Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll

The Penguin English Library - 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War. But amongst the anarchic humour and sparkling word play, puzzles and riddles, are poignant moments of nostalgia for lost childhood. Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There is a winter tale, which Carroll first published in December 1871. His dream worlds of nonsensical Wonderland and the back-to-front Looking Glass kingdom depict order turned upside-down: a baby turns into a pig, time is abandoned at a disorderly tea-party and a chaotic game of chess makes a seven-year-old girl a Queen. without the least idea what was to happen afterwards,' wrote Lewis Carroll, describing how Alice was conjured up one 'golden afternoon' in 1862 to entertain his child-friend Alice Liddell. 'I had sent my heroine straight down a rabbit-hole. Within the framework of the chess game, Alice has little control over the trajectory of her life, and outside forces influence her choices and actions. 'Now I'm opening out like the largest telescope that ever was! Goodbye, feet!'' Alice’s journey through Looking-Glass World is guided by a set of rigidly constructed rules that guide her along her path to a preordained conclusion.

''Curiouser and curiouser!' cried Alice (she was so surprised, that for the moment she quite forgot how to speak good English). This 1872 sequel to Lewis Carrolls beloved Alices Adventures in Wonderland finds the inquisitive heroine in a fantastic land where everything is reversed. The Penguin English Library Edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll