5 x 5 CONTINUED: BOOKS

 

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Continuing 5 facts abut 5 of my favourite books.

Toay . . . 

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ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND

The cover of the 1865 edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 English children's novel by Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson, 1832-1898), a mathematics don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatures. It is seen as an example of the literary nonsense genre. 

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Facts:

1.

Alice was a real girl, the daughter of Carroll's boss: Henry Liddell, the dean of Christ Church College at Oxford, where Carroll taught mathematics. Carroll formed a friendship with Henry Liddell, his wife Lorina, and their entire family.  The little sisters in the Doormouse's story — Elsie, Lacie, and Tillie — are references to their three daughters. Lorina Charlotte's initials became Elsie, Lacie is an anagram of Alice, and Tillie was short for Matilda, a nickname given to Edith. (A BBC documentary from 2015, The Secret World of Lewis Carroll, critically examined Dodgson's relationship with Alice Liddell and her sisters. It explored the possibility that Dodgson's rift with the Liddell family, and his temporary suspension from the college, might have been caused by improper relations with their children, including Alice.)

Lewis Carroll and the Lidell children

2.

On a boating trip up the Thames in the summer of 1862, Carroll spun a fantastic tale for Alice Liddell and her sisters. But after that, the kids pestered him to retell the story — Carroll even wrote in his diary about telling "the interminable Alice's adventures." So he eventually wrote the story down and gave it to Alice for Christmas 1864. (The original was half as long as the version later published and didn't include scenes like the Mad Hatter or Cheshire Cat.)

3.

In addition to partial deafness and other health complications, Carroll suffered from a rare neurological disorder that causes hallucinations and makes objects appear larger or smaller than they are. The disease wasn't discovered until 1955 by English psychiatrist John Todd. Eventually, it was named Alice in Wonderland Syndrome or Todd's Syndrome.

4.

After reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Queen Victoria suggested that Carroll dedicate his next work to her. She probably should have been more specific: Carroll was a mathematician, so his next work was An Elementary Treatise on Determinants, With Their Application to Simultaneous Linear Equations and Algebraic Equations. He presented it to the Queen.

5.

Since it was published in 1865, it has been translated into 176 languages. At the time, the book was so popular that its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, sold out within seven weeks of its publication. By the way, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the sequel, Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There, were both banned in China in 1931. Why? On the grounds that "animals should not use human language."

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