I'm pretty sure everyone knows the story, right? Girl falls down a rabbit hole, lands in Wonderland and meets all kinds of crazies down there. She gets home, goes through the looking glass back into Wonderland, where she meets even more crazies, including the terrifying Jabberwocky, gets named the Queen of Wonderland, defeats the Jabberwocky, and makes it back home safely. Most people know all about the books, but the story behind it isn't quite as well known. Here's my SPOILER ALERT: If you want to continue thinking Lewis Carroll was a man with a great imagination, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are simply great works of literature for children and adults alike, and everyone lived happily ever after, STOP READING NOW! That is not the real story! While there is a great deal known about the relationship between Lewis Carroll and his muse, there is also a great deal that was silenced by the family, so many of the details are speculation. Everything that I will write about from here on out are details that I've learned by reading a number of different books on the subject. Some of the books I've read are historical fiction, some are based on his personal diaries, and some are articles from different papers. (See, I told you I was obsessed!)
Lewis Carroll's real name was Charles Dodgson. It has been said that he was an awkward, socially inept man with a stutter, migraines, epilepsy, and (by some accounts) autism. I haven't read about the autism theory yet, but, I suppose it wouldn't surprise me. He was also a professor of Math at Christ Church of Oxford , which is where he met his inspiration for the books. The Dean of Christ Church was Henry Liddell and while teaching, Dodgson met Henry Liddell's children, Harry, Arthur, Lorina, and.......Alice. Dodgson developed a special relationship with the Liddell children, Alice in particular and began spending a great deal of time with them. He would take them on picnics, walks, and boat rides, telling them stories while they were out. All of the stories had Alice in the forefront and all dealt with the crazy adventures in which Alice got involved.
Alice Liddell wasn't the picture perfect Dean's daughter, which is probably why the stories always involved some sort of misadventure. She was the one who would show up to events with a dirty dress, had hair that never did what it should, and she always managed to say or do things she shouldn't. However, Dodgson never seemed to mind. Alice was the one to whom Dodgson played special attention, probably to a fault. Alice would beg Dodgson to tell her more stories and then later, begged him to write them down. Eventually, he did and Alice's Adventures Underground was created. However, it would be years before the title would change to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and the sequel of Through the Looking Glass would be published.
While Charles Dodgson was a brilliant mathematician and, obviously a talented author, he was also a very talented photographer. Like I said, while Dodgson spent time with all of the Liddell children, he had a special interest in Alice. He would have Alice sneak away so he could dress her up in different costumes and take her picture. One picture in particular became especially famous because of how little Alice was wearing for a child her age at the time. At around 11, Dodgson had Alice take off her clothes, down to her underwear, dressed her up as a gypsy and took a number of photographs.
This is where the story of Charles Dodgson and Alice Liddell gets foggy. Some have said Dodgson gave a copy of the pictures to Alice, her family saw them and all hell broke loose. Some say Alice realized what was happening and ran away. Some say Dodgson hid the pictures, they were found and that's when all hell broke loose. Basically, at some point Alice's relationship with Charles Dodgson was abruptly cut short and no one is very clear why. His fascination with Alice was obviously unhealthy to say the least. There is a theory that he proposed marriage to an 11 year old Alice, causing her parents to decide that Dodgson would never see Alice again. There is a theory that something a lot more disturbing and sick happened that caused Alice's parents to end their relationship. What we do know is this, Charles Dodgson kept a detailed journal throughout his life. However, there are pages of his journal that would have been dated around the time of the rift between Dodgson and the Liddells that are missing. And not just missing, but purposely removed by human hand. The Liddells never made public what happened and Alice grew up, got married, and never spoke to Charles Dodgson again.
One of the most well known theories is that Lewis Carroll wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass while under the influence of opium.That he is actually the opium smoking caterpillar who so famously asked Alice, "Who are you?" While it has been said that Dodgson had a problem with lithium because of his health problems, it seems as if Charles Dodgson was simply under the influence of an unhealthy fascination with a little girl named Alice. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass are simply stories he told to a little girl while taking a boat ride and getting stuck on a train.
I have to admit, there were times while learning about everything that happened to create these books, I thought the books would be ruined. The story would constantly be in the back of my head and I wouldn't be able to look at the books the same again. I am pleased to say, this is definitely not true. To this day, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass remain the books I can read a million times over. I collect copies of the book (I think the count is 6 or 7), and I try to read what I can about Charles Dodgson and Alice Liddell. They will always be a fascination of mine. And, as Alice said, sometimes the story can just get, "Curioser and curioser".
Oh, and in case anyone is curious, a couple of the books I've read are:
Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin
Still She Haunts Me by Katie Rophie
