| |
The Water-Babies (1863) is one of the strangest and most powerful children`s books ever published. Written by an Anglican clergyman with an insatiable love of science, the story combines an uplifting moral about redemption with a crash course in evolutionary theory, and has an imaginative exuberance equalled only by Lewis Carroll.
Young Tom is a chimney-sweeper`s boy who one day falls into a river and drowns, only to be transformed into a water-baby. Through his encounters with friendly fish, curious lobsters, and characters such as Mrs Doasyouwouldbedoneby, he sloughs off his selfish nature and earns his just reward. Tom`s comic adventures are constantly interrupted by Kingsley`s sideswipes at contemporary issues such as child labour and the British education system, and they offer a rich satiric take on the great scientific debates of the day. The story`s linguistic and narrative oddities make it an unclassifiable fantasy that is both a naturalist`s handbook and an aquatic Pilgrim`s Progress, and its vibrant symbolism also reveals some of Kingsley`s more private obsessions regarding cleanliness and sanitation reform.
This new edition reprints the original complete text and illustrations, and includes a lively introduction and notes that reveal the full richness of this bizarre but compelling fairy tale.ISBN - 9780199645602
|
| |
Pages : 288
|