If—and the thing is wildly possible—the charge of writing nonsense were ever brought against the author of this brief but instructive poem, it would be based, I feel convinced, on the line (in p.4) "Then the bowsprit got mixed with the rudder sometimes." In view of this painful possibility, I will not (as I might) appeal indignantly to my other writings as a proof that I am incapable of such a deed: I will not (as I might) point to the strong moral purpose of this poem itself, to the arithmetical principles so cautiously inculcated in it, or to its noble teachings in Natural History—I will take the more prosaic course of simply explaining how it happened.
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Lewis Carroll (1832-1898), the pen name of Oxford mathematician, logician, photographer and author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, is famous the world over for his fantastic classics Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass, The Hunting of the Snark, Jabberwocky, and Sylvie and Bruno.
Having prepared the definitive edition of The Annotated Alice (1999), prolific polymath Gardner has now produced the perfect companion volume, the definitive edition of Carroll's long nonsense poem, The Hunting of the Snark: An Agony in Eight Fits (1876). Carroll may have written The Hunting of the Snark for children, but this enigmatic tale in verse of a group of adventurers seeking a legendary creature is a lot less accessible than the two Alice books to the modern reader, whether young or old. Indeed, many will find the annotations to the various literary, linguistic and philosophical aspects of the work of more interest than the poem itself. Besides the original Henry Holiday illustrations, this attractive package includes an introduction by Adam Gopnik, a new preface by Gardner, an extensive bibliography and an appendix of Snark sites on the Web. Even Gardner fans who own the original Annotated Snark (1962) will want this one. (Oct.)Look for a profile of Gardner in an upcoming issue of PW.
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