Identity and language
Names, sizes, and grammatical rules refuse to keep the self stable.
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Alice follows a white rabbit into a world where language, size, manners, and logic shift with comic and unsettling speed.
Alice follows a white rabbit into a world where language, size, manners, and logic shift with comic and unsettling speed.
Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a mathematician and writer.
Explore author profileThis work develops its ideas directly rather than through a character-led narrative.
The book plays with childhood education, classification, etiquette, mathematics, and institutional confidence.
It made literary nonsense a sophisticated instrument for testing language, logic, identity, and power.
Take the wordplay seriously. Wonderland becomes most revealing when a familiar rule is followed so literally that its hidden absurdity appears.
The author is Lewis Carroll (real name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), a British writer and mathematician. The book was first published in 1865.
The reading difficulty is rated intermediate. The language is 19th-century English with period phrasing but short sentences. The structure is episodic and non-linear, with philosophical themes around identity and authority. Plot density is low, but there is high implied play with logic. Readers may need patience with occasional archaic terms.
Three key concepts are identified: Nonsense (writing that breaks expected sense), Victorian fantasy (imaginative inversion of daily life), and identity slippage (Alice's changes in size and name suggesting a fluid self). These concepts help readers understand the playful yet philosophical nature of the book.
Yes, according to the provided metadata, the work is confirmed as public domain. It was first published in 1865, and the source is from Project Gutenberg (ebook #11). This means it can be freely read, shared, and used.
Source and editorial notice
Public-domain source information is preserved with the published edition. This reading guide was created with AI assistance and reviewed before publication.