Thomas Fensch

This is a very unusual book. The entire text of Alice in Wonderland is reprinted, interspersed with "learned" asides reinterpreting the story from a druggie perspective. It seems to be parodying scholarly works of literary criticism. I *think* this book is supposed to be humorous satire, but I found it funny for only the first few pages and then the joke wore out. An interesting curiosity for my Alice collection.

Although the subject matter was interesting, the presentation was disappointing. The text was somewhat disjointed and the publishers' editor(s) did an obviously poor job proofing as regards spelling, leaving words out, etc.

John Steinbeck is just a great amiable guy. He's America like John Wayne and baseball and I put money on him in a fistfight with Hemingway any day. His genius is greatly de-emphasized, I think. He is the greatest U.S. writer that ever lived. His interviews and these articles are greatly revealing and well worth the read.