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Sylvie and Bruno
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898), better known by the pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican clergyman and photographer. From a young age, Dodgson wrote poetry and short stories, sending them to various magazines and enjoying moderate success. Most of this output was humourous, sometimes satirical, but his standards and ambitions were exacting. His facility at word play, logic, and fantasy has delighted audiences ranging from children to the literary elite, and beyond this his work has become embedded deeply in modern culture, directly influencing many artists. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass (1871) as well as the poems The Hunting of the Snark (1876) and Jabberwocky (1871). Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a work of nonsense literature, which tells the story of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit-hole into a fantasy realm populated by grotesque figures like talking playing cards and anthropomorphic creatures.
216 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1889
126 people are currently reading
1741 people want to read
About the author
Lewis Carroll
5,217 books8,421 followersThe Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known by the pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican clergyman and photographer.
His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass as well as the poems "The Hunting of the Snark" and "Jabberwocky", all considered to be within the genre of literary nonsense.
Oxford scholar, Church of England Deacon, University Lecturer in Mathematics and Logic, academic author of learned theses, gifted pioneer of portrait photography, colourful writer of imaginative genius and yet a shy and pedantic man, Lewis Carroll stands pre-eminent in the pantheon of inventive literary geniuses.
He also has works published under his real name.
His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass as well as the poems "The Hunting of the Snark" and "Jabberwocky", all considered to be within the genre of literary nonsense.
Oxford scholar, Church of England Deacon, University Lecturer in Mathematics and Logic, academic author of learned theses, gifted pioneer of portrait photography, colourful writer of imaginative genius and yet a shy and pedantic man, Lewis Carroll stands pre-eminent in the pantheon of inventive literary geniuses.
He also has works published under his real name.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 107 reviews
January 3, 2019
Prime example of absurdism done right.
Unlike the Alice stories, the narrator himself is the observer of reality clashing with magic. He weaves himself in and out of several vignettes which portray silly discourses among friends and Fairyland. The titular characters are but devices, sometimes human sometimes fairy. They are just a feeling, namely childhood awe, and transitory in roles & features. They are personifications.
The playfulness in this book dare one to continue reading until the conclusion (which indeed finishes in demi-moral style... just to continue with "Sylvie & Bruno Concludes"). Nonsense is piled upon rubbish, which is itself in the trashpile of drivel, pure & simple. Again, Carroll just takes us along a Wonderland-esque ride through waking life and the "eerie" feeling which alone can make the fairies show themselves.
I daresay, cute.
Unlike the Alice stories, the narrator himself is the observer of reality clashing with magic. He weaves himself in and out of several vignettes which portray silly discourses among friends and Fairyland. The titular characters are but devices, sometimes human sometimes fairy. They are just a feeling, namely childhood awe, and transitory in roles & features. They are personifications.
The playfulness in this book dare one to continue reading until the conclusion (which indeed finishes in demi-moral style... just to continue with "Sylvie & Bruno Concludes"). Nonsense is piled upon rubbish, which is itself in the trashpile of drivel, pure & simple. Again, Carroll just takes us along a Wonderland-esque ride through waking life and the "eerie" feeling which alone can make the fairies show themselves.
I daresay, cute.
January 23, 2011
This was a bizarre book. It had no real plot and no real beginning, middle or end. The story flipped back and forth between the life of a normal, middle-aged victorian man (who's point of view the story is told from) and his dream sequences. In the real world, the man and his various acquaintances have profound discussions about life. They talk about the nature of love, about physics, about evolution, and about God and who He really is. Whenever the man falls asleep--which is surprisingly often--he dreams continuations of the same dream, about a ten-year-old princess, Sylvie, and her five-year-old brother, Bruno. Their father is being usurped by a motley gang of chancellors and officials, and their stupid, ugly, and cruel families.
Sylvie and Bruno learn that their father is really a fairy king, and hence they are a fairy prince and princess, and their attitude from thereon in seems to be along the lines of "Oh, let them take over the stupid kingdom, we've got Fairyland." Meanwhile, in the real world, the narrator's friend Arthur has fallen in love with a beautiful, intelligent and spunky young lady. All is going well in the wooing until her handsome cousin turns up, and appears to be competition for her affections. (Yuck.) Eventually, the two stories integrate, as Sylvie and Bruno begin to appear in the real world. The whole story is magnificently interlaced with distinctly Carrollian wordplay, poetry, and political allegory.
Overall: Fantastic characters. Brilliant language. And at that, quite a step forward for the feminist movement, especially when you consider that it was written by a man. As a book, though, it doesn't really work. Half of it is a fairy tale, plain and simple, clearly aimed at a child audience. The other half--the real world bit--is very much an adult novel, largely a collection of fascinating thoughts, ideas, and opinions that Carroll had kicking around at the back of his head. One wonders who exactly his audience was.
Still--I loved it. Amazing, fascinating, but really, really weird. That's kind of my thing.
Sylvie and Bruno learn that their father is really a fairy king, and hence they are a fairy prince and princess, and their attitude from thereon in seems to be along the lines of "Oh, let them take over the stupid kingdom, we've got Fairyland." Meanwhile, in the real world, the narrator's friend Arthur has fallen in love with a beautiful, intelligent and spunky young lady. All is going well in the wooing until her handsome cousin turns up, and appears to be competition for her affections. (Yuck.) Eventually, the two stories integrate, as Sylvie and Bruno begin to appear in the real world. The whole story is magnificently interlaced with distinctly Carrollian wordplay, poetry, and political allegory.
Overall: Fantastic characters. Brilliant language. And at that, quite a step forward for the feminist movement, especially when you consider that it was written by a man. As a book, though, it doesn't really work. Half of it is a fairy tale, plain and simple, clearly aimed at a child audience. The other half--the real world bit--is very much an adult novel, largely a collection of fascinating thoughts, ideas, and opinions that Carroll had kicking around at the back of his head. One wonders who exactly his audience was.
Still--I loved it. Amazing, fascinating, but really, really weird. That's kind of my thing.
May 21, 2017
I think that synopsis kind of got this book down to pat. Sylvie and Bruno were two kids who this man seemed to meet in his dreams whenever he fell asleep and believed were faeries. I am not entirely sure what this book was about, and it seemed to just be a collection of stories about what happened when he was asleep and going on adventures with the two children. I know that this is supposed to be childrens literature for his time and I can respect that, but it was a bit hard for me to follow myself.
I think it would’ve been nicer if it simply stuck to being about tales of a man and the two children. Instead we see glimpses of his real life when he is awake and not simply imagining which is a bit annoying because it is hard to tell when he is switching from real life to the dream life. It happens suddenly and well, sometimes I got a bit lost as to when the transitions were happening.
This book was still nonsensical like the rest of his works. I don’t entirely understand them, but I understood this more than Alice in Wonderland.
This review and others can be found on Olivia's Catastrophe: http://olivia-savannah.blogspot.nl/20...
I think it would’ve been nicer if it simply stuck to being about tales of a man and the two children. Instead we see glimpses of his real life when he is awake and not simply imagining which is a bit annoying because it is hard to tell when he is switching from real life to the dream life. It happens suddenly and well, sometimes I got a bit lost as to when the transitions were happening.
