The Hunting of the Snark

"Just the place for a Snark! I have said it twice: That alone should encourage the crew. Just the place for a Snark! I have said it thrice: What I tell you three times is true." This fascinating "Agony in Eight Fits" composed by Lewis Carroll in 1876,is to Literature what a Trompe-l'oeil masterpiece is to the world of Art.Well,maybe only in a way; because once "discovered" in a painting ,the trick of the eye can be seen or understood. Maybe it is more akin to modern art where someone says "this is what the artist is saing" ;and people can say "Yes,I see what he means" ;but there's always something else. With this poem,there have been countless interpretations and Carroll himself offered more questions than answers ,when asked what it meant. This book was published as a Centennial Edition and annotated by Martin Gardner;famous for his features in "Scientific American Magazine" as well as a lifetime of interest ,writings and books in Mathematical Recreations. All the plates as well as original shetches by Henry Holiday and extensive information are tncluded. To complete it all,a complete facsimile of the First Edirion is also included. Although there has been endless things said and written about this famous work,this edition would be as good a place as any to start in seeing what this poem is all about. One club,and there have been many,was founded in 1897 and lasted till the last meeing in 1914 on the eve of WWI.The number of members was severely restricted . "The club's eleven rules are so delightfully Snarkish that with the Bellman's permission",they are included in the book. It is near impossible to write a review on this book other than to say,I spent an afternoon enjoying it,but one could spend a great deal of time studing it and writings about it. I don't often refer to Reviews by others,but in this case I would be remiss not to note the excellent one written by Luan Gaines"Luansos" on November 6,2006. "'Once upon a time there was a Boojum--'the Professor began,but stopped suddenly.'I forget the rest of the Fable,' he said.'And there was a lesson to be learned from it. I'm afraid I forget that,too.'"

This is a new version of older works. It has new introductions and the new preface by Martin Gardner. This new version contains additional and expanded thoughts on the main work. Being the latest and greatest version to date.

Filled with exuberant language, The Annotated Hunting of the Snark is an unparalleled adventure, part nonsense, part ironic elucidation, suggesting that nothing is ever what it seems. Published on April Fool's Day 1876, Carroll's epic poem, The Hunting of the Snark, is elaborately presented with annotations by Martin Gardener, exploring the sea voyage of a crew determined to capture the elusive Snark; they are ten: a Bellman, a Boots, a maker of Bonnets and Hoods, a Barrister, a Broker, a Billiard-Maker, a Banker, a Beaver and a Butcher. The Snark itself presents a conundrum, be it beast of "Boojum", an entity that will cause them all to disappear. For over a century, scholars have discussed Carroll's poem, its nonsense, allegories and anecdotes, rife with hidden meanings and scholarly interpretations. The annotations and illustrations in this volume are classic, black and white images of animated men and beasts, fantasy in the ink strokes of the artist's pen, page after page of fascinating annotations reflecting the variety of discussions engendered by the poem: "According to Humpty Dumpty, the word `mimsy" (from the first stanza of Jabberwocky) is a portmanteau word combining `miserable' and `flimsy'." Each fit advances the story, introducing the crew members, each with his pretensions and expectations. Both dreamlike and illogical, The Annotated The Hunting of the Snark appeals in language and whimsy with undertones of danger, the unknown lurking, a virtual treasure trove of allegories for those inclined to such interpretation. It is Gardner who adds the unique spirit of this edition, expansively embracing "a personal God and much that confounds the simple or poverty-stricken or mindless materialism", while remaining "an untiring pursuer of pseudoscience and irrationality", the "space between a feeling heart and a thinking mind, between a love of the marvelous and a reverence for skeptical truth": "In the midst of the word he was trying to say, In the midst of his laughter and glee, He had softly and suddenly vanished away- For the Snark was a Boojum, you see." Our modern world has been redefined by the specter of the Snark as Boojum, perhaps as death or a fear of extinction, a dread of the unknown. With its luxurious illustrations, the annotated poem is followed by a number of interesting pieces: "An Easter Greeting"; "A Commentary by Snarkophilus Snobs"; "The Clue" (a sequel); "Excepts from Henry Holiday's Reminiscences of My Life"; and an extensive bibliography, all in all, a grand adventure into a vast chasm of possibilities. Luan Gaines/2006.

This edition of Lewis Carroll's hilarious and haunting nonsense poem was originally published as THE ANNOTATED SNARK in 1962. Featuring Henry Holiday's original 1876 illustrations and a plethora of critical supplementary material, this is certainly the best edition of the poem currently available. Martin Gardner, who is perhaps best known for his ANNOTATED ALICE books, provides copious informative notes, many of them intended tongue in cheek, that explicate the myriad mysteries of Carroll's enigmatic sea voyage. Particularly noteworthy is Gardner's inclusion, as an appendix, of A COMMENTARY ON THE SNARK, a wonderfully loony "explanatory" essay by one Snarkophilus Snobbs that manages to brilliantly parody and demolish any attempt to provide solemn scholarly commentary on Carroll's silly but strangely disturbing work. Nonetheless, in his introduction, Gardner takes the time to offer brief descriptions of some of the more notable serious attempts to "force the whole of the SNARK into one overall metaphorical pattern." We'll never know exactly what was going through Carroll's mind when he created this epic journey--especially since the author himself claimed that the poem was devoid of any meaning--but the many efforts to explain it away are often ingenious and entertaining.

Like The Annotated Alice, Martin Gardner's annotations set this version above the rest. The politics and economics of England in the 1870's are prominent in the characters (and in Holiday's caricatures) and Gardner's notes are very relevant in putting what appears to be nonsense into historical relevance. Also included is a very detailed Bibliography and two Appendices - "A Commentary on the Snark" and "Fit the Seventh and a Halfth" - that Gardner has rounded up.