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

[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.