Debra Petersen answers “Is this written in really tricky...”

A Goodreads user asked this question about Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass:

Is this written in really tricky old-English, like Shakespeare?

Debra Petersen (Queen of Historical Fiction) No, it's not. It's fairly Modern English. In fact, Shakespeare is Modern English because you can read it and still understand most if not all the mean…moreNo, it's not. It's fairly Modern English. In fact, Shakespeare is Modern English because you can read it and still understand most if not all the meaning. Middle English would be considered not modern because you have to study it to really comprehend it (before the great vowel movement and modern spelling), but Alice in Wonderland is more Modern English. Shakespeare (Elizabethan time period) and Alice in Wonderland (Victorian Children’s Literature) were written a few hundred years a part and therefore aren’t really comparable as far as modern dialect is concerned.(less)

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Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass

by Lewis Carroll

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