Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
S'Wonderland
When Alice follows a white rabbit down a rabbit hole, little did she know she was in store for growing and shrinking, talking animals, a mad tea party, and a trial.
I love Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll for many reasons: the imaginative and lyrical writing, the delightful dialogue, the fantastic fantasy world, the colorful characters, the detailed illustrations by John Tenniel, and, most of all, the independent and thoughtful protagonist. I think the character of Alice is truly great. She's resourceful and spunky. The only big thing upon which Alice and I disagree: she, at the start, thinks books without pictures or conversations are useless. Nonsense, dear child!
A Booklist is Born
Thank you to Rebecca for prompting this booklist! May your class put it to good use.
Recommended Reading: Written by Charles Dodgson Himself
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll
The Complete Works of Lewis Carroll
The Selected Letters of Lewis Carroll
The Annotated Alice - the original text by Lewis Carroll and illustrations by John Tenniel with notes by Martin Gardner
If you have yet to read the original version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, please do. Project Gutenberg has posted the full text and illustrations online. You can visit Google Books.
Recommended Reading: Non-Fiction
Alice's Adventures: Lewis Carroll in Popular Culture by Will Brooker
The Other Alice by Christina Björk - This juvenile biography about Alice Liddell and Charles Dodgson offers humorous anecdotes (42!) and gorgeous illustrations. Sadly, I think it is out of print. Happily, I own a copy. Thank you, used bookstore! Highly recommended.
Recommended Reading: Fiction
Still She Haunts Me by Katie Roiphe - The story of an unlikely friendship between an intelligent man who fit nowhere and the spunky girl who inspired his best-known work. This is a fictional take on the friendship of Alice Liddell and Charles Dodgson, with Charles' real letters woven in throughout the book. Shelved in adult fiction/literature. Highly recommended.
Related Works of Fiction
The Problem of the Missing Miss by Roberta Rogow - Arthur Conan Doyle and Charles Dodgson team up to find a little girl who has been abducted. A fun, fast-moving historical mystery, shelved in adult fiction or mystery. No fantasy elements are involved. There are just enough references to each author's works to be cute, rather than overdone. To the best of my knowledge, the two men never met in real life. I liked how they worked together in this book. Thanks to Sarah for the recommendation.
Art and Gift Books
All Things Alice: The Wit, Wisdom, and Wonderland of Lewis Carroll compiled by Linda Sunshine
Dreaming in Pictures: The Photography of Lewis Carroll by Douglas R. Nickel
The Art of Alice in Wonderland by Stephanie Lovett Stoffel
Wasted Opportunity
The Baby-Sitters Club #121: Abby in Wonderland by Ann M. Martin - I love the BSC series and I love Alice in Wonderland, so I was plenty excited for this book. Sadly, it let me down. Abby attends an Alice-themed party thrown by her grandparents. The costumes*, the food, and the decorations were all appropriate for the theme, but Wonderland itself did not matter to the story. It could have just as easily have been a fifties-themed party or a Narnia-themed party. The plot of the book did not have any ties to nor parallels with Wonderland. I wasn't expecting it to become a fantasy, of course - BSC stories are dramatic and comedic, but firmly realistic - but I wanted Wonderland to matter, to have been chosen for a reason. In fact, the plot itself was not fully realized. When I read the final page, I felt as if the story was only half-over.
*The grandmother dressed like the White Queen, who is actually from Through the Looking-Glass. The illustrations on the cover did not quite match the descriptions in the book. But I digress.
Attempted Sequels - Related titles that left me lukewarm
Automated Alice by Jeff Noon
Alice Through the Needle's Eye by Gilbert Adair
The Roundhill by Dick King-Smith
Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams
. . . and those I have yet to read:
The Looking-Glass Wars by Frank Beddor
A New Alice in the Old Wonderland by Anna M. Richards
Fantastic Alice edited by Margaret Weiss
Musicalice
My favorite film version of this imaginative tale was made in 1972. As I mentioned in a much earlier post, I first saw this movie as a child and was absolutely delighted to see a brunette Alice (portrayed by Fiona Fullerton) rather than a blond girl.
I refer to this film as "the 1972 British live-action musical Alice's Adventures in Wonderland starring Fiona Fullerton as Alice, adapted and directed by William Sterling, with music by John Barry and lyrics by Don Black based on those by Lewis Carroll."
...and yes, I say all of that in one breath.
I think Charles Dodgson would like this adaptation of his most famous story. It offers a beautiful score by John Barry (Somewhere in Time), and the lyrics by Don Black are nearly lifted directly from the page.
I found many scenes and musical numbers on YouTube, so I compiled a playlist. Then someone uploaded the film in seventeen parts on YouTube. THANK YOU! I have arranged those seventeen parts in order (plus some other Alice-related videos) so you may now watch the movie simply by clicking below:
The movie is available on DVD. The DVD is, of course, better quality than YouTube. Get it. Watch it.
