“Curiouser and curiouser,” indeed…
Few (if any) works of literature and art have had the power to enter our consciousness and capture our souls as Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass.” Whether you see it as an epic, super-fantastic children’s story or a reference guide to experimenting with recreational drugs, it’s impossible to ignore as one of the great books of all time. And, thanks to the story’s cryptic, mysterious foundations, it’s spawned entire cottage industries of speculation as to what’s REALLY going on in this tale””verbally and visually.
Now, with Tim Burton’s very UN-Disney take on “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” on its way into theaters, we’re in for another tasty cinematic version of this classic story. (Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter? sign us up!). But first, until the toys get here, let’s take a look at some of the most frequently asked questions about Lewis Carroll, Alice and the entire gang””all stuff that’ll help you enjoy the new movie even more.
1. Was Lewis Carroll on drugs when he wrote the “Alice” books””or are the books just ABOUT drugs?
Some people insist that Carroll MUST have been on drugs to write such a spectacular story. But they’re wrong; Carroll did not use drugs while writing the books. He came up with most of the story on a boat trip with a friend””the real Alice and her sisters. He made it up while they rowed. Rumors didn’t even originate until the 1960s, spread by supporters of the LSD subculture. In Carroll’s time, LSD wasn’t even invented yet!
2. Is it true that Lewis Carroll was a pedophile?
It’s unlikely””although he certainly did like girls a bit more than “normal,” even for Victorian times. He did photograph young girls in the nude, but ONLY with the permission of their mothers and if the young subjects were at ease with the entire process. At the time, taking nude photographs of children wasn’t uncommon at all; it was actually quite trendy. In reality, it’s likely that Carroll loved girls so much because he had many sisters of his own.
3. What do the numbers “10/6″ on the card in the Mad Hatter’s hat mean?
This is an easy one, with the answer delivered by Carroll himself. The card is really a price tag””in “old” English money””representing pounds, shillings and pennies written as “l/s/d”. In “Nursery Alice, Carroll explains: “…even the one that he’s got on his head is meant to be sold. You see it’s got a price marked on it””a 10 and a 6″”that means “˜ten shillings and sixpence’.” Notably, this was quite the sum of money in the mid-1800s.
4. Why IS a raven like a writing desk?
Carroll originally intended for the Mad Hatter’s riddle to have no answer (although he did propose a fairly incomprehensible one later). Readers have since made it a great sport to serve up their own answers, such as the simple-but-sweet “because Poe wrote on both” or the extra-curious “because there’s a B in both and an N in neither.”
5. How much is my old edition of the book worth?
Well, there’s no official price guide when it comes to the current values of antique books. Many factors determine how much someone will pay for your edition(s) of “Alice.” Your best move is to visit an experienced antique bookseller in your community; just keep in mind that booksellers rarely pay more than 25″“30% of a book’s estimated retail value (due to their own costs of doing business).
6. Are the “Alice” books and pictures still copyright protected?
In a word, “no.” When the books were first published, copyright protection ran 42 years from first publication or seven years after the author’s death””whichever was longer. The 1911 Act replaced the 1842 Copyright Act, extending the period to 50 years after the death of the author. So, the copyright on “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” lasted until 1907. Tennel, the books’ illustrator, died in 1914, so the illustrations came out of copyright in 1964. The Disney movie, as you might guess, remains in copyright.
7. I’ve seen one of the “Alice” movies, but I’m not sure which one it is. How can I find out for sure?
Most people are familiar with the classic animated Disney version of the movie, but there are others. One of the best resources for doing research (and answering trivia questions) is the Internet Movie Database at www.imdb.com. Just search for “Alice in Wonderland” and/or “Through the Looking Glass,” and you’ll be on your way.
8. Did the dormouse really say, “Feed your head,” just like in the Jefferson Airplane song “White Rabbit?”
Nope””the dormouse never utters those words in the book, nor does he in the Disney movie. Jefferson Airplane made up the lyric; the legend likely emerged as just another attempt to link the story to the emerging drug culture of the 1960s.
9. During the “oyster scene” in the Disney movie, why is the “R” in “March” flashing?
There’s an old saying that you should only eat an oyster during months spelled with an “R.” That’s because in summer months, waters are warmer””and warmer waters mean higher bacteria counts due to spawning oysters. In the movie, Mother Oyster””recognizing that it’s a good month for eating oysters””doesn’t want her children to be eaten, so she tries to keep them with her.
10. Is it true the “Alice” books were banned in China? Why?
It is true. In 1931, the Governor of Hunan Province banned the books on the grounds that “animals should not use human language” and that it was deemed “disastrous to put animals and human beings on the same level.”
So, at least now you have a nice set of trivia for you to show off and impress your friends while you wait for the new movie to appear in your local theaters. And naturally, as soon as the toys are available, we’ll be bringing you previews and updates on those, too.
how absolutely horribly understandable that the country in the world with the worst record for torture and exploitation of animals would have problems with the possibility of beginning to empathise with them. and how typical of the chinese to think that the best way to solve the problem is to censor it.
very scary.
While LSD was not available the famous “Liberty Cap” psilocybin mushroom was abundant in England and known for its “interesting” properties. Also, while non-hallucinogenic, opium was quite available and it is believed that Carroll was a consumer thereof. Thus, while it may be impossible to answer the question as to the degree of influence drugs had on the production of Alice in Wonderland, it is at least obliquely accurate to note there is inherently some (perhaps unintentional, perhaps subconscious) degree of drug influence present.
A lot of your explanations, especially about his drug use and possible pedophilia, were EXTREMELY biased. And furthermore, you offered absolutely no proof of what you state to be true. So, you should offer some links to sources, and not let everyone think your just a fanboy who doesn’t want people to know about the bad stuff his favorite author did.
Hi Blake, When I did the research for this article I tended to pull together a lot of fragmented sources from fan pages of “Alice in Wonderland”. I felt that non of them were really worth referencing as they would not provide deeper insight into the topic. I would of ideally likes some academic research into the topic, but I could not find much in the way of that either. I will try harder to provide more back up of the topic in future. Thanks for the comment though, we will take in on board.
photo of Carroll Alice kissing is false! photoshop that’s it …
Although there is no evidence of Lewis Carrol having use drugs, literature usually give us a clue as to the social climate of the times. There is plenty of evidence to support the the fact that there was a drug epidemic both before and after Victorian times. Alcohol, Opium and Cocaine were all known
then and used. Partly because of the misguided notion that anything that made you feel good had to be good for you. It took sometime for society to get a handle on “addiction and how it works” Doyle referenced drug use in his works, Freud swore by the powers of the “steel drug” until he lost his medical practice and had to be “mesmerized”.
Veterans of the American Civil War were said to suffer from “Veterans Disease”.Suffragettes fought for the prohibition of alcohol until they got a Constitutional Amendment prohibiting it. The FDA was created to regulate drug use.So why won’t Carroll not reference this? England had been using opiates for several years fought two wars to get them by the time Carroll is writing.I believe its open to speculation as to what he was using as reference material: Virgin imagination or Criticism of his society.