Written is 1856 by Charles Dodgson, Alice in Wonderland is still among the most influential “nonsense literature” books ever written. Dodgson was an awkward mathematics professor at Oxford when he made the acquaintance of the Dean’s daughters, Lorina, Alice, and Edith Liddell. In the summer of 1862, Dodgson and friends were boating with the girls while Charles regaled the party with a story of a little girl named Alice who fell down a rabbit hole and traveled into a fantastical world. The story was a success and the “real” Alice urged Dodgson to write it down for her. After some time, under the pen name of Lewis Carroll, the story was published, becoming a sensation the world over, and immortalizing and forever changing the life of Alice Liddell.
For years, Dodgson had been friends with the Liddell girls, often using them as subjects for his hobby as a photographer, until the relationship suddenly ended in June, 1863, for unknown reasons. There are many speculations, and Benjamin choses to weave this historical fiction around the theory that Dodgson had inappropriate and romantic feelings toward Alice, even when she as young as seven. Clearly, rumors of this nature would have destroyed the reputation of any girl in the Victorian era, and the premise of this story is based on Alice’s perpetual confrontation with her lurid past and how her flawed repute followed her to the grave.
The story briefly follows Alice through a failed romance with Prince Leopold, a compromised marriage, the birth of three children, and the loss of two sons during World War I. I was disappointed that Benjamin took the low road and used a sensationalized version of hearsay to literally condemn Alice to a life of compromised options due to her perceived ruined reputation. This version of history also, with no evidence to support it, compromises the reputation of the author, which could very well taint a reader’s impression of a children’s story.
Posted By: Regina C. (submitted to Jen 5/22/18)
