Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Through the Looking Glass
    Through the Looking Glass
    Through the Looking Glass
    Ebook119 pages1 hour

    Through the Looking Glass

    By Lewis Carroll and Mint Editions

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to audiobook
    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Alice discovers an unknown land on the other side of the mirror and finds herself part of a problem in chess, meeting some unlikely characters of nursery rhyme and puzzled by the reversal of many of the laws of nature.

    The follow-up to Alice in Wonderland, originally appeared in 1871 and has not been out of print since. Curious Alice finds her way through a mirror into an amazing alternate world that is, in some ways, a reverse version of our own. This surreal new dimension proves to be much more than that, as Alice discovers that her passage through it requires moving correctly across a chessboard landscape while encountering a string of nursery rhyme characters brought to bewildering life. Readers will find themselves confronted by one iconic moment after another, as Alice meets the Red Queen, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, encounters the poems, Jabberwocky and The Walrus and the Carpenter all presented in seemingly infinitely quotable prose. Despite repeated attempts down the years to reinterpret Through the Looking Glass as a social, political or religious allegory the book stands outside such concerns as a timeless classic of the imagination. It remains one of the most universally beloved children’s books in English, and cherished by adults as much, or perhaps even more, than it is by children.

    With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Through the Looking Glass is both modern and readable.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMint Editions
    Release dateNov 17, 2020
    ISBN9781513268057
    Author

    Lewis Carroll

    Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, aka Lewis Carroll (1832–1898), was an English writer, mathematician, logician, deacon and photographer. He is most famous for his timeless classics, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. His work falls within the genre of ‘literary nonsense’, and he is renowned for his use of word play and imagination. Carroll’s work has been enjoyed by many generations across the globe.

    Read more from Lewis Carroll

    Related to Through the Looking Glass

    Related ebooks

    Children's Classics For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The Volcano That Shrouded the Earth and Gave Birth to a Monster

      Oct 5, 2017

      Two hundred years ago, the greatest eruption in Earth’s recorded history took place. Mount Tambora—located on Sumbawa Island in the East Indies—blew itself up with apocalyptic force in April 1815. After perhaps 1,000 years’ dormancy, the devastating

      18 min read

    • Article

      Character, Know Thyself: The Essentials Of Character Awareness

      May 8, 2019

      Early drafts are an exercise in getting to know your character and her story—you are, in essence, telling the story to yourself first so that you can figure out what to add or omit when fine-tuning the story for readers. I encourage you to pen more p

      8 min read

    • Article

      Get Into Bag Of Bones

      Apr 7, 2022

      Established in December 2021, Bag of Bones Press aims to ‘champion and publish budding writers of horror and dark fiction who may not have had a traditional or formal education in the literary arts’. Submission calls are open to anyone and everyone T

      1 min read

    • Article

      Aspen Words Literary Prize Awarded to Tayari Jones

      Apr 12, 2019

      The Aspen Words Literary Prize was awarded yesterday to Tayari Jones for An American Marriage, at a ceremony in New York City. The prize, which operates out of the Aspen Institute, awards $35,000 annually to “an influential work of fiction that illum

      1 min read

    • Article

      A Heroine for Our Time

      Oct 7, 2017

      JENNIFER EGAN JOINED THE WHO’S WHO of American letters in 2011 when she won a Pulitzer for A Visit From the Goon Squad, an interlinked-story-collection-as-novel that bucked more than a few conventions. Her new novel Manhattan Beach is more convention

      1 min read

    • Article

      Equinox

      May 18, 2022

      In this strange world, where identities change with the rising and setting of the sun, supernatural forces are at work – and they’re causing trouble… St Leonars prison was an appropriately imposing building. It rose out of the surrounding shacks and

      5 min read

    • Article

      Exhaustively Researched, Often Brilliant Biography Of Sylvia Plath

      Nov 7, 2020

      ALMOST six decades after her death, Sylvia Plath stands as the most consequential poet of her generation. As a feminine voice, she dominates the 20th century. At the time of Plath’s death at age 30, critic A Alvarez wrote: “The loss to literature is

