One of my favorite stories as a kid was Alice in Wonderland. Who am I kidding, it’s still one of my favorites. It was definitely a precursor to my affinity for strangenesses in stories, though it may seem a little off considering my own harsh realistic writing. When I took Latin American Short Fiction in college, I loved stories like Julio Cortazar’s “Blow Up” and “Letter to a Young Lady in Paris” for being fantastical and creating a world very much like my own with a whole new dimension, a sort of waking dream.
This is why Alice in Wonderland is so phenomenal, it transcends the usual disappointment when a story ends with the main character waking up from a dream. Alice’s “dreams” are rich, colorful and interactive, so much so that despite her being woken at the end of the story, there is no less reality in her experiences. The story is so interactive, in fact, that any way it’s told, new versions and interpretations of Lewis Carroll’s words come to light, making it such a living story. Enter the wonders of technology to add a new level to interacting with Alice in Wonderland. Though I don’t have an iPad, I can assure you this would be one of the first apps I bought. Check it out:
The things they read. 