In the photo on the left, Alica's Shop is a sheep shop described in Alice Through the Looking Glass. Real Alice Liddell used to buy candy here. Her dad Henry Liddell and Lewis Carroll (AKA Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) worked at Christ Church College, whose rooftops can be seen in the photo in the center.
- “What is the use of a book,” thought Alice, “if there are no pictures or conversations in it?
- The hole at first went straight, as smooth as a tunnel, and then suddenly abruptly dropped down. Before Alice could even blink an eye, she began to fall, as if into a deep well.
Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, only she had enough time to come to her senses and think about what would happen next. At first she tried to see what was waiting for her downstairs, but it was dark there and she couldn't see anything. Then she began to look around. The walls of the well were lined with cabinets and bookshelves; in some places pictures and maps hung on carnations. Flying past one of the shelves, she grabbed a jar of jam from it. The jar says "ORANGE", but alas! she was empty. Alice was afraid to throw the jar down - as if not to kill someone! On the fly, she managed to shove it into some closet. - — Ah, my mustache! Ah, my ears! How late I am!
- The drink was very pleasant to the taste - it was somewhat reminiscent of cherry pie with cream, pineapple, roast turkey, fudge and hot toast with butter.
- "EAT ME!"
- - It's getting weirder and weirder!
- No, just think! she said. What a strange day today! And yesterday everything went as usual! Maybe I changed overnight? Let me remember: this morning, when I got up, was it me or was it not me? Looks like it's not really me! But if so, then who am I then? It's so difficult...
- I'll try geography! London is the capital of Paris, and Paris is the capital of Rome, and Rome...
- Why isn't anyone coming for me? How tired I am of sitting here alone!
- - Who are you? asked the Blue Caterpillar.
The beginning was not very conducive to conversation.
“I really don’t know now, madam,” Alice answered timidly. “I know who I was this morning when I woke up, but since then I have changed several times.
- What are you thinking? asked the Caterpillar sternly. - Are you out of your mind?
“I don’t know,” Alice answered. - Must be someone else's. Do you see... - “If you don’t mind, madame,” answered Alice, “I would like to grow up a little. Three inches is such a terrible height!
- That's great growth! shouted the Caterpillar angrily and stretched out to its full length. (It was exactly three inches.) - - Bite off on one side - you will grow up, on the other - you will decrease!
On one side of what? thought Alice. On the other side of what?
“Mushroom,” answered the Caterpillar, as if having heard the question, and disappeared from sight.
For a minute Alice looked thoughtfully at the mushroom, trying to determine where it had one side and where it was the other; the mushroom was round, and this completely confused her. Finally, she made up her mind: she grabbed the mushroom with her hands and broke off a piece on each side. - "There's nothing to knock on," said the Lackey. - For two reasons, it's useless. First, I'm on the same side of the door as you. And secondly, they are so noisy there that no one will hear you anyway.
- — Tell me, please, why is your cat smiling like that? Alice asked timidly. She didn't know if it was good for her to speak first, but she couldn't help it.
“Because,” said the Duchess. - It's a Cheshire cat - that's why! ..
- I didn't know that Cheshire cats always smiling. To be honest, I didn't even know cats could smile.
“They do,” said the Duchess. And almost everyone is smiling.
“I have never seen such a cat,” said Alice politely, very pleased that the conversation was going so well.
“You haven’t seen much,” said the Duchess. - That's for sure! - If he had grown a little, she thought, he would have made a very unpleasant child. And as a pig, he is very cute!
And she began to think of other children who would have made excellent piglets. - A few paces away, the Cheshire Cat sat on a branch.
Seeing Alice, the Cat only smiled. He looked good-natured, but his claws were long and his teeth were so numerous that Alice knew at once that he was not to be trifled with.
— Kitty! Cheshik! Alice began timidly. She didn't know if he liked the name, but he only smiled wider in response.
“Nothing,” thought Alice, “it seems satisfied.
She asked aloud:
“Tell me, please, where should I go from here?”
— Where do you want to go? replied the Cat.
"I don't care..." Alice said.
“Then it doesn’t matter where you go,” said the Cat.
“… just to get somewhere,” Alice explained.
"You're bound to get somewhere," said the Cat. “You just have to walk long enough.
It was impossible to disagree with this. Alice decided to change the subject.
- And what kind of people live here? she asked.
