April 24th

Day 115
13.196 read, -2.062
Sylvie and Bruno Complete 121-208, 9-17, 216-224

Today I have reached the halfway mark in catching up!  The farthest behind I became this year so far was -4.171 or 4 books and 171 pages behind on April 3rd.  So half of that is 2 books and 85.5 pages and now I'm below that at -2.062 or 2 books and 62 pages.  It's a good feeling to know I'm working on catching up and have gotten farther than halfway from my most behind moment now.  It's just a matter of time until I'm completely caught up!

I finished Sylvie and Bruno today, which ends somewhat abruptly and strangely.  Then I went back and read Carroll's own preface to it.  Then I started on Sylvie and Bruno Concluded, the sequel that in the same volume (starts page 216).

I have to say, Sylvie and Bruno is quite an odd mixture.  It's got the nonsense and whimsy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland but he also approaches it from a perspective of "esoteric Buddhism" and he includes some sombre and serious passages on death, philosophy and proper Christianity.  What I mean by "esoteric Buddhism" (that's in his own words in a preface) is that he uses that principle in the structure of the book. in transference of physical form, as to how humans and fairies can interact.  Specifically, in this book he uses first person for an old man and this old man keeps randomly crossing over from the real world to the fairy world and sometimes he's a part of the scene and sometimes it's as if he's invisible.  Sometimes someone else will be in the middle of a sentence and then suddenly he'll find that he's in the other world and a character from the other world is finishing the sentence.

In that way though it's quite Carrollian really, employing a similar fantastic quality that the Alice books have.  Later in the book he gives hints that perhaps the fairy world is only when he "falls asleep" and even says the transference is best when it's very hot and you're somewhat sleepy.  But he doesn't bother following any rules he's made up really, as at one point he ends up with a time travel watch in the real world which he uses.

The sombre aspects though are what really differentiate it from the Alice books.  The tone will change suddenly too.  One chapter he's flitting about with Sylvie and Bruno in the fairyland, hearing silly songs just like Alice might have, then the next chapter he's sitting in the real world with his adult friends, having a very serious conversation on the proper way to behave on the Christian sabbath that sounds a bit like a lecture.

Then there's the death stuff.  At one point little fairy Bruno whimsically uses a dead mouse (ew!) to measure distances as if he uses it all the time, and reclines on it when he's resting.  Later on, the old narrator and Sylvie come across a dead hare that she cries over and that was apparently "scared to death" while hunters chased it, and he makes his anti-hunting views known.  And the narrator is old and also ponders his own death at points too.

Then there's the strange story (for a children's book) in the "real world", which is that the narrator has a bad heart and is coming to see his young friend, a doctor, at a seaside village for rest and relaxation.  There is a wonderful young woman who lives in the village, a lady, that the doctor is in love with and sees often.  Though he sees her often in visits that include the narrator and the lady's father, he hasn't told her that he loves her yet and is waiting for some reason.  Later in the story, a handsome young gentleman turns up that at first worries the doctor but turns out to be the lady's cousin, so he worries no more.  But then, later it is revealed by the father that the lady and the cousin are basically a couple and that they're about to be engaged.  So, in a fit of despair, the doctor decides to take a position in India.  And this is how the book ends.  The last chapter is even titled something like "Look Eastward" as the doctor and the old narrator have one final meeting before the doctor's departure discussing his plans in India.

Strange, no?  I'm assuming these things will be corrected in the sequel, but when he published this book, no one knew there would be a sequel, so this was the end as far as many were concerned.  And I know in past time periods that cousins marrying was more socially acceptable, but it still confused me. Because first when he finds out that they're cousins, he's worried no more, as if it's obvious that cousins won't marry (as we would think today).  Yet later on that logic is out the window and they are engaged and no one minds.  Huh?  So is it acceptable then or not?

And the doctor character is quite a prig.  He's the "hero" perhaps you'd say of the "real world" story, and at every visit with the lady, her father and the narrator (which is generally what's happening in most "real world" scenes), he's often going off on tangents to "teach" them things, with the lady listening in enjoyment and wonder like an eager pupil.  This is where we get most of the serious scenes on Christianity in particular (there's not that many really, but they do stand out in a book like this).

All in all an oddity.  I suppose the sequel will be more of the same but with a better conclusion.  This book isn't terrible though, if I've given you that impression.  It's odd and actually pretty interesting in its oddity, and a pretty quick read as well.  And I like Carroll's ingenuity, that he's willing to play with perceived notions of genre.  Not that he makes a splendid success of it here, but nonetheless it's interesting.