Topic: The Book Thread

It's just filled with all kinds of drug and adult references, and if you look at the history of Lewis Carroll himself, and why he wrote the book, there's something a little disturbing in the background there.

It's a great book, don't get me wrong - it's just that when you start reading between the lines, it's one of the most "adult" books imaginable.

Listen up, that's simply not true, your probably confusing reading between the lines with your own imagination.

Um, what?

It's in English, what's hard to understand buddy?

I'm currently reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy and absolutely loving it. I'm only 40 pages in but I've already LOLed at some of the great humor. Yes, you heard me, internet, I LOLED BECAUSE OF A BOOK!!!

I'd just be very interested to hear the real Charles Dodgson biography, since you seem to know so much about him.

@WaltzElf

Are you trying to insult me with your sarcasm?

No, I'm actually interested in hearing an alternative theory.

The guy was miserable, a genius, and on painkillers (painkillers in those days are today's illegal drugs). That all points towards a child's story that is not so innocent under the surface.

At least, that's the way I interpreted it when I read it for Children's Lit at uni.

If you've got an alternative reading on the book, please do share.

I'm not a big Orwell fan (I thought 1984 was utterly depressing).
I do also like the Harry Potter novels and so many others.

I'd actually have to agree with WaltzElf, the novel version of Alice in Wonderland is suprising mature for a childrens story, and I didn't even know about the author's biography until long after I read it. Really, it's got a lot of themes that'll just blow over any kid's head, but an educated adult would easily be able to recognize and possibly even relate with. Personally, I think that makes the story ten times more intriguing and memorable, and not to mention it makes it a lot less awkward when your in a High School library reading a "children's book".

Watchmen. Greatest graphic novel. Ever. Imo, of course

I'm not a big book fan, but there are some I like. IMO, Catch-22 is the greatest book ever written, period. I also really like Edgar Allen Poe's works, and I'd love to read some of Lovecraft's books someday. Oh, and Stephen King, too. I love that psycological stuff.

I've also been meaning to read more of Animal Farm and Lord of the Flies, but I keep forgetting about them.

Oh, and if we're gonna include graphic novels, I'd like recommend Monster and Black Butler. I know they're manga, but that makes them Japanese graphic novels, and they're the only ones I ever read that I actually enjoyed.

Finish it. Totally worth it in the end.

Ah, The Lord of the Flies. Good novel.

Here's what I know about writers: the author's inner thoughts and feelings are going to somehow, some way creep their way into the story, whether it's conciously or subconciously. Carrol wrote the stories for his neices (I believe) and they were intended to be nonsense literature. However he did say that he didn't object to any interpretations that readers found in the book. There are a great deal of underlying themes in Alice in Wonderland--and I'm certainly not qualified to say that drugs are not one of those themes. However the main thing people seem to point to when it comes to drug references is the phrase "falling down the rabbit hole". Interestingly, that phrase had no drug meaning when the book was written--it wasn't until later, of course, that druggies used that phrase to mean getting high. Another thing people point to is the smoking caterpiller (sorry about the spelling). But smoking, back then, was quite a common thing to do, and that part wasn't really a big deal until the dangers of smoking were revealed (and it wasn't until the Disney adaptation that people thought the caterpiller was smoking hallucinigines).

There's some smart symbolism in that book--the whole tea-party scene is reflecting how men often become flustered in the company of a lady, and there's lots of mathematical symbolism as well. I'm not going to argue that there aren't scenes that are rather adult (the whole scene with the duchess and the pig-baby is a rather disturbing--yet witty--comment on child abuse) but I've never understood why people think there are drug references, besides the fact that the book is very strange.