I myself own two copies of the DVD. The soundtrack is available on CD, yet I do not own it because it is packaged with the soundtrack for Petulia, also scored by John Barry, and I just want the Alice soundtrack.
The icon I used for this post captures one of my favorite shots from the film. Look how well it matches Tenniel's illustration.
See all of the icons I made from the film. Thanks for the screenshots, Emily!
Additional Film and Television Adaptations of Alice
(If it's bold, I've seen it from start to finish. If it's italicized, I've only seen a few scenes.)
Film and television adaptations of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland include:
Alice in Wonderland (live-action film, 1903)
Alice in Wonderland (live-action film, 1933)
Alice in Wonderland (live-action made-for-TV movie, BBC, 1946)
Alice in Wonderland (stop-motion film, 1951)
Alice in Wonderland (animated film, Disney, 1951)
The Adventures of Alice (live-action made-for-TV movie, BBC, 1960)
Alice in Wonderland (live-action made-for-TV movie, BBC, 1966)
Alice of Wonderland in Paris (animated film, 1966)
Alice in Wonderland, or, What's a Nice Kid Like You Doing in a Place Like This? (animated made-for-TV movie, Hanna-Barbera, 1966)
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (live-action musical film, 1972 - see above for reasons why it's my favorite adaptation)
Алиса в Стране Чудес (animated film, Russian, 1981)
Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland (filmed stage play, 1982)
Fushigi no Kuni no Alice (animated film, Japanese, 1983)
Alice in Wonderland (made-for-TV two-part movie, CBS, 1985)
Alice in Wonderland (live-action + puppetry five-episode TV series, 1985)
Alice in Wonderland (live-action four-episode TV series, BBC, 1986)
The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland (1987)
Alice in Wonderland (animated film, Australian, 1988)
Alice (live-action + stop-motion film, 1988)
Alice in Wonderland (live-action made-for-TV movie, NBC, 1999)
Alice's Misadventures in Wonderland (live-action film, 2004)
Related Films
I heard about Phoebe in Wonderland in August 2008 and was immediately interested. I watched the trailer online and want to see the film in full.
Alice, Meet Johnny Smith
The Dead Zone was a thought-provoking, creative television series. It brought Alice up more than once.
In Season 1, they closed an episode with a character reading aloud to Johnny from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, after having referenced the story a few times throughout the previous scenes.
Later, for an unrelated episode, they released a still image of Sarah and J.J. reading the book. (I made that picture into an icon.)
In Season 6, the episode Big Top revolved around an Alice in Wonderland-themed fair. The circus performers who were dressed as characters from the book had gorgeous costumes and props. Though I wouldn't wear them together, I seriously want Alice's dress and knee-highs. The episode also made multiple, important references to the show's pilot episode, which made me extremely happy.
Disney's Wonderland
I'd much rather read the original book or watch the aforementioned musical than watch the Disney film. The inaccurate parts of Disney's adaptation annoy me too much. They changed things from the book, then brought in elements from Through the Looking Glass only to change those too. I didn't care for their depiction of Alice as I felt she was not as strong nor as intelligent as she was in the book.
(As a side note, my favorite Disney film is The Little Mermaid. I prefer that film to the original story, largely due to the story's tragic and religious ending.)
Charles in Charge
All of the research I've done about Charles Dodgson makes me feel as though he was an intelligent man who loved math, photography, and storytelling, but he didn't quite fit in society. I do not think he was the creepy guy that some assumptive persons would lead you to believe. I think Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was a smart, creative man who didn't fit into society or at least didn't have equal peers, and I think Alice Liddell was honored by the story she inspired.
Oh, if I could only have a little piece of each: I would love to inspire someone's story, and to share my own stories with the world. I am, at times, the White Rabbit for others, but then the results are for others, and I am peripheral yet again.
I am known to explain the difference between Dodgson and Lewis Carroll any time the opportunity presents itself. (Real name versus pen name. Real person, a really shy person, versus a famous name, a known author.)
Frequently Asked Questions
Lenny's Alice in Wonderland Site has one of the best FAQs I've ever read regarding the books, the author, and related works. Check it out.
How It Started
Have you seen the original manuscript for the first version of the story? Written in Dodgson's own hand, with his own sketches, the story was original called Alice's Adventures Under Ground. It's now available in many different collections and volumes of his work.
Here's one spot where you can read it online.
The Book's Conclusion
I readily admit that I've never cared for the way the book ends. I have two main reasons for this: I felt as though her adventures hadn't quite reached a close, even with the trial and such. She makes a bold declaration, yes, but she was already bold and acted as such throughout the story. Then, when she wakes up, she has lovely thoughts and remarks, yet her sister's thoughts close the tale.
My Personal Conclusion
I love Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
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slayground) wrote,
accomplished