“Over there,” said the Cat, waving his right paw, “the Hatter lives.” And there,” and he waved his left hand, “the March Hare. It doesn't matter who you go to. Both are out of their minds.
What do I need madmen for? Alice said.
"There's nothing you can do about it," said the Cat. “We are all out of our minds here, you and me.
How do you know I'm out of my mind? Alice asked.
“Of course, not in my own way,” replied the Cat. “Otherwise, how would you be here?”
This argument seemed to Alice not at all convincing, but she did not argue, but only asked:
"How do you know you're out of your mind?"
- Let's start with the fact that the dog is in his mind. Agree?
"Let's do it," agreed Alice.
“Next,” said the Cat. - The dog grumbles when he is angry, and when he is pleased, he wags his tail. Well, I grumble when I'm happy and wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore, I'm out of my mind.
“I don’t think you are grumbling, but purring,” Alice objected. “At least, that's what I call it.
“Call it what you like,” said the Cat. - The essence of this does not change. - - I saw cats without smiles, but a smile without a cat!
- - How does a raven look like a desk?
- “You should always say what you think.
"That's what I do," Alice hastened to explain. “At least… At least I always think what I say… and it’s the same thing…”
“It’s not the same thing at all,” said the Hatter. - So you still have something good to say, as if "I see what I eat" and "I eat what I see" are one and the same!
- So you still say that “What I have, I love” and “What I love, I have” are one and the same! said the March Hare.
“So you still say,” Sonya said without opening her eyes, “as if “I breathe while I sleep” and “I sleep while I breathe” are one and the same!
“For you, it’s at least the same thing!” said the Hatter, and the conversation ended there. - “The oil was the freshest,” the Hare objected timidly.
- “They also drew…things…anything that starts with an M,” she continued. “They drew mousetraps, the moon, mathematics, the multitude… Have you ever seen how they draw the multitude?”
- Lots of what? Alice asked.
“Nothing,” answered Sonya. - Just a lot! - - And in general, why arrange processions if everyone will fall on their faces? Nobody will see it then...
- “Cats are not forbidden to look at kings,” said Alice. I read it somewhere, but I don't remember where.
- “Vinegar makes them bite,” she continued pensively, “mustard makes them upset, onions make them sly, wine makes them guilty, and baking makes them feel better. What a pity that no one knows about it ... Everything would be so simple. Eat a muffin - and dobrel!
- never think that you are different from what you could be otherwise than being different in cases where it is impossible not to be otherwise.
- Here is one of guinea pigs applauded loudly and was subdued. (Since this word is not easy, I will explain to you what it means. The attendants took a large bag, put the pig upside down in it, tied the bag and sat on it.)
“I am very glad that I saw how it is done,” thought Alice. - And then I so often read in the newspapers: "Attempts to resist were suppressed ..." Now I know what it is! - - And cut off his head there on the street
- What do you know about this case? asked the King.
“Nothing,” Alice replied.
“Nothing at all?” the King insisted.
“Nothing at all,” Alice repeated.
“This is very important,” said the King, turning to the jury.
They rushed to write, but then the White Rabbit intervened.
“Your Majesty wants to say, of course, it doesn’t matter,” he said respectfully. However, at the same time, he frowned and gave signs to the King.
“Well, yes,” said the King hastily. “That's exactly what I wanted to say. Doesn't matter! Of course it doesn't matter!
And he muttered in an undertone, as if trying on what sounds best:
- Important - not important ... not important - important ...
Some jurors wrote down "Important!", while others - "Doesn't matter!". Alice stood so close that she could see everything perfectly.
It doesn't matter, she thought. - The White Rabbit hastily jumped up from his seat.
“With Your Majesty's permission,” he said, “there is more evidence here. One document has just been found.
- What's in it? the Queen asked.
“I haven’t read it yet,” replied the White Rabbit, “but I think it’s a letter from the accused… to someone…”
“Of course, someone,” said the King. It is unlikely that he wrote a letter to anyone. This is usually not done.
- To whom is it addressed? one of the jurors asked.
“No one,” replied the White Rabbit. “In any case, nothing is written on the back.
With these words, he unfolded the letter and added:
- This is not even a letter, but poetry.
- Handwriting of the accused? another juror asked.
“No,” replied the White Rabbit. And that's the most suspicious of all.
(The jury is confused.)
“So he forged the handwriting,” said the King.
