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The Blog of the LCSNA

Jezebel Charms Etsy Shop Offers Literary Jewelry–Including Alice!

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If you’re looking for that perfect gift for a jewelry-loving Carroll fan, you might want to check out the Jezebel Charms shop on Etsy.com.  The shop’s “charming literary creations” include a full line of Alice-themed jewelry pieces, all handmade to order in the UK.

Please note: the web site states that UK readers can order up until December 15th if shopping for Christmas; outside the UK, the site says to expect your order to arrive the holidays.

To visit the Jezebel Charms shop on Etsy.com, click me.

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Exploring the Influence of Lewis Carroll’s Trip to Russia on His Photography

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One of our mimsy minions has alerted us that a recent issue of Art History journal includes an article entitled “Shopping in St Petersburg: Lewis Carroll’s Photographs and Icons”  Here’s a brief excerpt, courtesy of our minion:

“While critics have paid scant attention to Carroll’s Russian visit, maintaining it had little impact upon him since he never again travelled abroad, the rich visual experience of religious icon and secular photographic ‘type’ meant that after 1867, in revisiting Chinese and other costume photographs, Carroll contrived scenarios both formally and conceptually different from that realized in Lorina and Alice Liddell of 1860. Most noticeably he combined the distinctive material forms and metaphysical resonances of ‘photograph’ and ‘icon’ in his increasing preference for photographing individual female children dressed in ethnic costume posed in interiors devoid of the decorative trappings of nineteenth-century portrait studios.”

Issues of the journal are hosted by the Wiley Online Library.  If you do not have access to the site through the institution for which you work, they also offer an option of renting access to the article for 24 hours.

The article appears in Volume 36, Issue 5, pages 968–993, November 2013.

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Alice in Tumblr-Land Gives Popular Tales a Modern Twist

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Author Tim Manley has written a witty new book that reimagines Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and other popular fairy tales for today’s social media-obsessed world.  Manley’s take on the tales and their characters tends to be brief, with tongue firmly in cheek.

If the concept tickles your funny bone, click me to find out more.

Also: we often include book links to Amazon because it’s such a popular book-buying site; we aren’t subliminally trying to endorse one book site over another.  But if you do shop on Amazon, you might want to check out their new Amazon Smile program, in which Amazon makes a tiny donation to a charitable cause of your choosing for each eligible item you buy.  And yes, if you’re a Prime user, Prime privileges still apply.  If you shop on Amazon, why not check out this painless way to donate to a good cause at the same time?

You can check out the smile.amazon.com site to learn more.

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David Del Tredici Looking-Glass Opera Live Simulcast on Sunday December 1st!

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The Detroit Symphony Orchestra will present Leonard Slatkin conducting the world premiere of the complete version of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Del Tredici’s opera Dum Dee Tweedle, based on Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass, this afternoon, Sunday, December 1st, at Detroit Orchestra Hall.  The performance will also be webcast free to a global audience via the DSO’s “Live From Orchestra Hall” series of HD webcasts. Hosted by WDET 101.9 FM’s Alex Trajano, the broadcast will begin at 3 p.m. (EST) and will include pre-concert and intermission interviews.  Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 2 is also on the program, with soloist Yoonshin Song.

For full details on Yaddo and a link to join the webcast, click me.

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Reminder: Exclusive Discount on Litographs Site Ends November 30th!

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Litographs Alice Design 2

THIS IS A REPOST TO REMIND YOU HOLIDAY SHOPPERS (AND ALL-YEAR LITERATURE LOVERS) THAT OUR EXCLUSIVE 15% DISCOUNT FOR THE LITOGRAPHS SITE ENDS THIS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30TH!  THE SITE FEATURES GREAT GIFTS INSPIRED BY MANY DIFFERENT GREAT WORKS OF LITERATURE, NOT JUST THE ALICE BOOKS.  BE SURE TO USE OUR “CARROLLBLOG” DISCOUNT AT CHECKOUT.  AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU ALL!

Attention all Mimsy Minions and especially literary art lovers!  To help celebrate the release of their second gorgeous “Alice” image, the good folks at Litographs.com have graciously extended to you, our Blog readers, an exclusive offer of 15% off your purchases at their site for the month of November.  This discount actually applies to all their merchandise for November only, and will not be made available in our magazine or anywhere else (which is pretty much the definition of exclusive, after all).  Right now, they are also offering free US domestic shipping on orders of $48 or more.

If you’re not already familiar with Litographs, they create wonderful literary-themed images composed of the texts of famous books.  If you visit their site, and view either of the Alice images full size, you’ll see all the words of Wonderland!  Their first Alice image (still available) is one of Alice falling down the rabbit hole.  For each image, they offer posters, tote bags, and T-shirts (be sure to read the “What to Expect” section on the T-shirts; they are hand-printed).

Litographs also shares the LCSNA’s goal of promoting literacy and enjoyment of great literature.  They partner with International Book Bank, and send a high-quality book to schools and libraries in developing countries for each product sold.  Since 2011, they have helped send over 20,000 books!  So, you’re shopping for yourself, and for a good cause.