This book was still nonsensical like the rest of his works. I don’t entirely understand them, but I understood this more than Alice in Wonderland.
This review and others can be found on Olivia's Catastrophe: http://olivia-savannah.blogspot.nl/20...
February 10, 2017
For me Sylvie and Bruno is just as wonderful as Alice in Wonderland, as well as anything else that this amazing man has written.
In this book, we follow a nameless older man, the narrator, as he interacts with fairies and other real and semi-real people while drifting in and out of different kinds of surroundings. The events follow a kind of dream logic in which you take things as they come while only occasionally wondering at the strangeness of it all.
Despite what Mr Carroll himself says in the Preface, I do not find the style of this book to be that much different from the style of Alice in Wonderland. It consists of so many weird, lovely things such as a crocodile who got so long he could walk on his own nose (but on tip-toes, so it wouldn't wake itself), a fairy helping and 'half-scolding and half-comforting' a beetle that has rolled over on its back (one of the sweetest things I've ever read), a visit to the Dog-King, losing a baby fairy in a flower, frogs watching a performance of Shakespeare's tragedies, a watch that makes time go in reverse, and instructions on how to meet fairies:
In this book, we follow a nameless older man, the narrator, as he interacts with fairies and other real and semi-real people while drifting in and out of different kinds of surroundings. The events follow a kind of dream logic in which you take things as they come while only occasionally wondering at the strangeness of it all.
Despite what Mr Carroll himself says in the Preface, I do not find the style of this book to be that much different from the style of Alice in Wonderland. It consists of so many weird, lovely things such as a crocodile who got so long he could walk on his own nose (but on tip-toes, so it wouldn't wake itself), a fairy helping and 'half-scolding and half-comforting' a beetle that has rolled over on its back (one of the sweetest things I've ever read), a visit to the Dog-King, losing a baby fairy in a flower, frogs watching a performance of Shakespeare's tragedies, a watch that makes time go in reverse, and instructions on how to meet fairies:
"The first rule is, that it must be a very hot day - that we may consider as settled: and you must be just a little sleepy - but not too sleepy to keep your eyes open, mind. Well, and you ought to feel a little - what one may call 'fairyish' - the Scotch call it 'eerie', and perhaps that's a prettier word; if you don't know what it means, I'm afraid I can hardly explain it; you must wait till you meet a Fairy, and then you'll know.As if that were not enough, the book is filled with puns, word play, utterly silly and intelligent language logic, and just some of the most beautiful lines ever. I love it.
And the last rule is, that the crickets should not be chirping. I can't stop to explain that: you must take it on trust for the present."
"After that they went throught the whole garden again, flower by flower, as if it were a long sentence they were spelling out, with kisses for commas, and a great hug by way of a full-stop when they got to the end."
July 30, 2011
As "Alice in Wonderland" is one of my favourite stories from childhood, I was really looking forward to this other novel by Lewis Carroll - and wasn't disappointed at all! A lot of supplementary material let me know more about the author and his work, though I don't think it influenced me on evaluating.
The story itself is amazing as can be, telling from two gorgeous siblings and their adventures, being told by an older man. Every single page, every sentence, every word, even every letter is worth the 5 stars above - I wish there were a thousand more stories told by L. C., and I would only read those for all my life.
The story itself is amazing as can be, telling from two gorgeous siblings and their adventures, being told by an older man. Every single page, every sentence, every word, even every letter is worth the 5 stars above - I wish there were a thousand more stories told by L. C., and I would only read those for all my life.
May 5, 2013
This is my favorite Lewis Caroll book. Even though this book is much less well-known than Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, I like it better. I love how he connects the imaginary and the ordinary, the seen and the invisible, and children's beliefs to that of adult society.
Many things that Arthur and 'Mister Sir' talk about sets me thinking. I especially love the talk about God's creation and Heaven. This book is deep, meaningful, and touching, but still retains Caroll's whimsical uniqueness to a certain extent.
Many things that Arthur and 'Mister Sir' talk about sets me thinking. I especially love the talk about God's creation and Heaven. This book is deep, meaningful, and touching, but still retains Caroll's whimsical uniqueness to a certain extent.
December 10, 2017
This is an extraordinary book, and one clearly in need of a good editor. To combine a story about fairy children with discussions about religious practices, among other things, mixed in with a rather unconvincing love triangle .... Then there is the unbearable cuteness of ‘ickle Bruno, whose baby talk kept reminding me of Dorothy Parker’s review of A A Milne in her Constant Reader column: “Tonstant Weader fwowed up.”
I believe the second part is slightly better, so I shall have a crack at it for the sake of completeness!
Edited to add: I unfairly missed out the two best things in the book. One is the Gardener’s poem, which I have read in a collection of Carroll’s verse. The other is the work of Harry Furniss, whose illustrations are lovely.
I believe the second part is slightly better, so I shall have a crack at it for the sake of completeness!
Edited to add: I unfairly missed out the two best things in the book. One is the Gardener’s poem, which I have read in a collection of Carroll’s verse. The other is the work of Harry Furniss, whose illustrations are lovely.
March 21, 2013
Es esta la última obra de Lewis Carroll, poco conocida en español y menos reeditada aún. Fue eclipsada por “Alicia en el País de las Maravillas” y se la ha considerado una obra menor, un panfleto.
Sin embargo, en ella podemos apreciar al mejor Carroll, quien como un distinguido chef, nos sirve un banquete de palabras, elaborado con ingredientes de primera calidad, siempre en su dosis justa: humor inglés, que en ocasiones roza el absurdo; lúcidas críticas a la realidad política y social de la época y sus instituciones; la inocente mirada al mundo característica de la niñez, y algunas máximas morales que aquí y allá aparecen a lo largo del libro, y que sin llegar a cansarnos nos edifican.
Los personajes que dan nombre a esta novela, Silvia y Bruno, son los inquietos hijos del alcaide del país de los duendes, Tierrafuera.
Ya en el primer párrafo del texto, observamos como el orden convencional se invierte, dándonos a entender que nos encontramos ante una parodia a nuestra realidad cotidiana: “Algunos gritaban ¡Menos pan!, otros ¡Más impuestos! Pero ninguno parecía saber bien lo que quería decir”. Aquí el pueblo de Tierrafuera, reclama por sus derechos ante el palacio real, pero esta manifestación es orquestada por el canciller, que conspira junto con el vice alcaide para que este último sea nombrado emperador de Tierrafuera, engañando al alcaide.
Paralelamente, otra trama se va haciendo presente en la novela: La historia de los esfuerzos del narrador por ayudar a su Doctor, que duda en expresar su amor a Lady Muriel , una deliciosa joven que esta pronta a casarse con un soldado de alto rango.
El narrador nos transporta, o mejor dicho, es transportado de manera intermitente entre estos dos mundos, el de las Hadas y los Duendes, intenso y onírico, y el “Real”, un mordaz espejo de la sociedad inglesa del siglo XIX.
