With our hectic lives and all of the new books that we are trying to keep on top of, we can often forget about the classics, those books that we loved to re-visit or the books that we just haven’t got to quite yet. Every week, we pick a classic book of the week that is a favourite of ours in the office. This week we take a look at the one of the greatest children's books of all time, Alice in Wonderland.
"The Mad Hatter: 'Have I gone mad?' Alice Kingsley: 'I'm afraid so. You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are.'"
Published in 1865 under the pseudonym, Lewis Carroll, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson wrote the story about a girl who fell down a rabbit hole and discovered a whole new world. The book is now considered one of the best examples of "literary nonsense" and has been praised for playing with logic. Of course, the characters, particularly the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat, have been extremely influential in pop culture in general. Alice has been adapted on many occasions, including two massive Disney films, one animation and one live action.
The origin story for Alice's Adventures is actually pretty charming. Dodgson told the story of Alice to three young girls who had accompanied him on a trip. Alice was the name of one of these girls, daughter to Henry Liddell, the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University. The girls on the trip loved the idea and Dogson started writing a manuscript. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was born. Dodgson eventually gifted the manuscript to Alice and put the book into publication.
The book revolves around the character of Alice who follows a White Rabbit down a rabbit hole. At the bottom, she discovers a small key which leads her to a garden. She then discovers a bottle that says "drink me" and a cake that says "eat me" forcing her to change from miniature Alice to very large Alice. This sets in motion a chain of events where Alice meets various curious creatures including the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat, a blue Caterpillar, a Dodo and the wonderful Queen of Hearts.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a masterpiece as much for its wonderful imagination as its crazy logic. The world we encounter down the rabbit hole is so much more insane than we could ever expect that it certainly captured its audience's imagination and made it one of the classic of our times. It is also endlessly quotable and its symbolism has been referred to constantly over the years. It also refers to food so frequently, you may gain some weight in the process of reading it.
What really makes the book so amazing however is that it is endlessly relatable for anyone who reads it. Who wouldn't want to be friends with the Mad Hatter?
