Alice

I saw the original manuscript in England, thrilling. One notable thing is that Carroll's illustrations of Alice are like the girl he took photos of and wrote the story for, Alice Liddell? (and yes, that adds another, rather unsavory layer to the whole thing). At any rate, short brown hair, unremarkable clothes. Carroll could not STAND Tenniel's representation of Alice, with her long blonde hair and starchy little pinafore. She's meant to be much less precious.

I started the Looking Glass, I like the idea of the chess-game plot.

Craven de Kere wrote:

and on a much lighter note has anyone read Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes? The Sozlet would love them - he retells the fairy tales. In Red Riding Hood there is a line that goes ' her eyelid never flickers, she pulls a pistol from her knickers' - no nonsense with this red riding hood - wolfskin cape next illustration....

link to site with the poems on



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Roald Dahl
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Little Red Riding Hood
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As soon as Wolf began to feel
That he would like a decent meal,
He went and knocked on Grandma's door.
When Grandma opened it, she saw
The sharp white teeth, the horrid grin,
And Wolfie said, 'May I come in?'
Poor Grandmamma was terrified,
'He's going to eat me up!' she cried.
And she was absolutely right.
He ate her up in one big bite.
But Grandmamma was small and tough,
And Wolfie wailed, 'That's not enough!
'I haven't yet begun to feel
'That I have had a decent meal!'
He ran around the kitchen yelping,
'I've got to have another helping!'
Then added with a frightful leer,
'I'm therefore going to wait right here
'Till Little Miss Red Riding Hood
'Comes home from walking in the wood.'
He quickly put on Grandma's clothes,
(Of course he hadn't eaten those.)
He dressed himself in coat and hat.
He put on shoes and after that
He even brushed and curled his hair,
Then sat himself in Grandma's chair.
In came the little girl in red.
She stopped. She stared. And then she said,

'What great big ears you have, Grandma.'
'All the better to hear you with,' the Wolf replied.
'What great big eyes you have, Grandma,'
said Little Red Riding Hood.
'All the better to see you with,' the Wolf replied.

He sat there watching her and smiled.
He thought, I'm going to eat this child.
Compared with her old Grandmamma
She's going to taste like caviare.

Then Little Red Riding Hood said,
'But Grandma, what a lovely
great big furry coat you have on.'

'That's wrong!' cried Wolf. 'Have you forgot
'To tell me what BIG TEETH I've got?
'Ah well, no matter what you say,
'I'm going to eat you anyway.'
The small girl smiles. One eyelid flickers.
She whips a pistol from her knickers.
She aims it at the creature's head
And bang, bang, bang, she shoots him dead.
A few weeks later, in the wood,
I came across Miss Riding Hood.
But what a change! No cloak of red,
No silly hood upon her head.
She said, 'Hello, and do please note
'My lovely furry WOLF-SKINCOAT.'