Princeton University Press, October 7, 2015.
Five Stars
I think there have been more than enough reviews of Carroll’s classic story over the years, and I’m not ready to add anything new. So my review will focus on this edition, which includes surrealist painter Salvador Dali’s gorgeous illustrations, published just in time for Alice’s 150th anniversary.
The surreal yet logical world of Wonderland perfectly fits Dali’s aesthetic, in which fantasy and geometry collide. The intersection between these two elements is explained in two informative introductory essays, one by Dali expert Mark Burstein, and the second by mathematician and friend of Dali, Thomas Banchoff.
Burstein begins by citing the obvious as well as the potential connections between Carroll and Dali. One instance was that Dali’s time at the Disney studios was concurrent with the production of the Disney version of “Alice in Wonderland”. He may not have directly influenced the animated version, but his creative process was certainly similar to that of Lewis Carroll. Surrealist processes such as automatism and the Exquisite Corpse game (in which a piece of paper was folded up and each artist contributed a part of the picture, creating an accidentally surreal whole) could have easily led to Wonderland. Marcel Duchamp referred directly to Alice’s story as part of the creative process: “I am convinced that, like Alice in Wonderland, [the young artist of tomorrow] will be led to pass through the looking-glass of the retina, to reach a more profound expression.” (Loc. 46)
Dali did not directly translate the story of Wonderland into pictures – instead, he provided a “complementary experience,” (Loc. 108) a place in which the mind can escape to contemplate Alice’s adventures. Banchoff explains that Dali used a previously completed motif, a girl with a rope, to represent Alice – the rope expanded around her to also represent the rabbit hole.
Dali’s work, like the world of Wonderland, is in a constant state of flux, or metamorphosis – what Burstein calls, “an uninterrupted becoming.” (Loc. 113) His abstract, yet mathematically precise, view of the world is a perfect place for Alice to explore. Overall, Dali’s incredibly rich, mostly non-figurative paintings give us the experience of Wonderland – the reader’s mind is free to fill in the blanks with details from own fantasy worlds. I will definitely be purchasing a physical copy of this edition in the future!
I received this book for free from Princeton University Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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