Alices Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass and What Al

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There: For Adults Only! Â   "'Curiouser and curiouser!'cried Alice" (Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland 9). At the time she was speaking of the fact that her body seemed to be growing to immense proportions before her very eyes; however, she could instead have been speaking about the entire nature of Lewis Carroll's classic works Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There. At first glance, the novels seem easy enough to understand. They are simple children's stories filled with fantastical language and wonderful worlds. They follow the basic genre of nearly all children's work, they are written in simple and clear language, feature a young hero and an amazing, unbelievable cast of characters, are set in places of mystery and illusion, and seem far too nonsensical and unusual for adults to enjoy. Even their author, Lewis Carroll, believed them to be children's stories. Yet Carroll and generations of parents and children have been wrong. While these stories ma y seem typical children's fare, they are distinctly different. Their symbolism, content, and message make the Alice books uniquely intended for adults. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was born in 1832 in Victorian England. He was a mathematics professor, but he had a very peculiar dual identity. "Most of the time he was C. L. Dodgson, the shy, stammering mathematics professor, but on occasion he became Lewis Carroll, the dynamic fantasist and parodist" (Matuz 105). He began his career in writing by publishing typical and uninspiring tracts about mathematics and politics, but after an inspirational boat ride with three young girls, he began the... ...dventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll. The Sewanee Review XXXV (1927): 393-398. Hudson, Derek. "Lewis Carroll." British Writers 5 (1982): 265-266. Leach, Elsie. "'Alice in Wonderland' in Perspective." 1964. New York: Vanguard Press, Inc., 1971. Masslich, George. "A Book within a Book." The English Journal X (1921): 122. Matuz, Roger, ed. Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Detroit: Gale Research, Inc., 1991. Priestley, J. B. "A Note on Humpty Dumpty." I for One. London: John Lane, 1923. 194. Spacks, Patricia Meyer. "Logic and Language in 'Through the Looking-Glass.'" 1961. New York: Vanguard Press, Inc., 1971. Wilson, Edmund. "C. L. Dodgson: The Poet Logician." 1932. New York: Vanguard Press, Inc., 1971. Woolf, Virginia. "Lewis Carroll." The Moment and Other Essays. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1948. 83. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass and What Al Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There: For Adults Only! Â   "'Curiouser and curiouser!'cried Alice" (Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland 9). At the time she was speaking of the fact that her body seemed to be growing to immense proportions before her very eyes; however, she could instead have been speaking about the entire nature of Lewis Carroll's classic works Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There. At first glance, the novels seem easy enough to understand. They are simple children's stories filled with fantastical language and wonderful worlds. They follow the basic genre of nearly all children's work, they are written in simple and clear language, feature a young hero and an amazing, unbelievable cast of characters, are set in places of mystery and illusion, and seem far too nonsensical and unusual for adults to enjoy. Even their author, Lewis Carroll, believed them to be children's stories. Yet Carroll and generations of parents and children have been wrong. While these stories ma y seem typical children's fare, they are distinctly different. Their symbolism, content, and message make the Alice books uniquely intended for adults. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was born in 1832 in Victorian England. He was a mathematics professor, but he had a very peculiar dual identity. "Most of the time he was C. L. Dodgson, the shy, stammering mathematics professor, but on occasion he became Lewis Carroll, the dynamic fantasist and parodist" (Matuz 105). He began his career in writing by publishing typical and uninspiring tracts about mathematics and politics, but after an inspirational boat ride with three young girls, he began the... ...dventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll. The Sewanee Review XXXV (1927): 393-398. Hudson, Derek. "Lewis Carroll." British Writers 5 (1982): 265-266. Leach, Elsie. "'Alice in Wonderland' in Perspective." 1964. New York: Vanguard Press, Inc., 1971. Masslich, George. "A Book within a Book." The English Journal X (1921): 122. Matuz, Roger, ed. Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Detroit: Gale Research, Inc., 1991. Priestley, J. B. "A Note on Humpty Dumpty." I for One. London: John Lane, 1923. 194. Spacks, Patricia Meyer. "Logic and Language in 'Through the Looking-Glass.'" 1961. New York: Vanguard Press, Inc., 1971. Wilson, Edmund. "C. L. Dodgson: The Poet Logician." 1932. New York: Vanguard Press, Inc., 1971. Woolf, Virginia. "Lewis Carroll." The Moment and Other Essays. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1948. 83.