The Blog of the LCSNA
These days its seems that everyone wants to make creative photographic alterations to any number of subjects, however far too often these creations take on a life of their own and through the internet version of the game of telephone become ‘real’.
Alan Beechey has recently posted an article on his blog that debunks several of the more blatant Carroll forgeries. Take a peek and don’t believe everything you see on the internets.
The book The Story of Alice: Lewis Carroll and the Secret History of Wonderland has just been published in the UK, and will be available here in the US on June 1st – how typical 🙂 For those in the UK you can purchase it here now.
On March 22, the Guardian published an lengthy review of the book, posed several questions and posited several theories of its own. I shall leave it to the reader to weigh the merits of any such comments in either the review or the book reviewed. Needless to say, the reviewer calls it the best book on the subject.
A new paper has been published by Stephanie L. Schatz, a research fellow at Purdue, and she has graciously provided us with a link to the paper. Abstract below:
This essay reads Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) alongside influential mid-century Victorian psychology studies—paying special attention to those that Carroll owned—in order to trace the divergence of Carroll’s literary representations of the “dream child” from its prevailing medical association with mental illness. The goals of this study are threefold: to trace the medico-historical links between dream-states and childhood, to investigate the medical reasons behind the pathologization of dream-states, and to understand how Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland contributed to Victorian interpretations of the child’s mind.
New York Times article 2015/03/19
While the Alice of Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” was a fictional British character, she has touched the hearts of young and old worldwide, particularly in the United States.
So it will come as no surprise that many of this year’s commemorations of the 150th anniversary of the novel’s 1865 publication are taking place in this country, also the headquarters of the thriving Lewis Carroll Society of North America.
Exhibitions that are already underway include “Peanuts in Wonderland,” at the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, Calif., through April 26, which displays Schulz’s parodies of the Carroll tale and of its illustrations by John Tenniel. A show running through mid-June at the Vassar College Archives and Special Collections Library features material from its children’s books collection.
An exhibition through July 6 at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin features 200 items, including Salvador Dalí illustrations for a 1969 edition of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”; a restored 1933 paper filmstrip, called “Alice and the Mad Hatter”; and an area where children and the young at heart can enjoy a pretend tea party. Exhibitions are planned at the Houghton Library at Harvard, starting May 18, and at the Hornbake Library at the University of Maryland in September.
Many of the main events will unfold in New York, where the Morgan Library & Museum will display Carroll’s original manuscript, on loan from the British Library, from June 26 through Oct. 11. The exhibition will include items related to Carroll’s young muse, Alice Liddell, including his hand-colored photograph of her; her writing case and purse; and Carroll’s diary entry of July 4, 1862, the day be began to compose the story on a boating excursion on the Thames with her. The show will include original drawings and hand-colored proofs of Tenniel illustrations.
Lewis Carroll was the pseudonym of Charles Dodgson, a University of Oxford mathematician who wrote “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and its 1871 sequel, “Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There” for Alice, a daughter of his Oxford dean, Henry Liddell.
Quite a nice article in Forbes that discusses Anya in Wonderland by Nabokov under pseudonym, Dali, Steadman, and more at the Harry Ransom Center at UT Austin now through July 6th. For those attending the Spring meeting you’ll get to visit up close and personal as this is where the meeting takes place!
Guess this is theater week on the Carroll blog, but lots of good stuff happening. Next month the Drama Desk Award winning TADA Youth Theater is performing a new musical called The Trials of Alice in Wonderland. From their site:
Book by William Brooke Music by Eric Rockwell Lyrics by Joanne Bogart
Based on the classic books by Lewis Carrol, this original musical follows Alice and all the usual suspects in the topsy-turvy world of Wonderland, where Alice is on trial for growing and changing.
April 25- May 17, 2015
Saturdays and Sundays 2pm and 4pm
Everyone is jumping on the Alice bandwagon this year, and DC’s Synetic Theater is no exception. They will be mounting their own adaptation of “Alice in Wonderland” this fall as part of DC’s Women’s Voices Festival. From Broadway World:
The whimsical Alice tumbles down the rabbit hole soon finding herself in the mysterious world of Wonderland. Synetic’s darker take on Lewis Carroll’s tale will bring to life classic characters such as the Cheshire Cat, the Mad Hatter, and the murderous Queen of Hearts with Synetic’s signature style. Directed by Paata Tsikurishvili, chorographed by Irina Tsikurishvili and adapted by Lloyd Rose for the Women’s Voices Theatre Festival of Washington, D.C., this production will have dialogue.
This fall The Brass Tacks Ensemble will be performing the world premiere of a new Alice play called “Eat Me: Alice’s Adventures in the Working Class.” From Broadway World:
Rounding out the season will be the World Premiere of Eat Me: Alice’s Adventures in the Working Class, written and directed by Isaac Ellis. Alice is a disillusioned Office Manager stuck in the doldrums of corporate life. When a high profile exec suddenly starts acting like a rabbit and escapes from a board meeting, Alice’s work world begins to crumble into chaos. A building of employees who enjoy pushing the limits of policies and egotism collides with the whimsical personas of Wonderland to send Alice on an adventure that explores her place among them all. Based on the books by Lewis Carroll, the beloved characters come to life in this grown-up reimagining of the children’s classics. Performances will be Fridays – Sundays, November 6th – 22nd with Friday and Saturday performances at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. at the Children’s Creative Center (1600 Pauline Blvd. in Ann Arbor).
The publisher of Alice in Wonderland: Down the Rabbit Hole with illustrations by Eric Puybaret has kindly offered LCSNA members a discount. Order from the Charlesbridge site and you will receive a 35% discount by using promo code AliceLC at checkout.