      13 min read

    • Article

      Bugs In The Valley

      Oct 10, 2021

      “So, did you fix nature?” I leaned over the stool at the bar. “Excuse me?” “Ethics class,” I said. Amaya stared at me blankly. “Stanford,” I continued, “you argued science for the greater good means editing genes to improve humanity, population contr

      19 min read

    • Article

      Fairy Tale

      Sep 7, 2022

      Fairy Tale
      2 min read

    • Article

      Jenkins

      Feb 4, 2021

      Jenkins
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Perfect Daughter

      Jul 10, 2021

      Standing in a handstand, Jane arched her back and lowered her feet towards the head. Scorpion pose. She saw herself in the mirror, balancing in this challenging position. It was close to perfection… And she felt sick at the sight of it. From the loud

      8 min read

    • Article

      Spellbound

      Oct 18, 2021

      Reading has always seemed, to me, to be the purest form of magic. Collections of letters organized in ways our minds recognize to be words, arranged in sentences that somehow, by the amazing workings of our brains, transport us to places real or imag

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Artful Dodger

      Jun 12, 2020

      The Artful Dodger
      5 min read

    • Article

      LIZZIE’S Long List

      Nov 9, 2022

      LIZZIE’S Long List
      6 min read

    • Article

      Toast Story

      Jul 1, 2022

      Toast Story
      3 min read

    • Article

      Alice And The Jabberwocky

      Apr 10, 2022

      ‘Twas brillig, and the slithy tovesDid gyre and gimble in the wabe:All mimsy were the borogoves,And the mome raths outgrabe. Once again, Alice found herself in her bedroom, feeling rather mimsy indeed. Every day now, at two o’clock, she would sit at

      18 min read

    • Article

      Just A Little Sheepish

      Mar 22, 2022

      Just A Little Sheepish
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Walled Garden

      Apr 30, 2020

      The Walled Garden
      4 min read

    • Article

      Grandma’s Chocolate Cake

      Feb 5, 2020

      ‘Do I have to wear this?’ I said, tugging at the bow-tie around my neck and pulling the super-tight shorts out of my bottom. ‘I look like a ventriloquist’s dummy.’ ‘You look very smart,’ said Mum. ‘Grandma bought you that outfit. She’ll be excited to

      7 min read

    • Article

      Meet the Writer

      May 27, 2023

      Meet the Writer
      4 min read

    • Article

      Heave’s Whisky

      Feb 27, 2024

      Heave’s Whisky
      7 min read

    • Article

      Tilly’s Lost Girls

      Sep 28, 2020

      Eeh, Ma, this Blackpool wind would blow you to kingdom come if you gave it half a chance.” Tilly looked up from where she sat next to the counter of her basketwear shop, weaving the last strands of the project she was working on. She smiled as she sa

