In 1862 Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a shy Oxford mathematician with a stammer, created a story about a little girl tumbling down a rabbit hole. Thus began the immortal adventures of Alice, perhaps the most popular heroine in English literature. Countless scholars have tried to define the charm of the Alice books–with those wonderfully eccentric characters the Queen of Hearts, Tweedledum, and Tweedledee, the Cheshire Cat, Mock Turtle, the Mad Hatter et al.–by proclaiming that they really comprise a satire on language, a political allegory, a parody of Victorian children’s literature, even a reflection of contemporary ecclesiastical history. Perhaps, as Dodgson might have said, Alice is no more than a dream, a fairy tale about the trials and tribulations of growing up–or down, or all turned round–as seen through the expert eyes of a child.
Reviews -
“Only Lewis Carroll has shown us the world upside down as a child sees it, and has made us laugh as children laugh.” — Virginia Woolf
Who banned this book...
- originally banned in China and other parts of the world because some people objected to the animal characters being able to use human language, putting them on the same level as humans. This was deemed an abomination in the sight of God by many religious institutions.
- in 1900 Alice in Wonderland was suspended from classroom use, pending review, at the Woodsville High School in Haverhill, New Hampshire, because the novel contains expletives, sexual content and derogatory characterizations of teachers and religious ceremonies.
- recently it became controversial because of what some people thought were drug references; Alice meets a Caterpillar that is sitting on top of a mushroom smoking a hookah.
Reviews -
“Only Lewis Carroll has shown us the world upside down as a child sees it, and has made us laugh as children laugh.” — Virginia Woolf
Who banned this book...
- originally banned in China and other parts of the world because some people objected to the animal characters being able to use human language, putting them on the same level as humans. This was deemed an abomination in the sight of God by many religious institutions.
- in 1900 Alice in Wonderland was suspended from classroom use, pending review, at the Woodsville High School in Haverhill, New Hampshire, because the novel contains expletives, sexual content and derogatory characterizations of teachers and religious ceremonies.
- recently it became controversial because of what some people thought were drug references; Alice meets a Caterpillar that is sitting on top of a mushroom smoking a hookah.