Davy and the Goblin: What Followed Reading 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'

Davy and the Goblin is a sprightly work of late nineteenth-century children's fantasy, openly indebted to the nonsense tradition popularized by Lewis Carroll. Its young hero, after reading Alice's adventures, is drawn into a dreamlike sequence of encounters with a mischievous goblin, anthropomorphic figures, verbal puzzles, and comic reversals of logic. Carryl's prose is urbane, rhythmic, and playful, combining fairy-tale motifs with parody, absurd dialogue, and the genteel wit of Victorian juvenile literature. Charles E. Carryl was an American writer, poet, and businessman whose literary imagination was shaped by both domestic storytelling and the transatlantic culture of comic fantasy. Born in 1841, he belonged to a generation fascinated by childhood as a realm of moral instruction, linguistic freedom, and imaginative escape. His familiarity with Carroll's achievement is central to this book, yet Carryl adapts nonsense to an American sensibility marked by warmth, brisk humor, and affectionate satire. This book is recommended for readers interested in classic children's literature, fantasy's early development, and the afterlife of Alice in Wonderland. It rewards both young readers and adults with its inventiveness, elegance, and enduring delight in the liberating possibilities of nonsense.