Victorian Day 2 - Alice

perception of Alice in Wonderland

  • universally beloved by critics

  • readers were enchanted by the imaginative narrative and skillful wordplay

  • loved the uniqueness of the characters and writing

  • blend of childlike wonder with astute observations of the adult world

  • but NOW is being majorly disliked because it can be creepy and unsettling

    • began to be associated with drug culture (hallucinogens) and it was banned for that

impact of Alice on literature

  • approach of imagination and playfulness inspired many other works

  • adapted into many different forms - very present in popular culture

Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson)

  • born in England, 1832

  • third child of eleven, he was one of the older ones

  • began to make up his own games and stories

  • joined oxford at 18, became a senior student (required him to be ordained)

  • became an “uncle” to his friend Henry Liddell’s kids

    • Harry, Ina, Alice, and Edith

  • took them on outings and taught them a little

  • enjoyed telling them stories

    • one of these stories was Alice in Wonderland - originally “Alice’s Adventures Underground” (Alice the person loved it and asked him to write it down)

photography

  • Dodgson loved to take photos, especially being asked by parents to take photos of their children

  • half of his 3,000 photos were of children, 30 of these were nude or semi-nude (this was normal for the time)

  • Dodgson took Alice’s portrait, which the family displayed in a luxurious case

reputation (Dodgson’s version)

  • in 1863, he lost his relationship with the Liddell family, eventually started talking to the parents again but never the daughters

    • did gift alice a bound copy of alice’s adventures underground

  • became well known for being good with kids, even entertaining 2 of Queen Victoria’s grandchildren

  • in 1932 (centennial of his birth), people celebrated him hugely

  • a year later, A.M.E. Goldschmidt presented that Dodgson apparently had suppressed sexual desires for Alice

  • whether it was serious or not, scholars ran with it and Dodgson began to have a bad name

  • it might not be accurate because Ina was contradictory in a lot of her accounts that are used as evidence by scholars

  • now, there has been evidence that he was attracted to adult women, but people are still divided on Dodgson’s reputation