Sylvie and Bruno: Amazon.ca: Lewis Carroll, Harry Furniss: Books

Product Description

This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

About the Author

The Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (27 January 1832-14 January 1898), better known by the pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican clergyman, and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass as well as the comic poem 'The Hunting of the Snark' and the nonsense poem 'Jabberwocky.' --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews

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Average Customer Review

4.6 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A goldmine, July 13 2003

By

Inti Cristobal Santamar�a Bola�os "El Tejano ... (M�xico, D.F. Mexico) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Sylvie and Bruno (Paperback)

When you begin to read this book (together with its second part "Sylvie and Bruno Concluded"), you must always remember what Lewis Carroll states in the Preface: that the book was written putting together all sorts of bits of writing that the author had skteched and drafted here and there for a long time, trying to find a common thread. So it's an assorted bunch of funny, clever and often deep pages. Even so, you might miss one of the charms of "Alice's adventures in Wonderland": the spontaneity, the straightforwardness. This is very much the opposite situation: a book that was written slowly, painstakingly constructing the main body of the story.

So you can find here almost all dimensions of Carroll's thoughts: humorous nonsense and innumerable puns (including a word as original as "Jabberwocky" or "Boojum": "Phlizz"); logical and mathematical puzzles, including a simple and clever description of a Möbius strip; tender and lovely stories for children; lots of poetry... And three elements I haven't found neither in the Alice books nor in "The Hunting of the Snark": solemn religious meditations; the only real presence of death in a Carroll text (as far as I know, not being a Carroll scholar myself) when Sylvie watches a dead hare; and an adult romance.

All these aspects are intertwined in a precarious narrative line-- there are almost as many disgressions as there are chapters; but what might seem a flaw in the book can be its main charm. All in all, Carroll found here A METHOD FOR NONSENSE or, as he says, "a far clearer idea (...) of the meaning of the word 'chaos'".

This is certainly not the best book to begin to read Carroll, but it's a pity it's not even half as popular as the Alice books. It's really worth reading it: it's like delving deep into the goldmine of the brain and the heart of a genius.

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Weird and confusing but it really grows on you, Jan 21 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Sylvie and Bruno (Paperback)

At first this seems disappointing after Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. But after a while it grows on you. I don't bother to try and follow the story. I just open it at random and read bits of it. There's always an unusual and interesting idea, or some funny dialogue or else a totally off the wall dreamlike image. Also there are some great poems in it. It is admittedly a patchy book. I like Bruno- he's quite like Alice but that baby talk was popular in Victorian times and grates on you now. Lewis Carroll didn't succeed in blending these great elements into a book that's easy to read, and this is why it is less popular. But it is definitely worth getting if you want another glimpse into the mind that wrote Alice. You will find plenty of the same kind of stuff. Also I think Lewis Carroll was a really nice person as this book often cheers me up when I feel low. It is happy and positive.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Remarkable, Jan 5 2001

By

Carlo (Yonkers, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sylvie and Bruno (Paperback)

The book IS inconsistent. Unlike the brilliant Alice books, there are places where what Carroll is trying to do just doesn't work. But this book is written on a GIGANTIC scale. Carroll tries to take the basis of Alice, and expand it into something of real profundity - something that covers an entire moral and ethical universe. And much of the time, he actually *succeeds* at such an impossible task. There are scenes that are hysterically funny, and scenes that will make you weep. The book is VERY touching, and gives a strong and unforgettable message on the totality, wonder and all-conquering nature of all-conquering love. Sylvie, the fairy-child, is Love Itself, embodied. Despite its spottiness, this book is very, very impressive, and you will want to read it more than once, just to re-experience the good stuff, which is very, very good.

"For I think it is Love. For I feel it is Love. For I'm sure it is nothing but Love!"

Indeed. And Amen.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good book
This book is terrific. The moves between Outland, Fairyland, and England are VERY confusing at first, but once you get the gist of the work it is a very enjoyable! Read more

Published on Dec 18 1999 by peep1028