In my time as both a reader and writer
my readings have led me to many fanciful stories. I have observed that
one of the most famous of these oddly amusing stories, Lewis Carroll's
(or rather Charles Dodgeson's, Lewis Carroll was his pen-name) "Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There" pulls me back to itself rather often (for
simplicity's sake we will refer to this book as Looking Glass and to
its precursor as Wonderland). What is it about this nonsensical book and
its companion novel that makes me keep coming back? By taking a cursory
look at these books and their collective author I hope to answer this
question.
Firstly we will cast our inquiries towards the author of Looking
Glass; looking primarily for the various sources of inspiration that
caused him to write such unconventional works of literature. A good
amount of speculators think that Dodgeson's books were largely inspired
by drug induced states of mind. However, we know that Dodgeson was a
deeply religious man from his youth up, going on to become a deacon at
the prestigious Oxford college, Christ's Church. The idea of him using
mind altering drugs for inspiration in his writings seems hardly
probable in light of this fact. Still others will hypothesize that he
suffered from a form of migraine that has since been named after
Wonderland due to the fact that it causes its victims to see things as
larger or smaller than they really are, a common plot device in the
Alice books. Though we do know that Dodgeson did suffer from migraine,
we have no conclusive evidence that his particular strain was Alice in
Wonderland syndrome; thus this theory will have to remain just that, a
theory. What we do know for certain is that Charles Lutwidge Dodgeson
grew up in a large family of 9 children. As a member of a family of 11
children, I know full well the impact that many siblings has on ones
imagination and literary leanings. I probably have a couple dozen
stories in the Alice tradition floating in my head just from the crazy
tales I used to concoct with my siblings as a child. One also has to
note that Dodgeson spent a large amount of his time with various persons
noted for their fantastical writings or imaginations. High among these
ranks George Macdonald, a man well known at the time for his fantasy
stories. In fact, George Macdonald's stories were a large source of
inspiration for both C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien in their fantasy
writings. Thus, the idea that Dodgeson's friendship with this
fairystruck man played a large part in his writings, is by no means a
stretch of the imagination. Dodgeson also was fond of spending time with
small children; indeed we are told that Wonderland was originally a
story for the child of one of Dodgeson's friends. As we know, small
children have a way of turning the simplest of things into grand (or
sometimes downright frightening) adventures of imagination and fancy.
Dodgeson may have just been drawing on his inner child in order to
please his many small friends. I know that I often do similar things.
Yet another facet to Dodgeson that is hardly ever remembered is that of
his mathematical genius. Indeed he taught math for many years at Christ
Church and wrote several books on the subject. As a man who saw the
world in the form of an ever changing array of mathematical logic
puzzles, Dodgeson undoubtedly had a sort of kaleidoscopic view of things
that is hard for many of us non-mathematicians to understand. Whether
this influenced his writings in any significant manner is hard to tell.
We do see scenes such as the chess board in Looking glass that seem to
display this mathematical tendency. I will leave it up to you to decide
if there is any correlation there. Looking at Dodgeson's many traits, I
notice that I share quite a few of these curious traits with him.
Perhaps that explains why I love the Alice books so much.
As regards the nature of the books themselves there are
several factors that I find particularly intriguing. Firstly there is a
prevailing sense of unknown coupled with an exploration of said unknown.
I have a love hate relationship with movies and books that follow this
pattern of never-ending, surreal, uncharted depths of artistic
expression. One feels that there should never be a conclusive end to
such things, and the more strange and beautiful these stories and
landscapes get, the more you want to keep on going. On the other hand, I
often feel that with out an end to the story we never get the
fulfillment the journey was about reaching. Due to the dreamlike quality
of both Alice books I often find myself wondering if there was more
somehow hidden away in those pages that I might have missed.
Realistically, I know that this feeling is unfounded, yet I desperately
want there to be more. One day perhaps I will attempt to draw the Alice
adventures, and perhaps stray away from the written story to let my pen
explore some more of this unknown world. Due to my own upbringing in a
relatively large family and the consequentially large amount of time I
spend with small children on a daily basis, I feel that my imagination
has been uniquely centered in the proper tracks for such imaginative
flights of fantasy. The vast amount of literature that I consume also
helps provide me with a connecting point to these two often
misunderstood stories. Yet another point in these books favor for me is
the fact that they are often misunderstood. I enjoy things that puzzle
others, or simply would not interest them at all. I like taking the time
to search these cracked gems for meaning. Where others see a
disorganized mess, I see a maze of mystery to be explored. One example
of the common mindset on these books is demonstrated by the following
situation. When I ask someone what their favorite part of Wonderland is,
often they will answer with a story that in fact actually originates
from Looking Glass. Among the more well known of these misplaced stories
we find: Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum (Whose story frames another often
misplaced story, The Walrus and the Carpenter), The Garden of Live
Flowers, and The Unbirthday Party (and it is Humpty Dumpty who
celebrates, not the Mad Hatter). These common misconceptions are largely
inspired by Disney's 1951 Alice in Wonderland.
People watch this 60 year old movie, that was made about a 100 years
after the book was written and assume that they know the whole story.
Reading the book and finding these things for themselves seems to be a
foreign concept to them. As for the more recent live action film
adaptations of the books, well lets just say that they have the same
characters as the books, but there is hardly anything else in common.
Perhaps I do not give the general public enough credit as regards their
knowledge of such "trivial" things. Still, I feel that far too many
people never take the time to read these books just because they are
strange and a little off the easy to read beaten path. Through this lack
of interest they miss out on some of the more enjoyable oddities that
are to be found in life. Do I like these books just because they are
weird? Honestly, I am not sure. Whatever the case, I will continue
reading them for years to come; safe in the knowledge that despite
others lack of interest in such things, I can still find comfort in a
warm cup of coffee or cocoa, a book of questionable sanity, and a big
fluffy chair to sit in.
No white rabbits were harmed in the making of this post. A few oysters might have been eaten though....
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