Biography
Read about how 'Alice in Wonderland' came to be written, how it changed the tradition of children's story-telling, and the versions that have been made of it since its first success.
Alice In Wonderland: The Basics
Lewis Carroll’s timeless story of the little girl who falls down a rabbit hole was first published in 1865. It was received with wide acclaim at the time – not least from Queen Victoria – and has been enchanting the young and the not-so-young ever since.
Children's Stories Before Alice
It’s difficult to pinpoint when the first stories were written specifically for children, but the predecessors of 'Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland' – nursery rhymes and educational books – help put into context the literary climate in which Carroll wrote his most enduring work.
How Alice Came To Be Written
Possibly the best-loved story in Victorian children’s literature began life as a tale told by Rev Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-1898) to three sisters of the Liddell family – Alice, Lorina and Edith – daughters of the dean of Christ Church, Oxford. (It's worth noting that we could easily have ended up with ‘Lorina in Wonderland’ or ‘Edith in Wonderland’ instead...)
Alice's Successors
One of the things that makes 'Alice' iconic, and spreads its recognition so widely, is the fact that it has been reinvented, plundered for ideas, imitated and parodied so many times.