(The jury brightened up.)
- With the permission of Your Majesty, - said Knave, - I did not write this letter, and they will not prove it. There is no signature.
"So much the worse," said the King. “It means that you have something bad in mind, otherwise you would have signed like all honest people.
Everyone applauded: for the first time all day, the King said something really smart.
“Guilt has been proven,” said the Queen. - Hit him...
- Nothing like this! Alice objected. You don't even know what the poems are about. - - "Chop off the shoulder ..." - read the King and looked at the Queen again. “Do you ever chop off the shoulder, darling?”
“Never,” said the Queen.
And, turning away, she cried out, pointing her finger at poor Bill:
- Cut off his head! Head off the shoulders!
“Ah, I understand,” said the King. - You cut from our shoulders, I'm not talking!
Lewis Carroll's novel "Through the Looking-Glass" is completely filled with all kinds of puzzles, fantasy images, it is worth noting how well the author manages imaginary heroes and how deeply the reader knows them, as if he himself had been in this fairyland. In this part, the author again sends the little traveler to mysterious worlds, Alice, in search of adventure.
Read the summary of Carroll Alice Through the Looking Glass
This time, Alice, just like in the first part, thanks to her sly, curious kitten, finds herself in the world of the Looking Glass. The girl finds herself in a completely mirrored room, with the same decoration and furnishings, but to her great surprise, everything was alive here: they smiled broadly Wall Clock, thereby welcoming her, the pictures entered into mysterious and stormy conversations, completely ignoring Alice, the small chess pieces turned out to be alive and also conducted among themselves interesting conversation while walking on the chessboard is important.
As always, the fearless and curious Alice, terribly wanted to explore this place, but to her great regret, she couldn’t climb the hill, and every time she ended up in her original place. Then the girl decided to talk with the flowers that grew near her, they were quite talkative and happily answered Alice's questions, the flowers suggested that you need to go in the opposite direction.
After Alice was shown right direction, she is near the Black Queen, at that very hill. Looking around, the girl sees that everything is divided into straight and even sectors, so similar to the cells of a chessboard. She is madly eager to take part in this exciting game, and despite the fact that she is just a pawn here, Alice certainly dreams of becoming the queen of the Looking Glass.
The girl confidently goes on an adventure and discovers more and more interesting things for herself. So, for example, instead of yellow bees, a flock of miniature elephants circles above it. And the passengers on the train were a goat, a beetle and a horse, who provided tickets for travel with the size of their own height. The controller, however, studied Alice very carefully, looking through a variety of devices, and then concluded that the girl was moving in the wrong direction.
Life in this place was completely different and sometimes incomprehensible to Alice. So having met the White Queen, she still wanted to feed the guest with jam for tomorrow. The girl refused, but the queen explained to her that tomorrow never comes, because it already exists now. And the White Queen remembers exactly the details and events of the past and future time. And weeps over a cut finger, she's before it comes. The girl was also surprised that when she tried to cut the pie into pieces and distribute it, it constantly connected in its original form. The lion explained to her that everything should be done the other way around, that is, first treat everyone with a pie, and only after that cut it.
Alice was struck by absolutely everything in the looking glass, and especially how the inhabitants of this place deftly turned the words around, distorting them beyond recognition. So the girl reached the eighth line and felt the crown on her head. Thus, she angered the White and Black Queen, who constantly mumbled something. And a feast was announced in honor of the new queen, but this event greatly embarrassed the two disheveled queens. And even this holiday went awry, as in principle it should be for this place. An angry little girl attacks the Black Queen with great anger and starts shaking her with all her might.
And then suddenly Alice realizes that she is not shaking the Black Queen at all, but her little black kitten. And at the same moment, a strange journey, to the mysterious and unique country of the Looking-Glass, disperses and before her again her usual and so understandable world. And the same things seem to be in the room, but no one else argues, no one whispers and makes funny faces, everything is as it should be. And whether it was a dream is not at all clear, and if it was, then to whom it belongs. So Alice's journey ended, but how she would like to go there again, setting off for new adventures.
About the novel
The amazing novel by Lewis Carroll, of course, immerses the reader in a serene flight of fantasy and imagination, but meanwhile it awakens the brightest feelings that sometimes find themselves in the depths of human consciousness. The work is filled with genuine childlike kindness and pure, like spring water, consciousness, which is not capable of evil and conceited deeds, and this thereby makes one reconsider one's own self and can change something in it.
