Professional paper

’Twas Brillig: Two Children and Alice

Virginia Lowe ; Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

Abstract

This paper is a case study of two children’s responses to Lewis Carroll’s and John Tenniel’s Alice books. Their encounters with the stories were recorded for a period of eleven years. The thoughts and concerns inspired by the books demonstrate the children’s interpretive abilities as they sometimes raise serious philosophical issues. Based on the collected data it is argued that the children’s understanding and philosophical ability can be revealed in their response to literature. The findings support the notion that children’s capacity for abstract thinking should not be underestimated.

Keywords

children and philosophy; Alice books; Lewis Carroll; John Tenniel; children’s humour; children’s fear

Hrčak ID:

154131

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/154131

Publication date:

23.12.2015.

Article data in other languages: croatian german

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