Estas dos historias se van entrelazando, y si bien en algunos casos el narrador nos avisa que vamos entrar en el mundo de las hadas, al caer presa de un sentimiento “eiree” (palabra escocesa que significa encantado), otras no estamos del todo seguros en que mundo estamos.
Pero no solo nosotros nos confundimos, el narrador también esta en un buen lío, al punto que llega a dudar de su salud mental ya que algunos personajes pueden verlo en ocasiones y otros no, situación que va cambiando constantemente a medida que avanza el relato: “¿Podría ser usted tan gentil de mencionar donde estamos en este momento y quienes somos, empezando por mi?”
Carroll no deja que nada escape a su mirada satírica:
*Los discursos de los políticos de turno y sus falsas promesas. Las oscuras maniobras de los traidores (el canciller, el sub, vice alcaide y su mujer) para hacerse con el poder.
* La ciencia, que encarna el profesor, un despistado sabio que invento tres nuevas enfermedades y una nueva forma de quebrar un cuello, “a veces dice cosas que sólo el otro profesor entiende, ¡y a veces dice cosas que nadie puede entender!”
* El modelo económico capitalista, basado en la ley del dinero, inventada por el profesor para satisfacer al nuevo emperador, que quería que su gobierno fuera popular y decidió que todo habitante del país fuera el doble de rico. Como no había tanto dinero en la tesorería se duplicó el valor de toda moneda y todo billete, “No se ha visto nunca una alegría tan grande. ¡Las tiendas están repletas mañana y tarde! ¡Todo el mundo compra de todo!
* Los clichés legales: “Debo mencionarle que todo lo que diga puede ser usado en su contra, le dijo el profesor al campesino. Ah, entonces no digo nada, le contesto este y huyo rápidamente”
* Tampoco la literatura se salva. Tanto las fabulas de Esopo como el teatro de Shakespeare se encuentran satirizados por estos inocentes duendes.
Pero no todas son ironías las que brotan de la boca de los personajes, también encontramos agudas máximas morales, acotaciones a pasajes de la Biblia e ideas que en la época en que se escribió esta novela debieron causar revuelo.
Cabe destacar en este aspecto la consideraciones del narrador sobre la moral reinante: “Lo bueno y lo malo se estaban convirtiendo en la ganancia y la perdida y la religión en una transacción comercial”
También la opinión de lady Muriel sobre la guerra entre gente de diferentes tamaños nos lleva a reflexionar: “¿Se comunicarán entre si las diferentes razas? ¿Se harán la guerra unas a otras o concertarán tratados? La guerra debería excluirse, creo yo. Cuando se puede aplastar a toda una nación de un puñetazo no se puede hacer guerra en igualdad de condiciones”
Por si todo esto fuera poco, están Silvia y Bruno, que acompañan al narrador a su mundo y cometen las travesuras típicas de todo niño, divirtiéndonos constantemente. Tampoco olvidemos las extrañas canciones que canta el jardinero del palacio, que si bien rozan el sinsentido, parecen querer decirnos algo.
Podemos agregar que en el capitulo referido al reloj tierrafuerino, se aprecia un interesante ejercicio de ciencia ficción, según creo, uno de los primeros relatos en los que se desarrolla un viaje a través del tiempo.
Si bien la lectura del libro nos deja una agradable sensación de bienestar, no podemos menos que señalar que tanto una historia como la otra no concluyen demasiado bien, ya que ni el Doctor se queda con la muchacha ni Tierrafuera es liberada de la tiranía.
Sin embargo, en ella podemos apreciar al mejor Carroll, quien como un distinguido chef, nos sirve un banquete de palabras, elaborado con ingredientes de primera calidad, siempre en su dosis justa: humor inglés, que en ocasiones roza el absurdo; lúcidas críticas a la realidad política y social de la época y sus instituciones; la inocente mirada al mundo característica de la niñez, y algunas máximas morales que aquí y allá aparecen a lo largo del libro, y que sin llegar a cansarnos nos edifican.
Los personajes que dan nombre a esta novela, Silvia y Bruno, son los inquietos hijos del alcaide del país de los duendes, Tierrafuera.
Ya en el primer párrafo del texto, observamos como el orden convencional se invierte, dándonos a entender que nos encontramos ante una parodia a nuestra realidad cotidiana: “Algunos gritaban ¡Menos pan!, otros ¡Más impuestos! Pero ninguno parecía saber bien lo que quería decir”. Aquí el pueblo de Tierrafuera, reclama por sus derechos ante el palacio real, pero esta manifestación es orquestada por el canciller, que conspira junto con el vice alcaide para que este último sea nombrado emperador de Tierrafuera, engañando al alcaide.
Paralelamente, otra trama se va haciendo presente en la novela: La historia de los esfuerzos del narrador por ayudar a su Doctor, que duda en expresar su amor a Lady Muriel , una deliciosa joven que esta pronta a casarse con un soldado de alto rango.
El narrador nos transporta, o mejor dicho, es transportado de manera intermitente entre estos dos mundos, el de las Hadas y los Duendes, intenso y onírico, y el “Real”, un mordaz espejo de la sociedad inglesa del siglo XIX.
Estas dos historias se van entrelazando, y si bien en algunos casos el narrador nos avisa que vamos entrar en el mundo de las hadas, al caer presa de un sentimiento “eiree” (palabra escocesa que significa encantado), otras no estamos del todo seguros en que mundo estamos.
Pero no solo nosotros nos confundimos, el narrador también esta en un buen lío, al punto que llega a dudar de su salud mental ya que algunos personajes pueden verlo en ocasiones y otros no, situación que va cambiando constantemente a medida que avanza el relato: “¿Podría ser usted tan gentil de mencionar donde estamos en este momento y quienes somos, empezando por mi?”
Carroll no deja que nada escape a su mirada satírica:
*Los discursos de los políticos de turno y sus falsas promesas. Las oscuras maniobras de los traidores (el canciller, el sub, vice alcaide y su mujer) para hacerse con el poder.
* La ciencia, que encarna el profesor, un despistado sabio que invento tres nuevas enfermedades y una nueva forma de quebrar un cuello, “a veces dice cosas que sólo el otro profesor entiende, ¡y a veces dice cosas que nadie puede entender!”
* El modelo económico capitalista, basado en la ley del dinero, inventada por el profesor para satisfacer al nuevo emperador, que quería que su gobierno fuera popular y decidió que todo habitante del país fuera el doble de rico. Como no había tanto dinero en la tesorería se duplicó el valor de toda moneda y todo billete, “No se ha visto nunca una alegría tan grande. ¡Las tiendas están repletas mañana y tarde! ¡Todo el mundo compra de todo!
* Los clichés legales: “Debo mencionarle que todo lo que diga puede ser usado en su contra, le dijo el profesor al campesino. Ah, entonces no digo nada, le contesto este y huyo rápidamente”
* Tampoco la literatura se salva. Tanto las fabulas de Esopo como el teatro de Shakespeare se encuentran satirizados por estos inocentes duendes.
Pero no todas son ironías las que brotan de la boca de los personajes, también encontramos agudas máximas morales, acotaciones a pasajes de la Biblia e ideas que en la época en que se escribió esta novela debieron causar revuelo.