Picture or drawing Carroll - Alice Through the Looking Glass
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Lewis Carroll Alice in Wonderland. Alice Through the Looking Glass (compilation)
Alice in Wonderland
Translation A. Rozhdestvenskaya
Translation of poetry A. Frenkel, P. Solovieva
© Solovieva P., translation into Russian, 2016
© Edition in Russian, design. EKSMO Publishing House LLC, 2016
Alice in Wonderland
Foreword
Two pairs of handles beat water
Obedient to them with an oar,
And the third, guiding the way,
Trouble over the steering wheel.
What cruelty! At the hour when
And the air dozed off
Ask importunately that I
He told them a story!
But there are three of them, and I am one,
Well, how can I resist?
And the first order flies to me:
Time to start the story!
- Just more tales! -
The second command sounds
And the third interrupts the speech
Many times per minute.
Children take care of me.
Imagination leads them
Through fairyland
When I'm tired, the story
Involuntarily slowed down
And "for another time" postpone
- Another time - it has arrived! -
So about the land of magical dreams
The story is mine,
And adventure arose
And the swarm ended.
The sun is setting, we are sailing
Tired, go home.
Alice! A story for children
I give to you.
In a wreath of fantasies and miracles
Weave my dream
Keeping like a memorial flower
That grew up in a foreign land.
Chapter first
Down the rabbit hole
Alice was tired of sitting on a hillock next to her sister and doing nothing. Once or twice she stole a glance at the book her sister was reading, but there were no conversations or pictures. “What is the use of a book,” thought Alice, “if there are no pictures or conversations in it?”
Then she began to consider (as far as it is possible on such an unbearably hot day when drowsiness overcomes) whether she should get up to go pick daisies and weave a wreath, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran past her.
There was, of course, nothing special about it. Alice was not surprised when the Rabbit muttered under his breath:
- Oh, my God, I'll be late!
Thinking about it afterwards, Alice could not understand why she was not surprised to hear the Rabbit speak, but at that moment it did not seem strange to her. However, when Rabbit took a watch out of his vest pocket and, looking at it, ran on, Alice jumped up, realizing that she had never seen a Rabbit in a waistcoat and with a watch. Burning with curiosity, she rushed after him and managed to see how he darted down the rabbit hole under the hedge.
Alice followed him without even thinking about how she would get out of there.
The rabbit hole was at first straight, like a tunnel, but then it ended so suddenly that Alice did not have time to come to her senses as she flew somewhere down, as if into a deep well.
Either the well was too deep, or Alice was falling too slowly, but she had enough time to look around and think about what would happen next.
At first she looked down, but it was so dark there that it was impossible to see anything. Then she began to examine the walls of the well; they had a lot of bookcases and shelves with dishes, and in some places hung on the walls geographic Maps and paintings. Flying past one of the shelves, Alice grabbed a jar standing on it. The jar had a paper label that said, "Orange Jam." However, to Alice's great dismay, the jar was empty. At first, she wanted to just throw the jar, but, afraid of hitting someone in the head, she managed to put it on another shelf, which she flew past.
“After such a fall,” thought Alice, “I won’t be afraid to fall down the stairs. And at home, everyone will probably consider me very brave. It seems to me that if I fell off the roof of even the highest building, then it would not be as unusual as falling into such a well.
Thinking like this, Alice fell lower and lower and lower.
“Is there no end to this? she thought. “I would like to know how many kilometers I managed to fly during this time?”
“I,” she said loudly, “are now probably not far from the center of the Earth. And before him ... um ... before him, it seems, six thousand kilometers.
Alice has already studied miscellaneous items and knew something. True, now it was inappropriate to boast of one's knowledge, and not in front of anyone, but still it was useful to refresh their memory.
– Yes, the center of the Earth is six thousand kilometers away. What latitude and longitude am I now under? - Alice had no idea about latitude and longitude, but she liked to say such serious Clever words.
- Or maybe I'll fly through the whole Earth through! she suggested. How funny it will be to see people walking with their heads down! They seem to be called anti-pathies. (Here Alice faltered and was even glad that she had no listeners; she felt that the word was wrong and that these people are called not antipathies, but somehow differently.) I will ask them what country I ended up in. "Tell me, ma'am, please, New Zealand or Australia? - I will ask some lady (Alice wanted to curtsey at the same time, but it was terribly difficult to do it on the fly). - Only she, perhaps, will decide that I am completely stupid and do not know anything! No, it's better not to ask. Maybe I'll read on the sign what country it is.