How do you take advantage of this lovely offer from these lovely people?  Simply enter the code CARROLLBLOG at checkout anytime during the month of November, and 15% will be deducted from your product total.  It sounds like a brillig gift idea for the upcoming holiday season.

Our thanks to Corey Fein at Litographs.com for extending this delightful exclusive offer.  Remember that it is good only for the month of November!

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Depp and Wasikowska To Return in Disney Alice in Wonderland Film Sequel

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Depp HatterAll questions of quality aside, Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland film grossed shocking amounts of money at the box office globally. We have noted previously that Disney was already planning the inevitable sequel, and Johnny Depp was rumored to be returning as the Mad Hatter. Rolling Stone magazine has now confirmed that both Depp and Mia Wasikowska (Alice) will reprise their roles in Alice in Wonderland 2. Burton, however, will not be directing this time around. That job will fall to James Bobbin (The Muppets, Flight of the Conchords).

The exact details of the plot for the sequel have not been divulged by Disney, but given the mischmasch screenwriter Linda Woolverton made of the two Alice books in the first film, it’s anyone’s guess what the storyline will be for the second film. A prequel? One long tangent off the first movie? One can only wonder what Lewis Carroll would have thought of Alice as a sword-wielding superhero. I suspect he would have strongly questioned (as do I) whether putting a sword in a young woman’s hand and making her a slayer was really the best way to “empower” her. Let’s hope the sequel is truer to at least the spirit of the original works.  Otherwise, why use Carroll’s characters at all, why not write an original story? (Oh, right–the sheer convenience of instant character recognition and endless marketing potential of all things Alice.)

Still, Depp and Wasikowka are both always well worth watching (if you haven’t seen the latter’s version of Jane Eyre, she’s wonderful in it).  So here’s hoping Disney somehow comes up with a frabjous script the second time around. And if Disney is really smart, they will find a way to persuade Helena Bonham Carter to reprise her scene-stealing turn as the Red Queen, too.  That was the performance in the first film that really made people lose their heads.

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Make Your Own Alice Movies With Plotagon Software

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If you attended our fall meeting in Los Angeles, you may have already seen a sample of this new tool in action: a company called Plotagon has created an Alice in Wonderland pack for their animated movie creation software.  All you need to do is write your own story, add it to Plotagon’s software, and the Wonderland avatars then perform your script.  The tool is currently in Beta (final testing) stage, and at the moment it’s completely free to download and use.

Please  read their FAQs and Terms of Service  carefully before you start.  If you want to share your little featurettes, you would need to upload your finished project to Plotagon’s web site, and share a link from there.  And while you retain rights to any original story you create, Plotagon retains rights to all aspects of their software, so you are creating projects with joint ownership.  There is of course also the likelihood that Plotagon will charge for use of the software and/or hosting down the road.  For now, however, we have been assured it’s free to download and use.

To learn more and download the software, click me.

If you check it out, let us know what you think!

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Another Rave Review for “A Perfect Likeness” Play About Carroll and Dickens

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If you’ve been following this blog, then you are already aware that talented LCSNA member Daniel Singer has written a crowd-pleasing play about a fictional meeting between two literary lions, Lewis Carroll and Charles Dickens.

The play A Perfect Likeness has just opened in L.A. for a run through December 22nd.

To read the rave review on Broadway World, click me.

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World of Alice Author and WWII Codebreaker Mavis Batey Dies at 92

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If you are reading this post, you are likely a Carrollian, and as such, if you know the name Mavis Batey, it is probably because of her books Alice’s Adventures in Oxford (1980), and The World of Alice, published in 1998, the year of the Carroll Centenary at Christ Church College, Oxford.

We regret to report that Mrs. Batey passed away on November 12th at the age of 92.  She was a brilliant and gracious person, and will be missed by many.  But her publications about Alice, and English gardens, are not her only legacy.  In her youth, she was a key part of the British government’s secret Bletchley Park  code breaking team during World War II, and made a number of significant contributions to crucial code breaking efforts (including deciphering the first message from one of the infamous German “Enigma” machines) that helped turn the tide in the war.

To read more about Mrs. Batey’s contributions while at Bletchley Park in the Washington Post, click me.

To read an obituary in The Telegraph with more details about her work at Bletchley, click me.

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Handcrafted Dodocases for Apple iPads Have Vintage Flair

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Looking for a nifty-looking protective case for your new iPad Air?  Or any other iPad, Nexus, Kindle or iPhone, for that matter? Then you might want to check out a company in San Francisco called Dodocase. According to their web site, the company prides itself on using traditional bookbinding techniques, and on manufacturing their cases locally. They have a nice selection of patterns, colors, and features, some with a distinctly Victorian or vintage feel.  If you want something unique, they even offer a Build-A-Dodo feature. Granted, there are lots of less expensive iPad cases out there. But if you’re looking for something handcrafted with a touch of class (and clearly, a Carrollian sensibility–check out the sample monogram!), then it might be worth browsing the Dodocase offerings.

To view their collection, click me.

Do you own a Dodocase?  Let us know what you think of it in the Comments!

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