Painting Roses

by Charlotte Reads Classics

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll

Retracing my childhood steps through Wonderland meant I found all kinds of things I had missed as a child. I have to say that I prefer Alice’s first set of adventures to her second, which is possibly why I couldn’t remember much of Through the Looking Glass, except for the Jabberwocky, but even remembering that might be down to the Tim Burton film.

The whole nonsense parts and word play were so much cleverer than I had remembered – I think because as a child, they went straight over my head – and for the first time I read all the poems through properly! Lewis Carroll seems to be something of an enigmatic figure and his relationship with the original Alice (Liddell) is a bit… dodgy… by today’s standards. There is going to be an exhibition at the Tate liverpool from the 6th November so I’m looking forward to finding out more.

I read that the three most quoted works of literature in the West are The Bible, Shakespeare, and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The main thing I loved about Alice’s Adventures is how freshly imaginative the stories seem, even now. Considering how iconic Alice is – put a blue dress, stripey tights and a hairband on and everyone knows who you are supposed to be – the fact that the stories are unrivaled by any other writer is an amazing literary achievement.