Time passed, and Alice continued to fall. She had absolutely nothing to do, and she again began to reason aloud:
- Dina will be very bored without me tonight (Dina was the name of Alice's cat). I hope they will not forget to pour milk into her saucer in the evening ... Dina, my dear, how I wish you were here with me now! True, mice are not visible here, but you could catch bat, and it is very similar to the ordinary. Here Alice suddenly wanted to sleep, and in a very sleepy voice she said: - Do cats eat bats? - She repeated her question over and over, but sometimes she made a mistake and asked: - Do bats eat cats or not? “However, since there is no one to answer, does it really matter what you ask about?”
Alice felt that she was falling asleep, and now she already dreamed that she was walking with Dina and saying to her:
- Admit it, Dinochka, have you ever eaten a bat?
And suddenly - bang! Alice fell on a pile of leaves and dry branches.
But she didn't hurt a bit, and immediately jumped to her feet. Alice looked up, but there was an impenetrable darkness over her head. And right in front of her stretched a long passage, and Alice managed to notice the White Rabbit, who was running at full speed along this passage. There was not a minute to lose. Alice followed him like the wind, and heard him mutter as he turned the corner:
Oh, my ears and mustache! How late I am!
Alice was very close to Rabbit when he turned the corner. She rushed after him, but the Rabbit suddenly disappeared. And Alice found herself in a long hall with a low ceiling, from which lamps hung, illuminating the room.
Released in 1856, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was a success. In the story, the author fascinatingly combines the meaninglessness in children's literature.
Below are a few facts you may not have known about Alice and its author, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (better known as Lewis Carroll).
1 The Real Alice Was The Daughter Of Executive Carroll
The real Alice, who lent her name to the story, was the daughter of Henry Liddell - Dean Sunday school at the college (Oxford), it was there that Lewis Carroll worked as a teacher of mathematics. Everyone who worked at the school lived on campus. IN currently there is an exhibition dedicated to "Alice" and her heroes.
It was here that Carroll met the sisters the real Alice and got to know her whole family.
2. The Mad Hatter might not exist at all without the persistence of children.
When Carroll began to tell fantasy tale for the Liddell sisters in the summer of 1862, taking a walk along the Thames, he did not even think of being a writer for children. Little girls all the time demanded to continue interesting history, so the author began to write "Adventures" in a diary, which, in the end, turned into a written novel. Such a gift was presented by Carroll to Alice for Christmas in 1864. By 1865 he had self-published final version"Alice's Adventures", doubled in length - added new scenes, including the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat.
3. The illustrator hated the first edition
Carroll approached renowned English illustrator John Tenniel to create drawings for the story. When the author saw the first copy of the book, he was very indignant at how poorly the illustrator reflected his intentions. Carroll tried to buy up the entire print run with his small salary, so that he could then reprint it. However, Alice sold out quickly and was an instant success. Also, the book was released in limited edition in America.
4. Alice in Wonderland was first filmed in 1903
Some time after Carroll's death, directors Cecil Hepworth and Percy Stowe decided to turn the story into a 12-minute film. At the time, it became the longest film made in the UK. Hepworth played the Frog Footman himself in the film, while his wife became the White Rabbit and the Queen.
5. Carroll almost titled the story "Alice's Clock in Elvengard"
Riding on the Thames for the afternoon, Carroll decided to write a continuation of the story of Alice for the Liddell sisters. He came up with several titles for his story. original text fairy tale, presented by 10-year-old Liddell, was called Alice's Adventures Underground. However, since its publication, Carroll has decided that he can call it "Alice's Clock in Elvengard". There have also been thoughts of calling the story "Alice Among the Fairies". However, he settled on the "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" option.
6. Ridicule of newfangled mathematical theories
Scientists have suggested that Carroll in his story ridiculed innovative for the 19th century mathematical theories, in general, as well as imaginary numbers. For example, the riddles that the Mad Hatter asked Alice were a reflection of the increasing abstraction that was taking place in mathematics in the 19th century. This assumption was put forward by mathematician Keith Devlin in 2010. Carroll was very conservative; he found the new forms in mathematics that came out in the mid-1800s to be absurd compared to algebra and Euclidean geometry.
