Dodgson even reconciled the 1859 publication of The Origin of Species by Darwin, noting that there was an “insufficiency” of natural selection alone to account for the universe, but that it was “in perfect compatibility with the creative and guiding power of God…” Though most saw the new theories in conflict with Christianity, Dodgson saw a “correspondence to the environment” and thus cleverly reconciled the new philosophy with his Christian beliefs.
Alice in Wonderland has been interpreted in myriad ways. Some have seen it as an erotic adventure, while others view it as a commentary of Oxford and Victorian England.
The latter makes the most sense. The strict rules, the things that must be done but that don’t any make sense. Rules for rules sake. To this day, Alice in Wonderland is quoted so widely that it is rivaled only by Shakespeare and the Bible. It has been translated into every language, including Braille and Swahili, and has seen numerous editions. Carroll himself could not explain the “Why” of this book. In the preface to the original Alice’s Adventures Underground , he writes, “Those for whom a child’s mind is a sealed book, who see no divinity in a child’s smile, would read such words in vain.” And about God, “he is talked about only in way that makes them think of going to church and having to be quiet….” Instead, Charles saw a God who waited for them “so tenderly, and wanting them to run to Him with all their little joys and sorrows.”
It is Dodgson/Carroll’s understanding of a child’s mind – and at heart, perhaps we are all children – that contrived to make him differenty by any standard. A free-thinker who dare write his thoughts will no doubt be judged and mythologized as Carroll has, and although we may think of him more as a writer/photographer than deacon, he was clearly one of the most empathetic and influential members of the Anglican church. Perhaps Sundays aren’t for solemn faces after all.
We grin, proud as Cheshire Cats, in our private Wonderlands, just taking it all in, knowing that indeed, ‘we’re all mad here.’
Article comments
1 - Lono
nice peace. I find Alice in Wonderland to be the greatest book ever, and I'll stake my literature degree on it! To me, the backstory of all of it makes it so much more interesting. People don't know it is a pen name, or that he was a mathmetician, or that he was a preacher, or that there really was an Alice (Alice Little). Also, not commonly known is that the entire second book of Alice is actually a chess game being played.
2 - Eric Olsen
another great one Sadi, I thought I knew a fair amount about CD, but I didn't understand the religious angle at all. Thanks!
3 - sadi
if you want, you can check out my other work re; lewis carroll/charges dodgson. some of it is posted here, and you can also check my other site at www.grandmal.blogspot.com, or get it from the home page of my site www.sottovocce.blogspot.com. I'm working on a biography of Carroll. Yes, about the young girl Alice; her last name is spelled Liddell and pronounced "little" as you wrote. She was also one of his models for his photography, along with his favorite Xie Kitchen, who i can show you pics of as well.
i'm very fortunate in that i have an ORIGINAL FIRST edition of Alices's Adventures Underground, all handwritten and drawn by Carroll and even signed to a young girl named Ada, who featured in his work as well. It's amazing to own something that he actually wrote in -- i'm always a bit in awe when i take it out of it's very protective wrapping. Let me know if you want to see more of my work on Carroll. You can also buy my book, Biography & Source Studies, volume 5, editor Fred Karl, that has a long piece on Carroll. But do check out the posts here on Blogcritics that i have written about Carroll. If you're interested in him, then i have a ton of information that you might find interesting. he is also ranked as one of many epileptic geniuses, alng side Alfred Noble, Pythagorus, Oppenheimer, Poe, Rimbaud, Socrates, Napoleon, Alexander the GReat etc etc. - there is a strong connection between temporal lobe epilepsy (the kind Carroll had) and genius - which is the topic of my NEXT book. I'll be posting bits of it here as it comes along.
Thaniks for reading and for your comments. If you want, you can get a mimeograph of the original edition thorugh Amazon by lookng up Alice's Adventures Underground, which is all in his handwriting and is a facsimile of hte original edition that i have.
let me know if you want more...
cheers, - sadi
4 - Kate
Hey, just to point out that it wasn't Pusey who preached the sermon on National Apostacy in 1833, but Keble. Pusey did become the unofficial leader of the Oxford Movement after 1845.