Cabe destacar en este aspecto la consideraciones del narrador sobre la moral reinante: “Lo bueno y lo malo se estaban convirtiendo en la ganancia y la perdida y la religión en una transacción comercial”
También la opinión de lady Muriel sobre la guerra entre gente de diferentes tamaños nos lleva a reflexionar: “¿Se comunicarán entre si las diferentes razas? ¿Se harán la guerra unas a otras o concertarán tratados? La guerra debería excluirse, creo yo. Cuando se puede aplastar a toda una nación de un puñetazo no se puede hacer guerra en igualdad de condiciones”
Por si todo esto fuera poco, están Silvia y Bruno, que acompañan al narrador a su mundo y cometen las travesuras típicas de todo niño, divirtiéndonos constantemente. Tampoco olvidemos las extrañas canciones que canta el jardinero del palacio, que si bien rozan el sinsentido, parecen querer decirnos algo.
Podemos agregar que en el capitulo referido al reloj tierrafuerino, se aprecia un interesante ejercicio de ciencia ficción, según creo, uno de los primeros relatos en los que se desarrolla un viaje a través del tiempo.
Si bien la lectura del libro nos deja una agradable sensación de bienestar, no podemos menos que señalar que tanto una historia como la otra no concluyen demasiado bien, ya que ni el Doctor se queda con la muchacha ni Tierrafuera es liberada de la tiranía.
January 3, 2019
Unlike Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, this caters a bit more to the adult audience, which admittedly is far smaller for fantastic absurdism. Carroll does it well for the most part, although the overall plot structure is somewhat fragmented and gets a little confused when characters from Fairyland start entering the real world as solid entities.
In all, though, it's still hilarious and beautiful.
In all, though, it's still hilarious and beautiful.
January 4, 2023
ENGLISH: A mixture of fantastic literature in the style of the two Alice books, together with a contemporary novel, both parts assembled in such an intertwined way that sometimes the reader does not know in which part he is, which on the other hand also happens to the narrator.
ESPAÑOL: Una mezcla de literatura fantástica al estilo de los dos libros de Alicia, junto con una novela contemporánea, ambas partes ensambladas de modo tan entrelazado, que a veces el lector no sabe en qué parte se encuentra, cosa que por otra parte le ocurre también al narrador.
ESPAÑOL: Una mezcla de literatura fantástica al estilo de los dos libros de Alicia, junto con una novela contemporánea, ambas partes ensambladas de modo tan entrelazado, que a veces el lector no sabe en qué parte se encuentra, cosa que por otra parte le ocurre también al narrador.
January 12, 2010
This was very excellent. I think it is Lewis Carroll at his best. Yes, better then the Alice series put together. This story definitely has a healthy dose of what is reality and what is fantasy/dream. Some stories can over-react with that issue but this is perfect. And when these two worlds collide there seems to be harmony to it. It definitely is one of his more church oriented stories as well as his best. This, and Sylvie and Bruno Concluded
July 27, 2011
Didn't really enjoy this, and was grateful that it's a quick read. The characters were all too bland and washed out to carry any sort of plot, of which there was little.
August 7, 2012
A lesser known work than his Alice in Wonderland books, Sylvie and Bruno is another of those strange children’s stories from Lewis Carroll that makes one wonder whether the Rev. Charles L. Dodgson’s stories were, indeed, written for children. To be sure, the humor is often as “painful” as “punful” as when a professor says, “The smaller animal ought to go to bed at once” and he is asked why the child needed to do so. “Because he can’t go at twice.” (p. 216 in my eBook version) Or again, when one child is described as being as “busy as the day is long!” and another is called, “busy as the day is short.” (p. 220 eBook) I particularly liked the professor’s excuse that he couldn’t do something his pupils wanted him to do because he had “…left off at a comma, and it’s so awkward not knowing how the sentence finishes!” (p. 236) There is a rabbit that leads the two children down a long staircase, a mushroom that enlarges to become a plush stage for a fairy girl, and a host of mysterious scenes viewed from the perspective of the first-person narrator who is, in turn, either invisible or inconsequential enough not to be noticed by the characters in the main story.
Sylvie and Bruno begins as an absurd but “intriguing” conspiracy story set in a fantasy medieval kingdom. It is a kingdom where the responsible leader packs up and leaves his family to face the treasonous yet incompetent conspiracy to take over the kingdom and install an ambitious sibling as Emperor in his brother’s stead. Amazingly, or perhaps not so amazingly since this is a Lewis Carroll story, the “responsible” leader has taken himself off to Fairyland (which seems to be used interchangeably with Elfland) and offers the children a magical entryway into that kingdom where they occasionally escape the cruel events occurring in their lives as a result of his abdication of responsibility. Sound confusing? It’s even more so.
The narrator isn’t “quite” in the story. He slips between a plausible version of reality and this absurd medieval world easily and even follows the children into this other world within the other world. Portions of the segues between real world, other world, and faerie world seem like hallucinations caused by drugs (As if Carroll hasn’t been a classic text for druggies for over a century—even 50 years ago, we had “White Rabbit” from Jefferson Airplane where images from Carroll’s opus reminded us that one pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small.) or some kind of waking dreams.
As with the other works by Dodgson, there are numerous silly poems—one of which inventively explains the idea of borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. It seems that Peter attempted to borrow 50 pounds from a “friend” named Paul. To do so, he signed a promissory note to repay the loan on a certain day, but when he tried to get the promised 50 pounds, Paul would claim that it was inconvenient to loan it on that day. So, Peter never actually gets the 50 pounds, but spends the rest of his life paying off the debt. The key verse is:
Said Peter ‘Though I cannot sound
The depths of such a man as you,
Yet in your character I’ve found
An inconsistency or two.
You seem to have long years to spare
When there’s a promise to fulfil:
And yet how punctual you were
In calling with that little bill!’ (p. 212)
My favorite character in the book is the Gardener. At first blush, he doesn’t seem so bright, but when you read the songs he sings, you realize that he’s the only one who seems to know what’s going on and his verses offer the disarming candidness of a child:
“He thought he saw a Banker’s Clerk
Descending from the bus:
He looked again, and found it was
A Hippopotamus:
‘If this should stay to dine,’ he said,
‘There won’t be mutch (sic) for us!’” (p. 137)
In addition to visiting Fairyland, the children also visit Dogland (I suppose the “nerds” had their “furries” in Dodgson’s day, as well—grin) where I was taken aback by the children (the eponymous Sylvie and Bruno) refusing to give their names because “We want them ourselves.” (p. 242)
And it is shortly after a visit to Dogland and Fairyland that the inevitable logical problem arises. Since Dodgson wrote several treatises on logic, this isn’t surprising for him to satirize such debates. But immediately after the “logical” debate, one of the characters in the “real world” of the setting complains that society picnics provide all too many opportunities for inane questions about natural beauty and historical ruins. As a result, one character laments: “Why should Life be one long Catechism?” This is followed by a discourse on art criticism that seems very much to apply to game and film criticism, as well. A character asks if another has ever known a conceited person to praise a picture. “The one thing he dreads (next to not being noticed) is to be proved fallible! If you once praise a picture, your character for infallibility hangs by a thread.” (p. 328) I like that! It explains a lot. I also like Dodgson’s slandering of logic with references to “prim Misses,” “Delusions” instead of deductions, and a “Sillygism” instead of syllogism. (p. 355) I also loved certain phrases which seemed more musical than the songs inserted by the author. I love “a diminuendo series of repetitions” (p. 410) and the interplay between the narrator and an Earl when the narrator described life as “like a mine that is nearly worked out” and the Earl responded that “it is only the Overture that is ended!” (p. 460) I also liked his description of a child’s view of a worship service as a “Wilderness of Zin” (p. 534) as in the King James nomenclature for one of the deserts traversed after the Exodus.
