Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Edmund Miller

Critical Essay by Edmund Miller

SOURCE: Miller, Edmund. “The Sylvie and Bruno Books as Victorian Novel.” In Lewis Carroll Observed: A Collection of Unpublished Photographs, Drawings, Poetry, and New Essays, edited by Edward Guiliano, pp. 132-44. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1976.

In the following essay, Miller maintains that Carroll's two novels aimed at adult readers are constructed according to a highly organized plan and conform to many of the conventions associated with early Victorian novels.

The Sylvie and Bruno books together form Lewis Carroll's most ambitious literary work. Yet the general public is hardly aware of its existence. This is a great shame, for the work is more interesting and rewarding than it is generally given credit for being. While perhaps not a great work or an ideally conceived one, it contains many delightful examples of Carroll's brand of nonsense and is unique in the Carroll canon in that that consistently attempts to address...
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