Alice Through the Looking-Glass: A Companion - Exploring Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland Sequel through the lens of science with Co-Editor Franziska E. Kohlt
PRHS’ Dr Franziska E. Kohlt is co-editor of a new volume titled, Alice Through the Looking-Glass: A Companion.
The book offers the first truly interdisciplinary exploration of the polymathic influences that shaped the mind of the creator of one of the world’s most enduring stories – from Natural Science, to theology, psychology – and their impact Alice’s kaleidoscopic afterlife, from theatre, to business psychology or the Matrix.
At 516 pages, it is a testament also to the diverse expertise of its contributors: with 38 essays by 42 authors, it assembles theologians, art and science historians, translatologists, physicists, literary and film scholars. Kohlt’s essay offers an exploration of Victorian optical science and optical toys, such as the Magic Lantern, on Carroll’s fiction.
Testimonials about the book:
This volume is colossal in all senses: most obviously – at over 500 pages – in its sheer physical heft, but most importantly in its ambition, scope and achievement. It brings an unparalleled range of approaches to bear on Carroll’s neglected sequel and in doing so marks the arrival of an exciting new wave of Carrollian scholarship and enquiry. A comprehensive and illuminating companion to Looking-Glass and its author, it is also an exemplar of everything that collaborative, transdisciplinary scholarship can offer.
- Kiera Vaclavik, Professor of Children’s Literature and Childhood Culture, Queen Mary University of London
This impeccably edited volume with its impressive assemblage of contributors addresses a diverse array of topics: the creation, illustration, translation and commercialization of the world beyond the mirror; discussions philosophical, psychological and theological; studies on logic and linguistics; and, fittingly for a nonsense classic, speculative examinations of the flora and fauna of the Looking-Glass World. This stimulating collection of essays is a timely appreciation of a literary masterwork too long overshadowed by its elder Wonderland sibling.
- Brian Sibley, Chair of The Lewis Carroll Society
Recounting her experience co-editing the book, Fran states, “We not only wanted to give attention to Looking-Glass as the less often studied of the two Alice books, but, through its character as the ‘more serious’, let experts in the fields it engaged with, or which it impacted, such as physicists, theologians, historians, or business professional, highlight the unique potential of great storytelling to engage the minds of so many, from different walks of lives, for so long – something that is crucially important to me as a historian of popular science and science communication.”
The book will be interesting to scholars, students, and practitioners alike, and in its unique format and cost point be accessible to diverse audiences. Offering insights into the minds of those who adapt, pastiche, or translate the Looking-Glass, containing original artworks, poetry, and translation, but also state-of-the-field scholarship in the medical and environmental humanities, literature and film studies, this collection thus encourages us to re-evaluate the intellectual scope and place in society of this work.
