Nudging Alice

[poliphilo]

I read Coraline this afternoon. It's good. Diana Wynne Jones says she thinks it "will nudge Alice in Wonderland out of its niche". Oh, no it won't! Alice is an extraordinarily original book and Coraline- coming nearly a century and a half later- cannot help but be derivative. Carroll has no forebears that I can think of, but Gaiman has lots of them- including Carroll. We're back with what I was saying yesterday: The 19th century novelists are greater than the modern novelists because The 19th century novelists were pioneers and the modern novelists are followers.

Comments

[sovay]

Diana Wynne Jones says she thinks it "will nudge Alice in Wonderland out of its niche".

I love Diana Wynne Jones, but I don't think so.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

If I had a ten year old in my life I'd buy them Coraline. It's zesty and scary and great fun, but Lewis Carroll is in a league of his own. He's the alps of children's literature.

[petercampbell.livejournal.com]

Total agreement there - Gaiman's very good (but generally I think he's a bit overrated). Certainly not up there with Carroll who's not not just the alps but also the wellspring of children's literature.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I enjoy Gaiman, but I don't think he's a great writer.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Have you heard of Lev Grossman's The Magicians, which is a grownup version of Harry Potter? It's very clever and well written. I'm reading it now, got it from the local library.

The movie Coraline was very depressing to me, rather horrifying actually. Like a nightmare.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I've heard of it, but it hasn't come my way yet.

The book is nightmarish too.