ve brought Cavafy up again… more on that shortly.

By: Rigoberto

Rigoberto — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:07:34 +0000

Wonderful post, Alice. I absolutely love these types of mini-essays that merge the personal and the poetic, memory and the literary. Thank you!

By: Cuitlamiztli Carter

Cuitlamiztli Carter — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:04:02 +0000

I adore Carroll, not simply because he and I share a vocation (teaching Logic). It amazes me how quickly his work diffused into the popular imagination and lexicon. It seems the average man on the street knows of Alice more than Achilles (well, maybe that’s an exaggeration).

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 14:49:13 +0000

Neat! I think it's Allen Tate, not Alan, not that it matters so much. Two other revisions of Alice: a Czech film with puppets, which I loved when I saw it (not for kids!), and a novel by Jeff Noon which I've been meaning to read. Has anyone else around here read it?

By: Jenifer

Jenifer — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 09:37:42 +0000

Thanks so much for this! I had that collection too, so reading this post feels like a bit of memory. I actually replaced that album set in a used bookstore in Cambridge recently — think I’ll pull it out for the kids next time they are sick…