Discover Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland E-Book

Angela Youngman

• Herausgeber: BookRix
• Kategorie: Sachliteratur, Reportagen, Biografien
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

Alice in Wonderland has become a byword for the unreal and highly imaginative. It has inspired children, artists, writers, film producers and musicians worldwide. This quintessentially English story has gained global eminence. It is a perennial favourite popular across all ages and cultures. The image of a little blonde haired girl, dressed in a blue dress and white pinafore and hair caught back by band is instantly recognisable as Alice. Other characters too have developed recognisable identities of their own such as the White Rabbit complete with his pocket watch, the Mad Hatter, the Red Queen and the Playing Card soldiers. It is an amazing achievement for a quiet Oxford don who created the stories just to amuse a group of children. Oxford will forever remain the key area associated with Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. It was here that the story was created on that hot day long ago, when Carroll took the Liddell children for a boat ride along the river. Yet there are many other locations that have a claim to fame, and possess connections to the Alice story. Over the years, Carroll’s work has come under scrutiny. He has been variously described as a frustrated, unmarried clergyman, a talented photographer, a social historian offering insights into Victorian life, and a nonsense writer like Edward Lear, another Victorian writer. Port Meadow is the location of the White Rabbit’s rabbit hole, while nearby is the dark wood ‘where things have no name’ as well as Godstow Lock where Alice first encountered a white rabbit with pink eyes who ran close by, muttering he was late. The treacle well and the pool of tears can also be found near Oxford, the city in which both Alice and Lewis Carroll made their home. Yet there are many other locations that have a claim to fame, and possess connections to the Alice story. Lewis Carroll was born in Daresbury, Cheshire where the church has a beautiful stained glass window featuring the author and his characters. Down in Cornwall, Antony House was used as a setting for Tim Burton’s stunning film Alice in Wonderland, as did Charlestown harbour. While over in North Wales, the Liddell family had a holiday home in Llandudno and there are now special trails that can be followed. This is the story of Lewis Carroll and Alice Liddell – the girl who became better known as Alice in Wonderland. It shows how the story was taken up by theatres, musicians and film companies and looks at the many places, which will remain forever associated with Alice in Wonderland from Oxford to Llandudno, Daresbury to the Isle of Wight. Part biography, part travel guide this book will inform and entertain as well as providing lots of ideas as to where to go to see the places associated with Alice.

Leseprobe

Angela Youngman

Discover Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland

The writer, the stories, the places

BookRix GmbH & Co. KG81371 Munich

Introduction

Crazy, absurd and amusing; Alice in Wonderland has become a byword for the unreal and highly imaginative.  It has inspired children, artists, writers, film producers and musicians worldwide.  This quintessentially English story has gained global eminence.  It is a perennial favourite popular across all ages and cultures.  The image of a little blonde haired girl, dressed in a blue dress and white pinafore and hair caught back by band is instantly recognisable as Alice.  Other characters too have developed recognisable identities of their own such as the White Rabbit complete with his pocket watch, the Mad Hatter, the Red Queen and the Playing Card soldiers.  It is an amazing achievement for a quiet Oxford don who created the stories just to amuse a group of children.

Oxford will forever remain the key area associated with Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland. It was here that the story was created on that hot day long ago, when Carroll took the Liddell children for a boat ride along the river.

Over the years, Carroll’s work has come under scrutiny. He has been variously described as a frustrated, unmarried clergyman, a talented photographer, a social historian offering insights into Victorian life, and a nonsense writer like Edward Lear, another Victorian writer.

Port Meadow is the location of the White Rabbit’s rabbit hole, while nearby is the dark wood ‘where things have no name’ as well as Godstow Lock where Alice first encountered a white rabbit with pink eyes who ran close by, muttering he was late.  The treacle well and the pool of tears can also be found near Oxford, the city in which both Alice and Lewis Carroll made their home.  Yet there are many other locations that have a claim to fame, and possess connections to the Alice story.

Lewis Carroll was born in Daresbury, Cheshire where the church has a beautiful stained glass window featuring the author and his characters. Down in Cornwall, Antony House was used as a setting for Tim Burton’s stunning film Alice in Wonderland, as did Charlestown harbour. While over in North Wales, the Liddell family had a holiday home in Llandudno and there are now special trails that can be followed.

This is the story of Lewis Carroll and Alice Liddell – the girl who became better known as Alice in Wonderland.  It shows how the story was taken up by theatres, musicians and film companies and looks at the many places, which will remain forever associated with Alice in Wonderland from Oxford to Llandudno, Daresbury to the Isle of Wight. Part biography, part travel guide this book will inform and entertain as well as providing lots of ideas as to where to go to see the places associated with Alice.

Illustrations

Cover and illustrations by Karis Youngman

Alice

It was a blazing hot summer afternoon on 4 July 1862, when Alice Liddell and her sisters went rowing on the river with Lewis Carroll – something they had done many times before. But this time there was a memorable result.  Leaving Folly Meadow, they rowed five miles down the river before stopping at Port Meadow, near Godstow in Oxfordshire for a picnic.  Lewis entertained his guests with a story in which Alice became the central character encountering a White Rabbit who fled past her looking at a pocket watch and muttering that he would be late. The story caught Alice’s imagination. She enjoyed it so much that she asked him to write it down. The rest is history – this was the introduction of a story that has resounded down the years, and become immortal.

It is generally accepted that while the main part of the story was told that day, additions were made when Carroll began to write the story.  He had been telling the children stories for some years, particularly as a way of keeping them occupied while undertaking photography.