In spite of the fine writing and vivid imagination expressed in Sylvie and Bruno, I didn’t particularly enjoy it. The plot doesn’t really reach a climax and it’s difficult to tell whether the importance of the story was to be found in the “real world” or “imaginary world” aspects. Were the children of the imaginary world to be identified with the characters in the real world? It wasn’t clear. What was the fate of the children in the imaginary world? It wasn’t clear. Was there ever any justice for those who perpetrated the conspiracy? It wasn’t clear to me. As a result, I finished this book with some dissatisfaction. If the journey is all, it was nice. If one is looking for some resolution to the narrative, Sylvie and Bruno is quite lacking.
Sylvie and Bruno begins as an absurd but “intriguing” conspiracy story set in a fantasy medieval kingdom. It is a kingdom where the responsible leader packs up and leaves his family to face the treasonous yet incompetent conspiracy to take over the kingdom and install an ambitious sibling as Emperor in his brother’s stead. Amazingly, or perhaps not so amazingly since this is a Lewis Carroll story, the “responsible” leader has taken himself off to Fairyland (which seems to be used interchangeably with Elfland) and offers the children a magical entryway into that kingdom where they occasionally escape the cruel events occurring in their lives as a result of his abdication of responsibility. Sound confusing? It’s even more so.
The narrator isn’t “quite” in the story. He slips between a plausible version of reality and this absurd medieval world easily and even follows the children into this other world within the other world. Portions of the segues between real world, other world, and faerie world seem like hallucinations caused by drugs (As if Carroll hasn’t been a classic text for druggies for over a century—even 50 years ago, we had “White Rabbit” from Jefferson Airplane where images from Carroll’s opus reminded us that one pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small.) or some kind of waking dreams.
As with the other works by Dodgson, there are numerous silly poems—one of which inventively explains the idea of borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. It seems that Peter attempted to borrow 50 pounds from a “friend” named Paul. To do so, he signed a promissory note to repay the loan on a certain day, but when he tried to get the promised 50 pounds, Paul would claim that it was inconvenient to loan it on that day. So, Peter never actually gets the 50 pounds, but spends the rest of his life paying off the debt. The key verse is:
Said Peter ‘Though I cannot sound
The depths of such a man as you,
Yet in your character I’ve found
An inconsistency or two.
You seem to have long years to spare
When there’s a promise to fulfil:
And yet how punctual you were
In calling with that little bill!’ (p. 212)
My favorite character in the book is the Gardener. At first blush, he doesn’t seem so bright, but when you read the songs he sings, you realize that he’s the only one who seems to know what’s going on and his verses offer the disarming candidness of a child:
“He thought he saw a Banker’s Clerk
Descending from the bus:
He looked again, and found it was
A Hippopotamus:
‘If this should stay to dine,’ he said,
‘There won’t be mutch (sic) for us!’” (p. 137)
In addition to visiting Fairyland, the children also visit Dogland (I suppose the “nerds” had their “furries” in Dodgson’s day, as well—grin) where I was taken aback by the children (the eponymous Sylvie and Bruno) refusing to give their names because “We want them ourselves.” (p. 242)
And it is shortly after a visit to Dogland and Fairyland that the inevitable logical problem arises. Since Dodgson wrote several treatises on logic, this isn’t surprising for him to satirize such debates. But immediately after the “logical” debate, one of the characters in the “real world” of the setting complains that society picnics provide all too many opportunities for inane questions about natural beauty and historical ruins. As a result, one character laments: “Why should Life be one long Catechism?” This is followed by a discourse on art criticism that seems very much to apply to game and film criticism, as well. A character asks if another has ever known a conceited person to praise a picture. “The one thing he dreads (next to not being noticed) is to be proved fallible! If you once praise a picture, your character for infallibility hangs by a thread.” (p. 328) I like that! It explains a lot. I also like Dodgson’s slandering of logic with references to “prim Misses,” “Delusions” instead of deductions, and a “Sillygism” instead of syllogism. (p. 355) I also loved certain phrases which seemed more musical than the songs inserted by the author. I love “a diminuendo series of repetitions” (p. 410) and the interplay between the narrator and an Earl when the narrator described life as “like a mine that is nearly worked out” and the Earl responded that “it is only the Overture that is ended!” (p. 460) I also liked his description of a child’s view of a worship service as a “Wilderness of Zin” (p. 534) as in the King James nomenclature for one of the deserts traversed after the Exodus.
In spite of the fine writing and vivid imagination expressed in Sylvie and Bruno, I didn’t particularly enjoy it. The plot doesn’t really reach a climax and it’s difficult to tell whether the importance of the story was to be found in the “real world” or “imaginary world” aspects. Were the children of the imaginary world to be identified with the characters in the real world? It wasn’t clear. What was the fate of the children in the imaginary world? It wasn’t clear. Was there ever any justice for those who perpetrated the conspiracy? It wasn’t clear to me. As a result, I finished this book with some dissatisfaction. If the journey is all, it was nice. If one is looking for some resolution to the narrative, Sylvie and Bruno is quite lacking.
November 11, 2009
This is a strange hodge-podge of sentimental stories of fairies/children, nonsense stories & verse, and pseudo-scientific & theological dialogues. I went ahead and put it on my "young readers" shelf because I think it is meant for young readers, I'm just not sure how much they might enjoy some of the conversations of the adult/human characters. In the introduction Carroll says that he created the Sylvie and Bruno stories by collecting random thoughts and dialogues he had or thought about; then piecing them together as a story; it shows, the plot is haphazard. Sylvie and Bruno is only the first half of the story and if you stop at the end of this book, you may wonder what happened to the whole outland/fairyland side of the story as it seems to have just disappeared. It does return and resolve itself (in a Lewis Carroll sort of way) in the second part Sylvie and Bruno Concluded. I recommend you read both together. There are a lot of hidden gems in here, mostly the sweet, silly, sentimental stories of the fairy children Sylvie & Bruno. The human/adult characters are much less compelling, especially the stiff and didactic hero Arthur.
August 2, 2011
A most excellent children's story that you can find for free online on Gutenberg. One of the lesser known stories by Carroll, but so wonderful. He wrote this to try and change the formula for kids books, to help provide a close look at the way kids are that is amazing, such a fresh perspective on life and so much wonder that we often lose at adults. I highly recommend this one for anyone with kids or that is a kid at heart. The story follows our protagonists Sylvie and Bruno is their madcap adventures in the normal world and the elven kingdom and is interspersed with adults who provide opportunities to laugh at their seriousness and silliness and to offset them with what we become if we lose our child's eye and attitude. It is hard not to laugh out loud throughout or to look at yourself and reflect on what you were and what you have become.