      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Through the Looking Glass

    4/5

    1,641 ratings48 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      I didn't love this one as much as I loved the first one, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which immediately became one of my favourite books. The translation of the poems left a lot to be desired, though that is always a difficult thing to make sound right in a translation. On the other hand, all the word plays one could probably find in english were much harder to come across in portuguese. Also, I dare say the world on the other side of the mirror came across as perhaps a bit too scattered. I plan on giving the english version a go as soon as I get my hands into a copy though.
    • 4/5
      The follow-up to Alice in Wonderland. I simply could not ignore the sequel, if I dare call it that.
    • 4/5
      I found this sequel less entertaining than Wonderland. The basic idea of a topsy turvy world within a mirror and the Red and White Queens being Alice's kittens is good, but I found a lot of this a bit flat. The Jabberwocky is a great nonsense poem, though. 3.5/5
    • 4/5
      In this sequel to Alice in Wonderland, Alice goes through a mirror, meets the red and white queens, and becomes part of a life-sized chess game with very interesting and unusual characters.
    • 3/5
      Far more intriguing than the original. I enjoyed the chessboard theme.
    • 1/5
      Audio. This never picked up for me. I found the narrator boring and I think he is the same guy that narrated The Secret Benedict Society which I also never finished. I absolutely hate his voice. The story itself made no sense and jumped from one scene to the next. Tweedledee and Tweedledum were annoying and the narrator’s voice didn’t help matters either. I won’t be picking this one back up.
    • 4/5
       Not as good as Alice's Adventures, but still I very much enjoyed reading this book.
    • 4/5
      I've been staying away from this book, I think it was because there was a made for TV movie based on this book that I saw as a kid, and it was rather scary....However, this book is not scary at all, I was expecting more Jabberwocky, and outside of a poem, there was no mention of it all. Generally, this book is nonsensical, with flashes of logic. There is no rhyme or reason to what Alice does, its just nonsensical encounter after nonsensical encounter. This book doesn't have much of relation to the Alice in Wonderland, being set in a different game entirely.I think I preffered the first book better than the second. In this book, Alice has no real reason for doing what she does, just that it happens.Overall, its a fast read and rather enjoyable.
    • 3/5
      First line:~ One thing was certain, that the white kitten had had nothing to do with it: — it was the black kitten’s fault entirely ~I found my reaction to this book pretty much the same as my reaction to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I enjoyed some of it but mostly found it tedious and boring. Just not enough in there for me. Or else I am not seeing what is in there?I did, however really get a kick out of the Jabberwocky and The Walrus and the Carpenter. They alone are worth the read! (Poems 4.0 stars)
    • 3/5
      The version I actually read was an online edition with all the same illustrations and such. I found it to be just as much fun as the original, with more fun twists and turns with the language used especially. It's certainly not just for children, as there is much there for adults as well. If you liked the original, you'll like the sequel as well.
    • 4/5
      Through the Looking Glass is the sequel to Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Set about 6 months, Alice again enters a fantastical world, but this time climbing through a mirror into the world that she can see beyond it. The looking-glass world she enters takes the form of a giant chessboard, the squares divided by hedges and brooks. Nothing is quite what it seems. Carroll explores concepts of mirror imagery, time running backward, and strategies of chess, through stories and characters of the Red and White Queens, the White Knight (who is my favorite character), Tweedledee and Tweedledum, Humpty Dumpty and more. The book is full of full of humor, word play, puzzles and rhymes and well as two poems that have taken on a life of their own "Jabberwocky" and "The Walrus and the Carpenter." Though I enjoyed Alice’s Adventure—this sequel was a nice treat—perfect for the whole family. 4 out of 5 stars.
    • 3/5
      First, I never realized that there were separate adventures for Alice and I was startled to find that one of them included Humpty Dumpty. This was a fun few hours reliving a story from childhood.
    • 5/5
      I was not thoroughly impressed with this book, at least with the prose portions of it. I will have to give Carroll credit, though. His poetry is able to calm the fiercest roars of my infant.Perhaps it would have helped my view of the book had I read Alice in Wonderland first.
    • 4/5
      Also a fun romp through a nonsensical land, but Alice is a bit annoying in this book and the characters a bit less fun. The book skates between organized and complete nonsense, when it should stick with one or the other. Overall a wonderful book but not for readers who like order and a straight plot line!