7. The original illustrations were carved into wood.
Tenniel was famous illustrator by that time, it was he who took on Alice in Wonderland. He was also known for his political cartoons. His drawings were originally printed on paper, then carved on wood, then became metal reproductions. They were used in the printing process.
8. Miracles didn't seem so absurd to the real Alice.
Some things that seem like some kind of nonsense to us had certain meaning for the Liddell sisters. Remember, Turtle says in the book that he gets drawing lessons, sketching and "fainting rolls" from an old sea eel who comes once a week. The sisters probably saw in him their own tutor, who gave the girls lessons in drawing, drawing and oil painting. Most of nonsense from the book, as well as the characters have real prototypes and history.
9. Dodo bird - the prototype of Carroll
In the book, Carroll repeatedly alludes to a tour of the Thames with the girls, which inspired him to create this masterpiece. Perhaps the Dodo bird became the prototype of Lewis himself, whose real name is Charles Dodgson. According to one version, the author suffered from stuttering. Perhaps this is what prevented him from becoming a priest, directing his fate into a mathematical direction.
10. The original manuscript almost never leaves London.
The original illustrated manuscript, titled Alice's Underground Adventures, was given by Carroll to Alice Liddell. Now the book is an exhibit of the British Library, very rarely leaves the country.
11. Alice's Adventures is a kind of pioneer in the field of licensing
Carroll was an experienced marketer of his story and characters. This is perhaps the main reason why the story is so famous today, even for those who have not read the book. He developed postage stamp with images of Alice, these pictures decorate cookie cutters and other products.
For readers wishing to learn more about the origins of the book, he has produced a facsimile of the original manuscript. He later created an abridged version of the book for even the youngest readers.
12. The book has not been published for a long time - this is a fact
The work has been translated into 176 languages. All parts of the book were sold out within seven weeks of publication.
09.04.2016 0 9404
Today many name Alice Liddell won't say anything. A clue may be the inscription carved on the gravestone of this woman: Grave of Mrs. Reginald Hargreaves, Alice from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.
Alice Liddell
The girl Alice Liddell, for whom Carroll wrote a fairy tale about her journey through the underground country, where she got through the rabbit hole, lived to be 82 years old. And she died 36 years after the death of the person who immortalized her.
Until now, there are disputes about what kind of relationship they had. Guesses build a variety of - including a very dirty property.
Meeting in the garden
In April 1856, the children of Henry Liddell, dean of a college in the English university city of Oxford, went for a walk in the garden. On that spring day, a young mathematics teacher, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who sometimes published literary works under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll.
He was going to photograph the cathedral. Dodgson, a mathematician and author of works on this science, was much more interested in the humanitarian field of life: photography, writing, poetry. Looking ahead, let's say that for a quarter of a century he taught in college not at all what was of real interest to him.
So, photography - at that time, an innovation - in 1856 was the main hobby of a 24-year-old mathematician, whose lectures students considered the most boring in the world.
In 1856, Mr. Liddell's family had only 5 children, Alice being the fourth oldest. (Later, five more babies were born.)
Lewis Carroll
Carroll immediately hit on the idea of photographing the Liddell girls. It was girls - he adored them. And somehow he wrote in his diary: "I love children (but not boys)." Why only girls? Biographers of the writer have been wrestling with this question for decades.
Most come to a simple conclusion: Dodgson had 7 sisters and only 3 brothers! He has been accustomed to dealing with girls since childhood.
A young teacher asked the Liddells for permission to photograph their children. The parents agreed. Thanks to their consent, images of Liddell Jr. have been preserved for history.
An unusual child?
In 1856, Alice was 4 years old. What exactly did this baby attract the attention of a mathematician-photographer? After all, if he loved girls so much, why didn't he pay attention to her younger or older sister?
He must have been impressed by the stubborn expression on her face. Or maybe bright brown eyes... Who knows?
Photos of seven-year-old Alice, taken by Lewis Carroll, have come down to us. On one of them, the girl looks quite decent: she is sitting next to a flower pot in a white dress.
And on the other she is barefoot, dressed in rags - apparently, depicts a savage or a beggar. It was this photograph, dated 1859, that led researchers to think about Carroll's non-Platonic intentions...
