Audiobook · read by volunteers
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (abridged)
Lewis Carroll (1832–1898)
Read by Kirsten Ferreri · 10 chapters · 58 min
About the book
A girl, bored on a riverbank, notices a white rabbit in a waistcoat and follows it down a hole. So begins one of the best-loved stories in the English language. Alice meets a pool of tears, a caucus race, a caterpillar who asks who she is, a grinning cat, a mad tea party and a furious Queen, and each encounter turns logic upside down. This abridged version keeps the main adventures and runs for about an hour in ten episodes, which makes it ideal for younger listeners or for anyone who wants a short taste of Wonderland. Kirsten Ferreri reads the story, and the nonsense sounds as delightful as ever. Funny, odd and wonderfully quotable, it is a short route into a great classic.
Introduction
Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who lived from 1832 to 1898. He was a mathematician and a deacon, teaching at Christ Church, Oxford, and he was also a gifted storyteller and photographer. According to the famous account, he first told the story of Alice on a boat trip along the Thames in 1862 to the daughters of a colleague, and he afterwards wrote it down at the request of one of them, Alice Liddell. The book was published in 1865 with illustrations by John Tenniel.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was a new kind of children's book. Earlier works had mostly aimed to teach a lesson, whereas Carroll was happy to amuse. The book is full of wordplay, parody and logical puzzles, which have given pleasure to adults as well as children. Its characters, such as the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts, have entered everyday language and have inspired countless films, plays and pictures.
This LibriVox recording is an abridged reading and lasts about an hour, divided into 10 chapters. It is read by a single volunteer, Kirsten Ferreri. It offers a swift route into Wonderland, and may encourage listeners to follow it with the complete book.
An abridgement necessarily leaves things out, but it also keeps the shape of the tale and the best-known scenes. It is a convenient introduction for newcomers, a familiar friend for those who know the book well, and an easy listen for a car journey with children.
Public domain
Lewis Carroll died in 1898: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text