Local Author Visit: Hunting the Snark and the Mad Hatter in Olympia

Pam Sowers author
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Submitted by Pam Sowers

Hunting the Snark and the Mad Hatter in Olympia

Pam Sowers authorPam Sowers, an Olympia author and editor, got an early start on the celebration of Alice Day. The annual worldwide day commemorates the first telling of the story that became Alice in Wonderland. Sowers marked the occasion with the publication by eNotated Classics on June 17th of The Hunting of the Snark. This was the third of the Lewis Carroll books edited by Sowers: it followed the publication in January of the e-book Through the Looking-Glass, which in turn was preceded by Alice in Wonderland in July, 2012. She said preparing the three-volume set meant spending 18 months with Carroll and his characters – which was both a challenge and a delight.

“These new editions are not the final answer on Carroll and his novels,” Sowers said. “Each of these books was written at different times in his life, and even the most painstaking research can’t uncover all the solutions to the mysteries he incorporated into the Alice stories, and The Hunting of the Snark. There are so many things for everyone from little kids to college professors to puzzle over.”

Part of the mystery for modern readers is that Carroll was writing in the mid-to-late nineteenth century, long before the development of smart phones, the Internet, or even electricity, for that matter. Sowers’ job as editor was to find the correct, Victorian definitions for hundreds of words and phrases, so that children, parents, and students could follow the stories without being distracted by confusion over Carroll’s vocabulary. The notes help the reader become immersed in the stories. “It’s the only way to help you know what Carroll knew when he was writing all these stories,” Sowers said. “I added some essays to each e-book as well, so the reader can get a better idea of some of the cultural changes since Alice’s time.”

Alice Day, celebrated this year on July 6, commemorates what Carroll called a “golden afternoon” in 1862, when he first told Alice Liddell and two of her sisters the story of the fictional Alice and her adventures underground. At Alice Liddell’s urging, Carroll expanded and enhanced the original story, which was published for the first time in 1865. Alice Day is celebrated annually by members of the Lewis Carroll Society (UK) and the Lewis Carroll Society of North America, as well as families, libraries, and book clubs all over the world.

Sowers said she is celebrating the end of her Carroll project by visiting a few local book clubs to talk with other Alice enthusiasts about some discoveries that came to light during her research. She can be reached at pineorchids@yahoo.com. More information on eNotated Classics can be found here.  Sowers’ e-books are available through the Amazon, Apple i-Store, and Barnes & Noble web sites.

 

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