November 22, 2010
Non ci siamo...
Diversi passaggi notevoli, se non geniali, sepolti e soffocati da una valanga di divagazioni inutili, tedianti e anche parecchio moralistiche e fin troppo legate all'attualità del tempo (obiettivamente, cosa me ne può importare delle polemiche sulla sobrietà delle messe protestanti di fine Ottocento?!).
Disordinato e confuso, si fa almeno leggere velocemente...
Ahimé, quanto si nota come l'assenza di Alice abbia tanto nuociuto all'ispirazione del reverendo Dodgson! :-(
Diversi passaggi notevoli, se non geniali, sepolti e soffocati da una valanga di divagazioni inutili, tedianti e anche parecchio moralistiche e fin troppo legate all'attualità del tempo (obiettivamente, cosa me ne può importare delle polemiche sulla sobrietà delle messe protestanti di fine Ottocento?!).
Disordinato e confuso, si fa almeno leggere velocemente...
Ahimé, quanto si nota come l'assenza di Alice abbia tanto nuociuto all'ispirazione del reverendo Dodgson! :-(
September 5, 2014
Lewis Carroll writing style is crazy and unpredictable. It works in Alice in Wonderland because it happens in Wonderland. Carroll's characters are insane but it works because they live in Wonderland. There is no plot or reason; it's Wonderland! Imagine all that insanity in a real world setting with horrendous transitions leaving you lost between the real world and dreams. I get that this story has some philosophical high points with subjects like religion, love and evolution but the story is awful. I would not recommend this book to anyone.
Want to read
April 4, 2015https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/48630
Opening: LESS BREAD! MORE TAXES! —and then all the people cheered again, and one man, who was more excited than the rest, flung his hat high into the air, and shouted (as well as I could make out) “Who roar for the Sub-Warden?” Everybody roared, but whether it was for the Sub-Warden, or not, did not clearly appear: some were shouting “Bread!” and some “Taxes!”, but no one seemed to know what it was they really wanted.
All this I saw from the open window of the Warden’s breakfast-saloon, looking across the shoulder of the Lord Chancellor, who had sprung to his feet the moment the shouting began, almost as if he had been expecting it, and had rushed to the window which commanded the best view of the market-place.
“What can it all mean?” he kept repeating to himself, as, with his hands clasped behind him, and his gown floating in the air, he paced rapidly up and down the room. “I never heard such shouting before—and at this time of the morning, too! And with such unanimity! Doesn’t it strike you as very remarkable?”
December 17, 2014
I think this book took me longer to read than any other book I have ever read, but it is very vivid and inter-looped
July 26, 2023
Há uns anos, quando encontrei este livro, era já uma fã convicta de Alice e das suas aventuras. Na altura andava a explorar com bastante dedicação contos de fadas e literatura juvenil, e perguntava-me por que motivo seria este "Sylvie e Bruno" menos popular e divulgado do que os outros livros que imortalizaram o autor - este livro, de facto, aquando da sua publicação (1889) teve uma recepção muito menos calorosa do que "As Aventuras de Alice no País das Maravilhas" e "Alice do Outro Lado do Espelho", e talvez isso se deva ao facto de haver uma ligeira diferença de registo.
Em "Sylvie e Bruno" existem duas narrativas que coexistem por intermédio de um narrador comum: uma parte da acção decorre no mundo real, na sociedade vitoriana, a outra parte passa-se no mundo encantado - estas duas dimensões vão sendo alternadas e o que despoleta o aparecimento da segunda são as divagações/sonhos/distracções do narrador que, alheando-se das pessoas que estão à sua volta, se delicia com um mundo imaginário (com o qual acaba por interagir). A certa altura há mesmo uma interpenetração das duas dimensões e o contacto entre mundo real e mundo das fadas estabelece-se pela interação de personagens que, aparentemente, não convivem num mesmo espaço-tempo. Admito que estas passagens e estados algo fluídos nem sempre me pareciam muito bem definidos, o que não favoreceu a minha relação com o livro. Por outro lado, diria que em "Sylvie e Bruno" se denota a preocupação do autor em discutir temas de cariz moral, social, ético e religioso, por vezes sem que haja grande pertinência para a acção (mas que é perfeitamente lógico se pensarmos na sociedade em que Lewis Carroll se inseria), algo que não surge de forma tão plena e gritante nos livros devotados às aventuras de Alice.
Houve algo, no entanto, que me comoveu: ao ler o prefácio do autor (que a editora optou por colocar no apêndice) senti que Carroll estava consciente de que este livro não teria a mesma recepção que "As Aventuras de Alice..." e parece-me que, de certa forma, no prefácio optou por defender o seu processo de criação (explora o seu processo de trabalho - como a criação dos diálogos, o anotar de episódios soltos, a dificuldade em criar algo que seja original)... Mas há outro aspecto que me pareceu curioso, e que já referi aqui, a presença de temáticas de foro religioso/moral/ético: também no prefácio podemos ler que Carroll ambicionava escrever livros que versassem sobre ensinamentos bíblicos, e boa parte da narrativa de "Sylvie e Bruno" deixa transparecer essa ambição. Há algo aqui que me parece comovente, Carroll aparenta ter sido um indivíduo de uma sensibilidade exponencial, que vivia verdadeiramente maravilhado com a infância e com uma ideia de pureza e de leveza que encontrava na infância e que contrastava com a fealdade do mundo dos adultos (insurge-se, por exemplo, contra a caça desportiva e critica-a ferozmente)... ou de alguns adultos, pelo menos. Mesmo não tendo sido um livro ao qual me liguei (senti-me sempre exterior a ele, pouco envolvida), permitiu-me estar em contacto com o pensamento e as ambições do autor... e essa é a sensação que guardarei comigo.
Em "Sylvie e Bruno" existem duas narrativas que coexistem por intermédio de um narrador comum: uma parte da acção decorre no mundo real, na sociedade vitoriana, a outra parte passa-se no mundo encantado - estas duas dimensões vão sendo alternadas e o que despoleta o aparecimento da segunda são as divagações/sonhos/distracções do narrador que, alheando-se das pessoas que estão à sua volta, se delicia com um mundo imaginário (com o qual acaba por interagir). A certa altura há mesmo uma interpenetração das duas dimensões e o contacto entre mundo real e mundo das fadas estabelece-se pela interação de personagens que, aparentemente, não convivem num mesmo espaço-tempo. Admito que estas passagens e estados algo fluídos nem sempre me pareciam muito bem definidos, o que não favoreceu a minha relação com o livro. Por outro lado, diria que em "Sylvie e Bruno" se denota a preocupação do autor em discutir temas de cariz moral, social, ético e religioso, por vezes sem que haja grande pertinência para a acção (mas que é perfeitamente lógico se pensarmos na sociedade em que Lewis Carroll se inseria), algo que não surge de forma tão plena e gritante nos livros devotados às aventuras de Alice.