But back to 1856. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson quickly became a friend of the Liddell family. His daughters were thrilled by him - he was ready for almost all of his free time spend with girls. They frolicked in the park, fooled around, rode a boat. About one of these boat trips, Carroll wrote an acrostic, the first letters of the lines of which form the words: Alice Pleasence Liddell ( full name babies). Here is the beginning of this poem, which was included in the book "Through the Looking Glass":
Ah, what a bright day it was!
Boat, sun, shine and shadow,
And lilacs bloomed everywhere.
The sisters listen to the story
And the river carries us away.
On the same walk, Carroll began to tell Alice and her sisters about the girl's adventures in magical land. The passengers of that boat - thirteen-year-old Lorina, ten-year-old Alice and eight-year-old Edith - asked their older friend not to be silent. His favorite Alice demanded to invent a story in which there would be "more nonsense and inventions." main character was, of course, Alice.
But there was room for her sisters, too. Lorina turned into a parrot Lori, who convinced everyone of his seniority and intelligence. Edith got the role of Ed the Eaglet. Carroll himself brought out in the form of a Dodo bird - he mocked his own stutter, which prevented him from correctly pronouncing the name Dodgson.
Why did Carroll make Alice the heroine of his book? What attracted him to this particular girl? After all, the Liddells had two other daughters close to her age. Apparently, it was Alice who especially did not want to become an adult. And the writer unmistakably felt it in her. After all, he himself did not have the slightest desire to turn from a boy into an adult man.
The main character of the book is a very unusual girl for that time. She, on the one hand, is well-educated (after all, the daughter of a scientist), on the other hand, Alice is very direct - she asks any questions without hesitation. There is no English stiffness in it!
On that sunny day in 1862, Alice began to beg a friend to write a story about adventures in the Underland (as Wonderland was originally called) in the form of a book.
What Lewis Carroll did...
In 1926, Mrs. Alice Hargreaves sold this handwritten copy of a work for children, which had become a classic by that time, at Sotheby's for £15,400. After the death of her husband, the woman had nothing to pay the bills for the house ...
In 1865, Carroll published the book at his own expense. And she was noticed! Why? The fact is that the story of the adventures of a younger schoolgirl in a non-existent world, full of rubbish and word play, was something absolutely unheard of in English children's literature of the Victorian era. In those days, all works for children were of a Christian-edifying nature. They dealt mainly with the struggle between the good and the even better. And then - such a fantasy ...
What connected them?
The more time passed since the death of Carroll in 1898, the more dirty conjectures were expressed precisely in relation to his friendship with little Alice Liddell. Some researchers spoke directly about the writer's pedophilia. A new surge of discussions on this topic was caused by Vladimir Nabokov's book "Lolita", published in 1955, about sexual relations adult men and young girls.
Almost all of Lewis Carroll's life was spent in the Victorian era. At that time, young girls were considered to be asexual. Did the writer have a different point of view? Yes, he loved photographing naked youngsters who had not yet taken shape. He liked to correspond with immature girls.
But there is no evidence that his relationship with the children - and with Alice Liddell in particular - went beyond talk. Perhaps things would have been different in a different era. But victorian era that's why Victorian, that mores were puritanical. And dirty thoughts came to few people's minds. Thank God, no dirt could stick to Carroll and Alice.
How did the relationship between the writer and the very young Miss Liddell end? The way they should have ended: the girl grew up. And Carroll lost all interest in her. Yes, and with a large family of Liddell, he gradually broke up. At first, Lewis did not please Mrs. Liddell.
Some researchers say that an empathetic mother suspected young man with dirty intentions. But there is no evidence of this: Carroll's diaries for those years have not been preserved. Alice did not say a bad word about her friend.
What happened to her in adulthood? It is known that Alice did a little painting. At the age of 28, she married landowner and cricketer Reginald Hargreaves. Became a housewife. She gave birth to three sons from him. Her two older children were killed in the First World War. Alice lived in the countryside...
From adult photographs, a young pretty woman with a harsh expression is looking at us. Nothing special: it's hard to guess the girl from Wonderland.
IN last time the sisters, whose maiden name was Liddell, met with Lewis Carroll in 1891 - 7 years before his death. It was a meeting of old friends.
Alice Hargreaves died in 1934. 2 years before her death, she received certificate of honor Columbia University for inspiring the writer to create an immortal book.
Maria KONYUKOVA
