Lewis Carroll and Alice in Wonderland

You may have read "Alice in Wonderland" as a child. Or you may only know about Alice through animated film, live action film, or television shows. And you can't avoid knowing something about Alice through countless pop culture references. But reading "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass" as an adult is a different and richer experience.

Older readers who come to the Alice stories will not only be delighted and amused at the wild characters and bizarre events but intrigued with subtle subtext and sly commentary that Lewis Carroll, the author, inserts into the classic story.

REACH Youth and Family Theatre is preparing a dramatization of this classic piece of literature and in anticipation of this we are going to explore the source material and the brilliant author who created it.

Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Charles Dodgson, a poet, mathematician, and photographer as well as author. He spent most of his life at Christ Church, Oxford University as a scholar and teacher, as well as a Deacon, which was a requirement of his position. He was also a creator of puzzles and invented the word ladder. (If you don't know what that is, come to the presentation and find out.)

Dodgson came from a distinguished family of army officers and Anglican clergy. His father was Archdeacon of Richmond, and he was supposed to follow as a clergyman. As a gifted and brilliant mathematician, he found a secure place in academia.

From a young age, he had written poems and short stories and had some success with their publication. At the age of thirty-three, he published Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and it was an immediate critical and financial success.

The stories originated in tales he would tell the children of his friend and colleague Henry Liddell, one of whose children was named Alice. The exact connection between the real Alice and her fantasy namesake has been the source of speculation for many years. We'll explore these theories.

Dodgson, writing as Lewis Carroll, went on to write other books of fantasy and imagination aimed at younger readers, including a successful sequel, "Through the Looking-Glass." But that wasn't his only interest. He also published theoretical mathematical books and puzzle books under his own name. These works have attracted the interest of serious scholars in recent years who are amazed at his creative thinking and imaginative insight.

We will also look at Dodgson as an inventor of several creative devices. If Dodgson were not famous as an author and mathematician, he would have a place in history as a pioneer in the artistic medium of photography. Much of his photographic works remain and have drawn interest and study.

Recent investigations have tried to connect a darker side to his relationships with young girls, and we will not avoid that aspect, investigating different theories and talking about the evidence and theories.

If you have never given much thought to the Alice stories and the brilliant and complex creator whose mind they sprang from, you will want to join your presenter Bill McKenny in this examination. If you have some experience on the topic, you'll want to join in the discussion and see what new ideas he has uncovered.