Houve algo, no entanto, que me comoveu: ao ler o prefácio do autor (que a editora optou por colocar no apêndice) senti que Carroll estava consciente de que este livro não teria a mesma recepção que "As Aventuras de Alice..." e parece-me que, de certa forma, no prefácio optou por defender o seu processo de criação (explora o seu processo de trabalho - como a criação dos diálogos, o anotar de episódios soltos, a dificuldade em criar algo que seja original)... Mas há outro aspecto que me pareceu curioso, e que já referi aqui, a presença de temáticas de foro religioso/moral/ético: também no prefácio podemos ler que Carroll ambicionava escrever livros que versassem sobre ensinamentos bíblicos, e boa parte da narrativa de "Sylvie e Bruno" deixa transparecer essa ambição. Há algo aqui que me parece comovente, Carroll aparenta ter sido um indivíduo de uma sensibilidade exponencial, que vivia verdadeiramente maravilhado com a infância e com uma ideia de pureza e de leveza que encontrava na infância e que contrastava com a fealdade do mundo dos adultos (insurge-se, por exemplo, contra a caça desportiva e critica-a ferozmente)... ou de alguns adultos, pelo menos. Mesmo não tendo sido um livro ao qual me liguei (senti-me sempre exterior a ele, pouco envolvida), permitiu-me estar em contacto com o pensamento e as ambições do autor... e essa é a sensação que guardarei comigo.
December 9, 2017
Луис Карол е един от най-големите класици на детската литература, а неговата Алиса е сред най-разпознаваемите и обичани персонажи и до ден днешен не е престанала да интригува малки и големи читатели и да се радва на всевъзможни интерпретации и адаптации. Не зная дали е логично или странно, че останалите произведения на Карол остават в сянката на двете книги за Алиса. От една страна, трудно е да се повтори феноменалния успех на историята с бели зайци, усмихващи се котараци и гневни кралици, смесила в себе си чистия ескейпизъм и лудешкия нонсенс с купища игрословици, двойнствен смисъл и енигматични препратки. От друга страна пък същия този феноменален успех би трябвало да е повече от добра причина да се четат и останалите произведения на Луис Карол, пък било то и от чисто любопитство. Днес ще ви разкажем за двата тома с магическите приключения на „Силви и Бруно” (изд. „Делакорт”). Прочетете ревюто на "Книжни Криле":
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March 10, 2025
Much like many others, I arrived here following in wake of Alice’s adventures and I am not sure, I like it here.
I expected to spend a good portion of my time reading this to be confusing and absurd. So all good here.
I did not expect the weaves in and out of the fairy land to be so smooth, that for the first half of the book, it left me confused as to what was happening even more then I expected. Second half I figured out the patterns and it became easier and more enjoyable to follow the story.
Although, I say story here loosely, as I am not entirely sure there is one here. At least not a fully finished one, which makes sense with this being Book 1.
I thought we would see more of a warden, when the story began but no such luck. I still don’t rightly know where he went or what he’s doing there all this time.
Bruno and Sylvie just keep popping up here and there and to be honest, I’m not entirely sure if they’re actually fairies or if they’re real people…but that’s the confusion I came here expecting.
Overall, I feel underwhelmed about this, but will definitely read Book 2 to see how things unfold.
I expected to spend a good portion of my time reading this to be confusing and absurd. So all good here.
I did not expect the weaves in and out of the fairy land to be so smooth, that for the first half of the book, it left me confused as to what was happening even more then I expected. Second half I figured out the patterns and it became easier and more enjoyable to follow the story.
Although, I say story here loosely, as I am not entirely sure there is one here. At least not a fully finished one, which makes sense with this being Book 1.
I thought we would see more of a warden, when the story began but no such luck. I still don’t rightly know where he went or what he’s doing there all this time.
Bruno and Sylvie just keep popping up here and there and to be honest, I’m not entirely sure if they’re actually fairies or if they’re real people…but that’s the confusion I came here expecting.
Overall, I feel underwhelmed about this, but will definitely read Book 2 to see how things unfold.
January 1, 2022
I prefered this over Alice in wonderland. But at the same time i felt like it wasnt ONE story but a gathering of multiple small short stories.
About a man who in his dreams observed two children, sylvie and bruno, who he thought was fairies. And non of the stories really had a red thread through the book.
It was more like "What will they fairy kids do today, lets observe". Which i guess is ok. But i expected a union story that would sooner or later make sense.
In the end i just felt like "What was the purpose......what was the story/stories trying to say?"
I know there is a second book of Sylvie and Bruno but im not sure i wanna read that atm.
About a man who in his dreams observed two children, sylvie and bruno, who he thought was fairies. And non of the stories really had a red thread through the book.
It was more like "What will they fairy kids do today, lets observe". Which i guess is ok. But i expected a union story that would sooner or later make sense.
In the end i just felt like "What was the purpose......what was the story/stories trying to say?"
I know there is a second book of Sylvie and Bruno but im not sure i wanna read that atm.
November 19, 2018
Dnf in favor of an edition with illustrations and the original short stories
March 4, 2025
The puns, silly verse and illustrations are a lot of fun! Not really a children’s book.
April 17, 2011
It is no surprise that the Sylvie and Bruno stories aren't among Lewis Carroll's most famous, but I wasn't disappointed by them. Their balance between reality and fantasy is weighted much more heavily toward reality than are the Alice books, but fortunately that doesn't stifle Carroll's flair for silliness as much as you might expect.
Mister Sir, the narrator, reminds me just a tiny bit of Carlos Castaneda in The Teachings of Don Juan in that he drifts back and forth among several alternate and overlapping states of reality: plain reality, a more or less pure dream state (where the action in Outland takes place), and a curious overlapping of reality and the fairy world (in which he interacts with the title characters).
I'd been forewarned of their religious content, and considering Carroll's reputation as a religious conservative, I braced myself for a fantasy story heavily laced with evangelism. However, the discussions the narrator has with the other principals read more like a theological discussion than like proselytizing. Carroll even takes a dig at Old Testament morality in this passage, a favorite of mine:
In the preface to Sylvie and Bruno Concluded, the author admits to having taken considerable heat for the theological discussions in the previous volume; his criticism of the implicit selfishness in modern sermons, against which he contrasts more sophisticated, "adult" morality in the quoted passage above, caused several of his readers to complain. He also stands by what he wrote, however, and refuses to apologize for it. I applaud his refusal to back down before the kind of perpetually offended moralizers with which our modern society is also plagued.
Mister Sir, the narrator, reminds me just a tiny bit of Carlos Castaneda in The Teachings of Don Juan in that he drifts back and forth among several alternate and overlapping states of reality: plain reality, a more or less pure dream state (where the action in Outland takes place), and a curious overlapping of reality and the fairy world (in which he interacts with the title characters).
I'd been forewarned of their religious content, and considering Carroll's reputation as a religious conservative, I braced myself for a fantasy story heavily laced with evangelism. However, the discussions the narrator has with the other principals read more like a theological discussion than like proselytizing. Carroll even takes a dig at Old Testament morality in this passage, a favorite of mine:
"In the Old Testament, no doubt, rewards and punishments are constantly appealed to as motives for action. That teaching is best for children, and the Israelites seem to have been, mentally, utter children. We guide our children thus, at first; but we appeal, as soon as possible to their innate sense of Right and Wrong: and, when that stage is safely past, we appeal to the highest motive of all, the desire for likeness to, and union with, the Supreme Good."
