Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #420461 in Books
• Published on: 2009-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

Customer Reviews

Ober da
Well done to Nicholas Williams for his translation of Alice in Wonderland. It is a pleasure to see such a high quality work in terms of production and Kernewek. It's a good choice too appealing to both adults and children. I must admit it does take a little adjustment if you are more familiar, as I am, with Kernewek Kemmyn but once in it reads quite nicely. Mr Williams' form of Cornish contains characteristics of a slighty later period than Kemmyn or Unified, 'hedna' for 'henna' etc and many (English) verbs and words found in original sources. The latter is one area I'm not so keen on (although it does aid understanding when your Cornish is as basic as mine). There are many newly coined words which have gained common acceptence with Cornish users which are looked over. The most startling of these is the use of 'chair' for ..'chair'! Although 'kador' does not appear in the historical texts (quite amazing in itself) it does appear in place names and is 'kador' in Breton and 'cadair' in Welsh. Overall, Mr Williams is to be congratulated and I certainly wouldn't allow partisan feelings from preventing you reading this.

Authentic and skillfull
This is a wonderful Cornish rendition of Carroll's work. The author draws on all the available Cornish literary sources to give us a language that is as rich and idiomatic as Alice especially requires, while keeping strictly to native Cornish tradition, in language and spelling. That such a work could be done from so little fragmentary material fully justifies the 5 stars. Plus, the book is simply beautiful in its presentation.

If you are one of the partisans of the ahistorical mockery of Cornish that took hold of the establishment for a while in the late '80s, then probably you'll wish to dismiss this book without even looking at it. If, however, regardless of your chosen camp, you're looking for a great story recreated in a Cornish that flows crystalline and true, you won't want to miss this book. Any of the revivalists would have been joyed to read it.

A classic good read!
This children's classic has been translated into both Irish and Cornish by Professor Nicholas J.A. Williams, a well-known authority on both of these Celtic languages, and a Bard of the Cornish Gorseth. His love for the languages (and for this book) shines through in his translations, as it did in his Cornish edition of the New Testament. The form of the book is another superb design from Evertype; his fine typography complements perfectly both the story and the original illustrations by Sir John Tenniel. The book is a pleasure to hold and a delight to read.

I await the next work from this gifted writer and translator with eagerness.