    • 3/5
      While this book is chock full of puns and wordplay, I didn't like it as much as "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". The structure of the story is setup so that Alice moves from square to square across a chessboard in her dream, and I found the linerality of that movement much less enjoyable to read than the circularity of "Wonderland". Lewis Carroll also breaks into the story multiple times to tell the reader how Alice interpreted her dream upon waking, and I found that to be intrusive. I'd much rather have the author leave me guessing about whether or not the story is a dream, as he does through most of "Wonderland". But I did enjoy the wordplay and how most of the characters in Alice's dream interpret words and phrases literally and how that leads to miscommunications. I think this is a good story for children who are slightly older than ones who would enjoy "Wonderland".
    • 2/5
      This book is even worse than Alice in Wonderland due to the lack of sense. Although the story is supposed to be a dream, one would hope for some value from the story. There are some bright spots in that some humor can be found. I do not see the value in reading this story.
    • 2/5
      For Christmas, I ordered an mp3 player (Library of Classics) that was pre-loaded with 100 works of classic literature in an audio format. Each work is in the public domain and is read by amateurs, so the quality of the presentation is hit or miss. Through the Looking Glass is Louis Carroll’s sequel to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. It introduces us to characters such as Tweedledum and Twedledee, Humpty Dumpty and the Red and White Queens as Alice makes her way across a virtual chess board in an effort to be crowned Queen. The story is too irredeemably silly to appeal to most adults and at the same time too witty and complex for children, raising the question of target audience. Certainly, there are several very amusing and intelligent interactions, with excellent dialogue, but these are few and far between, buried in pages of absurdity. This is a very short work, hard to recommend.
    • 2/5
      I honestly didn't care much for this book. I enjoyed the Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum but the queens just annoyed me half the time and I thought that it could have been better developed overall.
    • 4/5
      It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards.
    • 3/5
      I liked Wonderland more, the characters were more memorable and it was easier to stay interested. I still enjoyed reading this though and loved the part with Humpty Dumpty.
    • 3/5
      Instead of a rabbit-hole, this time Alice falls through a mirror in her parlor into the fantastical realm of Wonderland. She encounters Humpty Dumpty, a variety of monarchs, and has the chance to become a queen if she can venture through a countryside arranged as a chessboard. Similar to the previous novel in its nonsensical happenings, Through the Looking-Glass nevertheless dives further into questions about life, knowledge, and perception than Alice in Wonderland.
    • 5/5
      Just like Alice's Adventures in Wonderland this is yet another classic from Carroll. His imagination goes yonder into a field unknown! The idea of her entering the opposite world of a mirror with the irony of playing forward on a chess board. It is just unreal, fantastic!
    • 5/5
      Alice is (exactly) six months older then when she fell down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. This perhaps is the reason for what I found to be the greatest difference in Alice's adventures in Wonderland and those she had in the Looking-Glass world. Wonderland borders on the nightmarish. Alice is often quite frightened and totally flummoxed by her situations. So distraught is she at one point she ends up swimming in a pool of her own tears. Of course, those tears had been shed when she was much bigger, and, woe, she has shrunk again. In Looking Glass, Alice sometimes becomes irritated with the seeming lack of rationality possessed by the citizens of this backwards world, but rarely to the point of tears or anger. Through her greater maturity at times she is able to remember she is in a mirror land, and her knowledge of the game of chess allows some glimmer of understanding as well. Still some of the word play is a source of perplexity, especially in the case of the words "jam" (iam),the Latin word for a now meaning at that previous time, not meaning at this time, and the rowing terms "feather" and "crab." Besides in Looking-Glass world Alice as a more definite and positive goal - becoming Queen. The "adults" while sometimes vexing or demanding are never as threatening as those of Wonderland. No one is threatening "off with her head." Poor little hedgehogs are not being knocked about by poor flamingos at the Queen's Croquet game. In fact of the inhabitants such as the White Queen and White Knight are endearing in their eccentricity drawing from Alice a bemused sympathy and affection. Yes, Alice faces frustration but as a now older child she takes it in stride. Frequently she thinks about how it would be best not to get into an argument. She has become more disciplined, diplomatic and acquiescent since Wonderland.