In the preface to Sylvie and Bruno Concluded, the author admits to having taken considerable heat for the theological discussions in the previous volume; his criticism of the implicit selfishness in modern sermons, against which he contrasts more sophisticated, "adult" morality in the quoted passage above, caused several of his readers to complain. He also stands by what he wrote, however, and refuses to apologize for it. I applaud his refusal to back down before the kind of perpetually offended moralizers with which our modern society is also plagued.
February 20, 2025
Sylvie and Bruno is a hodgepodge of the forgettable and the fantastical. The typically nameless narrator flip-flops between two storylines: the dull real world where he observes his friend's dull love triangle, and the fragmented and befuddling Outland where the titular fairy children sort of meander around since the evil Vice-Warden usurped power from their father.
Sylvie and Bruno themselves are uninteresting, and it's obvious why they and their story never captured the world's imagination like Alice did. Their blandness is not helped by Bruno's cutesy dialogue, with its endless use of "oo" instead of "you". And what little plot exists is sometimes ground to a halt by the real-world characters' discourse on religious practices or scientific ideas. The conversation about the falling house is at least sort of funny and Carrollesque, but most of the others are a chore to read.
Amid the moralizing and monotony, there are still bright spots of humor and fancy, hence my fairly merciful rating. There are some wonderful poems(the Gardener's song and "Peter and Paul"), and funny ideas like the Professor mixing up a hall-clock and a rabbit hutch because both have doors. The Phlizz idea was fun, and I wish that much more had been done with it. There is also a time-travel scene that brings some fun and magic back to the story.
As for characters, the evil Vice-Warden and his odious family are fun over-the-top villains almost worthy of Wonderland. The scene where they fake stunts to make Uggug look talented is a highlight. And among all the tedium of the real-world scenes, Lady Muriel is very refreshing. For most of her appearances she is written as a very intelligent woman, with a sarcastic sense of humor. Sadly she does fade more into the background towards the end.
Sylvie and Bruno is a mixed bag in terms of both entertainment and quality, but I'm glad I finally read it. There are still many good moments that I would like to read through again, but I won't be re-reading the entire book.
Sylvie and Bruno themselves are uninteresting, and it's obvious why they and their story never captured the world's imagination like Alice did. Their blandness is not helped by Bruno's cutesy dialogue, with its endless use of "oo" instead of "you". And what little plot exists is sometimes ground to a halt by the real-world characters' discourse on religious practices or scientific ideas. The conversation about the falling house is at least sort of funny and Carrollesque, but most of the others are a chore to read.
Amid the moralizing and monotony, there are still bright spots of humor and fancy, hence my fairly merciful rating. There are some wonderful poems(the Gardener's song and "Peter and Paul"), and funny ideas like the Professor mixing up a hall-clock and a rabbit hutch because both have doors. The Phlizz idea was fun, and I wish that much more had been done with it. There is also a time-travel scene that brings some fun and magic back to the story.
As for characters, the evil Vice-Warden and his odious family are fun over-the-top villains almost worthy of Wonderland. The scene where they fake stunts to make Uggug look talented is a highlight. And among all the tedium of the real-world scenes, Lady Muriel is very refreshing. For most of her appearances she is written as a very intelligent woman, with a sarcastic sense of humor. Sadly she does fade more into the background towards the end.
Sylvie and Bruno is a mixed bag in terms of both entertainment and quality, but I'm glad I finally read it. There are still many good moments that I would like to read through again, but I won't be re-reading the entire book.
February 13, 2008
I didn't know that he'd even made this book or its sequel until I got the omnibus edition. I think, judging by the length and the more complex discussions of morality and social responsibility, that it was probably written for a slightly older audience. While the strange shifts in space-time and consciousness were hard to follow at first, I found that I actually really enjoyed them once I got used to it. This was a really good book to be reading while on a weird acid summer odyssey. There was a really heavy Christian theme, but in a pretty inoffensive way. Basically, it reminds you of the time and culture in which Carroll lives, but also makes a point of the fact that he was an intelligent human being. It mostly just talks about the importance of kindness and love. I especially liked the thing with Sylvie's magic necklace. Plus, I've always liked fairies, and this manages to be an original fairy tale. It also had a real whopper of a cool quote (several, in fact, but this is the best):
“All extremes are bad,” the Professor said, very gravely. “For instance, Sobriety is a very good thing, when practised in moderation: but even Sobriety, when carried to an extreme, has its disadvantages.”
“What are its disadvantages?” was the question that rose to my mind---- and, as usual, Bruno asked it for me. “What are its lizard bandages?”
“Well, this is one of them,” said the Professor. “When a man's tipsy (that's one extreme, you know), he sees one thing as two. But, when he's extremely sober (that's the other extreme), he sees two things as one. It's equally inconvenient, whichever happens.” (329)
“All extremes are bad,” the Professor said, very gravely. “For instance, Sobriety is a very good thing, when practised in moderation: but even Sobriety, when carried to an extreme, has its disadvantages.”
“What are its disadvantages?” was the question that rose to my mind---- and, as usual, Bruno asked it for me. “What are its lizard bandages?”
“Well, this is one of them,” said the Professor. “When a man's tipsy (that's one extreme, you know), he sees one thing as two. But, when he's extremely sober (that's the other extreme), he sees two things as one. It's equally inconvenient, whichever happens.” (329)
Currently reading
March 14, 2023This story is strange and hard to read, as there's no plot or consistency of tone. But it has a great crocodile on the cover. AND THE INDEX! The editor (C.A.P.) says this about that fabulous index:
"To help the reader who stops to laugh and loses his way, Lewis Carroll has provided an Index which may well be the most wonderful index ever prepared for a children's book. Where it is not helpful it is funny."
Correction: It may well be the most wonderful index ever prepared for ANY book. In fact, it firmly holds the top spot in my list of Greatest Indexes of All Time. (Yes, I do indeed have such a list.) It's hard to pick a favorite entry, but these are strong contenders:
Artistic effect dependent on indistinctness (!) ; 241
Extreme sobriety, inconvenience of ; 140
Frog, young, how to amuse ; 364
Horizontal rain, boots for ; 14
Weltering, appropriate fluids for; 58
"To help the reader who stops to laugh and loses his way, Lewis Carroll has provided an Index which may well be the most wonderful index ever prepared for a children's book. Where it is not helpful it is funny."
Correction: It may well be the most wonderful index ever prepared for ANY book. In fact, it firmly holds the top spot in my list of Greatest Indexes of All Time. (Yes, I do indeed have such a list.) It's hard to pick a favorite entry, but these are strong contenders:
Artistic effect dependent on indistinctness (!) ; 241
Extreme sobriety, inconvenience of ; 140
Frog, young, how to amuse ; 364
Horizontal rain, boots for ; 14
Weltering, appropriate fluids for; 58
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