Books You Must Read – Alice in Wonderland

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was written in 1865 by  Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the alias of Lewis Carroll.   Considering the success of Alice he decided to write a sequel called, Through the Looking Glass,  in 1871 which, despite being written six years later is set six months later than the earlier book,

Lewis Carroll was a mathematician.  An academic with a number of friends, one of whom was the father of Alice Liddel who features in the stories.

Although, on the face of it, a children’s story, he wrote it in such a cleaver and humorous way full of such symbolism and witty retorts that it has always attracted adult readers.

Alice in Wonderland, as the first book is called, begins when Alice falls down a rabbit hole.   She arrives in a fantasy world which is filled with all sorts of creatures which are anthropomorphised, that is,  the animals  can talk.

She has a number of adventures there, before returning home.

In the second book, Through the Looking Glass,  Alice enters a magic by climbing through a mirror.   This book seems to recognise the popularity of his work among adults, so contains poems, Jabberwocky and The Walrus and the Carpenter, and introduces Tweedledum and Tweedledee, Humpty Dumpty, the Red Queen and the White Queen,

Although kids love it, it’s really a lot of fun to read.  The author plays with logic and has created characters and imagery have been absorbed by society.

The reason one reads Alice is that the references to ‘falling down a rabbit hole’,  and ‘mad tea party’, ‘off with his head!’,  the eating of something which makes you grow or makes you small,  seeing life as a chess game,  on and on, so that many common ideas and references are found in this book or the companion, Alice Through the Looking Glass.

These books have never been out of print since the day they were published.