      There are the obvious differences, one story features characters which are cards, the other chess pieces which explains the oddness of their movements, or in the case of the sleeping king, non-movement. Through the Looking Glass begins the night before Guy Fawkes with Alice indoors watching snow fall on the fields of Oxford. The summer garden where Alice followed the rabbit is covered with snow. Not surprisingly in her new dream she goes into a lush, garden world.

      While there are more songs and poems, though Alice rather wishes there weren't, there is less political satire. There have been attempts to interpret the Walrus and the Carpenter as combination portrayal as Buddha/Ganesha and the Carpenter as Christ, the interpretation falls apart when one finds it was John Tenniel who chose the Carpenter from three choices offered by author.

      Through the Looking Glass is an amusing book though for me, it lacked Wonderland's psychological and satirical punch. I also miss the fiery, contentious Alice of Wonderland. Alice has grown up quite nicely-perhaps too nicely to be as much fun. However, it is easy to get caught up in Looking-Glass's whimsy. One can't help loving the White Knight who for all of his inventiveness never manages to stay on his horse. What's to be done; that is just the nature of a knight in chess, always confined to their hurky-gurky movement. Never a straight path for them. So it seems with most of us.

      My cat, Lucia, would like to point out that Kitty is an offensive name for a cat. She says one should no more name a cat Kitty, than name a baby Baby. Though pleasant enough has a term of endearment, it is no name at all for a cat. She would happily lend her own name in any future revisions of the book. She also says the name Snowdrop is beneath comment.
    • 3/5
      Much better than Alice in wonderland, but still just ok.
    • 3/5
      Less of a commentary than the first book, more of a child-sized acid trip (if that's a thing). Also, Humpty Dumpty is an ass, but you knew that.
    • 5/5
      "The shop seemed to be full of all manner of curious things-- but the oddest part of it all was, that whenever she looked hard at any shelf, to make out exactly what it had on it, that particular shelf was always quite empty: though the others round it were crowded as full as they could hold."
    • 3/5
      Much better than Alice in Wonderland.
    • 3/5
      Wonderful illustrations,including several of a sheep knitting.
    • 4/5
      4.5 stars. Going into it, I expected that I was only going to enjoy select parts of this book. I'm pleased to say that I was wrong! Though the majority of this book is nonsensical, the word play throughout is so fun and endearing. I really loved the whimsy.
    • 3/5
      Much better than Alice in Wonderland.

    Book preview

    Through the Looking Glass - Lewis Carroll

    Chapter 1

    LOOKING-GLASS HOUSE

    One thing was certain, that the White kitten had had nothing to do with it:—it was the black kitten’s fault entirely. For the white kitten had been having its face washed by the old cat for the last quarter of an hour (and bearing it pretty well, considering); so you see that it Couldn’t have had any hand in the mischief.

    The way Dinah washed her children’s faces was this: first she held the poor thing down by its ear with one paw, and then with the other paw she rubbed its face all over, the wrong way, beginning at the nose: and just now, as I said, she was hard at work on the white kitten, which was lying quite still and trying to purr—no doubt feeling that it was all meant for its good.

    But the black kitten had been finished with earlier in the afternoon, and so, while Alice was sitting curled up in a corner of the great arm-chair, half talking to herself and half asleep, the kitten had been having a grand game of romps with the ball of worsted Alice had been trying to wind up, and had been rolling it up and down till it had all come undone again; and there it was, spread over the hearth-rug, all knots and tangles, with the kitten running after its own tail in the middle.

    Oh, you wicked little thing! cried Alice, catching up the kitten, and giving it a little kiss to make it understand that it was in disgrace. "Really, Dinah ought to have taught you better manners! You Ought, Dinah, you know you ought!" she added, looking reproachfully at the old cat, and speaking in as cross a voice as she could manage—and then she scrambled back into the arm-chair, taking the kitten and the worsted with her, and began winding up the ball again. But she didn’t get on very fast, as she was talking all the time, sometimes to the kitten, and sometimes to herself. Kitty sat very demurely on her knee, pretending to watch the progress of the winding, and now and then putting out one paw and gently touching the ball, as if it would be glad to help, if it might.

    Do you know what to-morrow is, Kitty? Alice began. You’d have guessed if you’d been up in the window with me—only Dinah was making you tidy, so you couldn’t. I was watching the boys getting in sticks for the bonfire—and it wants plenty of sticks, Kitty! Only it got so cold, and it snowed so, they had to leave off. Never mind, Kitty, we’ll go and see the bonfire to-morrow. Here Alice wound two or three turns of the worsted round the kitten’s neck, just to see how it would look: this led to a scramble, in which the ball rolled down upon the floor, and yards and yards of it got unwound again.

