Alice's Alphabet
Genevieve Kaplan
2010
2nd Prize
Major: Creative Writing [Poetry]
PhD Student
Poetry, Book Art
This ingenious reconstruction of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland consists of two poems comprised of Carroll’s lines reordered and bound in book form. Both works use the structure of the alphabet to create a playful rereading of the text. The first poem, Alice’s Alphabet: An Explanation, collects all the phrases that begin with the word “Alice” and uses the next letter in the sentence to generate an alphabetical journey. “Alice began” anchors the letter B, “Alice caught” leads the entry for C, and so on. The second work, Alice’s Alphabet: Alice Explains , reconstructs a similar itinerary using all of the sentences that begin with the word “I”—sentences in which Alice herself is speaking. The book was produced in a dos-.-dos form, with two books bound back-to-back so they share the same cover and can be opened from either end. Kaplan’s process results in a textual mirror that reveals fascinating insights into Carroll’s worlds, some of which she details in her exemplary artist statement.
Alice's Alphabet
Genevieve Kaplan
2nd Prize
2010
Major: Creative Writing [Poetry]
PhD Student
Poetry, Book Art
This ingenious reconstruction of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland consists of two poems comprised of Carroll’s lines reordered and bound in book form. Both works use the structure of the alphabet to create a playful rereading of the text. The first poem, Alice’s Alphabet: An Explanation, collects all the phrases that begin with the word “Alice” and uses the next letter in the sentence to generate an alphabetical journey. “Alice began” anchors the letter B, “Alice caught” leads the entry for C, and so on. The second work, Alice’s Alphabet: Alice Explains , reconstructs a similar itinerary using all of the sentences that begin with the word “I”—sentences in which Alice herself is speaking. The book was produced in a dos-.-dos form, with two books bound back-to-back so they share the same cover and can be opened from either end. Kaplan’s process results in a textual mirror that reveals fascinating insights into Carroll’s worlds, some of which she details in her exemplary artist statement.