Books: Alice in Sunderland

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Alice in Sunderland
By Bryan Talbot
2007





Available now from Islington Libraries
You can reserve this item for free here:
http://www.library.islington.gov.uk/TalisPrism/

"What is the use of a book, without pictures or conversations?" Indeed. Well... This is a book that's ambitious, accomplished and astounding in all sorts of clever ways - although it won't be everyone's cup of tea. But for Mackems, history buffs, fans of Iain Sinclair style "psycho-geography," Alice in Wonderland devotes (obviously) - and people curious to see just how far you can expand the limits of the kinds of things you do with comics - you're going to find plenty to fall in love with. Taking the form of a lecture delivered from the stage of Sunderland’s Empire Theatre it's a book without any sort of story - but more a lazy (but nonetheless immensely informative) dreamy amble around tit-bits of information about the life of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, the gestation of the most famous children's story of all time and how it all relates to the magical city of Sunderland. Packed full to bursting with tit-bits of interesting facts and startling connections and the uniformly stunning artwork which is and utilizes a cut up effect that mixes black and white with colour reproductions of old documents and photos. I should say that for me - the effects were similar to climbing a mountain - which left me feeling like the whole thing was a chore - and the not the giddy delight that I was expecting (which maybe makes it my fault more than the book): but for those willing to scale it's daunting heights then there are lots of playful jokes and twisty diversions that will appeal to those with more cultured brains than my own (my poor head).

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Links: Down the Tubes Interview with Bryan Talbot, Gad, Sir! Comics! Review, Guardian Review, Boing Boing Review, Vector Review, Jog The Blog Review.

Further reading: Logicomix, The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, Don Quixote, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy Gentleman, The Tale of One Bat Rat.

Profiles: Bryan Talbot.

All comments welcome