    Do you know, I was so angry, Kitty, Alice went on as soon as they were comfortably settled again, when I saw all the mischief you had been doing, I was very nearly opening the window, and putting you out into the snow! And you’d have deserved it, you little mischievous darling! What have you got to say for yourself? Now don’t interrupt me! she went on, holding up one finger. I’m going to tell you all your faults. Number one: you squeaked twice while Dinah was washing your face this morning. Now you can’t deny it, Kitty: I heard you! What’s that you say? (pretending that the kitten was speaking.) "Her paw went into your eye? Well, that’s Your fault, for keeping your eyes open—if you’d shut them tight up, it wouldn’t have happened. Now don’t make any more excuses, but listen! Number two: you pulled Snowdrop away by the tail just as I had put down the saucer of milk before her! What, you were thirsty, were you? How do you know she wasn’t thirsty too? Now for number three: you unwound every bit of the worsted while I wasn’t looking!

    "That’s three faults, Kitty, and you’ve not been punished for any of them yet. You know I’m saving up all your punishments for Wednesday week—Suppose they had saved up all My punishments! she went on, talking more to herself than the kitten. What Would they do at the end of a year? I should be sent to prison, I suppose, when the day came. Or—let me see—suppose each punishment was to be going without a dinner: then, when the miserable day came, I should have to go without fifty dinners at once! Well, I shouldn’t mind That much! I’d far rather go without them than eat them!

    "Do you hear the snow against the window-panes, Kitty? How nice and soft it sounds! Just as if some one was kissing the window all over outside. I wonder if the snow Loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, ‘Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.’ And when they wake up in the summer, Kitty, they dress themselves all in green, and dance about—whenever the wind blows—oh, that’s very pretty! cried Alice, dropping the ball of worsted to clap her hands. And I do so Wish it was true! I’m sure the woods look sleepy in the autumn, when the leaves are getting brown.

    "Kitty, can you play chess? Now, don’t smile, my dear, I’m asking it seriously. Because, when we were playing just now, you watched just as if you understood it: and when I said ‘Check!’ you purred! Well, it Was a nice check, Kitty, and really I might have won, if it hadn’t been for that nasty Knight, that came wiggling down among my pieces. Kitty, dear, let’s pretend— And here I wish I could tell you half the things Alice used to say, beginning with her favourite phrase Let’s pretend. She had had quite a long argument with her sister only the day before—all because Alice had begun with Let’s pretend we’re kings and queens; and her sister, who liked being very exact, had argued that they couldn’t, because there were only two of them, and Alice had been reduced at last to say, Well, You can be one of them then, and I’ll be all the rest. And once she had really frightened her old nurse by shouting suddenly in her ear, Nurse! Do let’s pretend that I’m a hungry hyaena, and you’re a bone."

    But this is taking us away from Alice’s speech to the kitten. Let’s pretend that you’re the Red Queen, Kitty! Do you know, I think if you sat up and folded your arms, you’d look exactly like her. Now do try, there’s a dear! And Alice got the Red Queen off the table, and set it up before the kitten as a model for it to imitate: however, the thing didn’t succeed, principally, Alice said, because the kitten wouldn’t fold its arms properly. So, to punish it, she held it up to the Looking-glass, that it might see how sulky it was—and if you’re not good directly, she added, "I’ll put you through into Looking-glass House. How would you like That?"

    "Now, if you’ll only attend, Kitty, and not talk so much, I’ll tell you all my ideas about Looking-glass House. First, there’s the room you can see through the glass—that’s just the same as our drawing room, only the things go the other way. I can see all of it when I get upon a chair—all but the bit behind the fireplace. Oh! I do so wish I could see That bit! I want so much to know whether they’ve a fire in the winter: you never Can tell, you know, unless our fire smokes, and then smoke comes up in that room too—but that may be only pretence, just to make it look as if they had a fire. Well then, the books are something like our books, only the words go the wrong way; I know that, because I’ve held up one of our books to the glass, and then they hold up one in the other room.

    "How would you like to live in Looking-glass House, Kitty? I wonder if they’d give you milk in there? Perhaps Looking-glass milk isn’t good to drink—But oh, Kitty! now we come to the passage. You can just see a little Peep of the passage in Looking-glass House, if you leave the door of our drawing-room wide open: and it’s very like our passage as far as you can see, only you know it may be quite different on beyond. Oh, Kitty! how nice it would be if we could

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1