Lewis Carroll Imagines Wonderland

This episode delves into the fascinating origins of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland," as told through a chance storytelling by Lewis Carroll during a summer boat ride.

1. The story of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" was first told during a leisurely boat ride, created spontaneously to amuse young listeners.
2. Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Charles Dodgson, a mathematician at Oxford who had a knack for storytelling.
3. The publication of the book marked a shift in children's literature from didactic texts to entertainment.
4. Controversy surrounds Dodgson's relationships with young girls, casting a shadow over his legacy.
5. Despite controversies, "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" remains a beloved classic, illustrating the lasting impact of Carroll's imagination.

1. The Boat Ride

Dodgson takes a boat ride with three young girls, crafting a story to quell their restlessness. The narrative of Alice's journey begins here.
Charles Dodgson: "It was a splendid way to spend a summer day, telling stories to bright young minds."

2. The Tale Takes Shape

As Dodgson recites the tale, Alice requests he write it down, setting the stage for its eventual publication.
Charles Dodgson: "Alice was so taken by the story, she wanted to ensure it was not forgotten."

3. Publication and Legacy

Dodgson struggles with the manuscript but ultimately publishes the novel, which quickly becomes a hit.
Charles Dodgson: "Seeing the joy it brought to children was worth every challenge in getting it published."

1. Embrace Spontaneity: Allow yourself the freedom to be spontaneous; great ideas often come when least expected.
2. Cherish Creativity: Encourage storytelling and imagination in both yourself and others as a form of expression and connection.
3. Understand Impact: Be aware of the lasting impact of your words and stories on others.
4. Preserve History: Keep records of personal and cultural history to appreciate the evolution of ideas and societal values.
5. Navigate Controversy: Learn how to handle controversies or misunderstandings with grace and integrity.

July 4, 1862. An Oxford professor takes a boat ride and tells a fantastical story that he’ll eventually publish under his pen name, Lewis Carroll.

People

Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll), Alice Liddell

Books

"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"

Content Warnings:

None

Speaker A
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Speaker B
It'S July 4, 1862, on the River. Thames near Oxford, England. 30 year old professor Charles Dodgson pulls on the oars of a small rowboat. It's a glorious day, and Charles doesn't have any classes to teach, so he's making the most of a summer afternoon. But he isn't alone.

Sat with him in the boat are three daughters of a university colleague. As Charles guides the rowboat upriver, the girls lounge on the seats and watch the world go bye. But the middle daughter, ten year old Alice, is getting restless. She trails her fingers over the side of the boat before scooping a handful of water and splashing her older sisters. As the girls begin squabbling, the rowboat rocks.

Alarmingly, Charles realizes that he needs to calm the kids. Otherwise his leisurely afternoon is going to end in wet disaster. Suddenly, a blue streak shoots in front. Of the boat, catching the girls attention. Its a bird, a kingfisher, disappearing into its nest near the bank, and that gives Charles an idea.

With the girl stunned into silence by the blue bird, Charles resumes rowing. But this time he begins telling a story. As he works the oars, he improvises a tale of a girl tumbling into a hole, and Charles smiles at the precocious middle daughter as he reveals the name of the girl who falls into that fantastical world, Alice.

This spur of the moment story leaves the three girls enthralled, and when Charles Dodgson drops him off at home that evening, Alice begs Charles to write the story down for her. Thanks to her pleading, Charles was set to work turning his whimsical improvisation into a proper manuscript. The tale will eventually be published under Charles pen name Lewis Carroll, and become the classic of childrens literature, alices adventures in Wonderland. But Alices relationship with Charles will end soon after the story is published, and posthumous allegations will stain Charles reputation as a children's author, a career that began after a boat trip on the River Thames on July 4, 1862.

Speaker A
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Speaker C
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Speaker B
From noiser and airship, I'm Lindsey Graham, and this is history daily.

History is made every day on this podcast. Every day we tell the true stories of the people and events that shaped our world. Today is July 4, 1862. Lewis Carroll imagines Wonderland, its March 1850 in Croft on tees, a village in North Yorkshire. Twelve years before Charles Dodgsons boat trip, 18 year old Charles enters his dining room, his hands behind his back and a smile on his face.

The rest of the large Dodgson family are seated around the table. Charles Father, a parish priest, gestures impatiently for Charles to sit down so they can begin eating. But first, Charles has something to show them. He takes his hands from behind his back and places a small homemade book on the table. Flicking to the first page, Charles Father reads the handwritten title the Rectory magazine.

A few weeks ago, Charles returned home from the boarding school where he spent three unhappy years. But now that he's come of age, Charles is looking forward to better things. In two months, he'll begin studying mathematics at Christchurch College, part of the University of Oxford. In the meantime, Charles is spending the long summer break writing short stories and poems. Charles has eight younger siblings, and they all take turns reading Charles homemade book over dinner.

The Rectory magazine is full of silly stories and colorful illustrations. Even Charles serious father can't help a smile at his son's satirical writing. But when Charles leaves for Christchurch College, his father reminds him that he needs to leave such frivolities aside and pay attention to his studies. Over the next five years, Charles does almost exactly as his father asks. He excels at mathematics, impressing his tutors with his ability to solve complex problems.

In 1852, he earns his degree and is invited to stay on at Oxford as a postgraduate student and teacher. But although Charles is a skilled mathematician, he is also easily distracted, especially by his true passion, writing. Despite his fathers warning, after spending his days crunching numbers, Charles chooses to spend his evenings playing with letters. He continues writing short stories and poems like the ones he included in the Rectory magazine. But now Charles sends his latest creations off to local newspapers, and in March 1856, Charles gets his first big break.

Speaker A
In the literary world. A national magazine offers to publish one of his poems. But since Charles reputation as a mathematician is growing, he doesnt want his academic work to be confused with the playful stories he writes for leisure. The magazine editor has a solution. He tells Charles to use a pen name.

Speaker B
So Charles offers a short list of four names to use, and the editor chooses the one he likes best, Lewis Carroll. A few months after adopting this literary alias, Charles meets a family that will change his life. As the newly appointed dean of Christchurch College, Henry little is effectively Charles boss. On the surface, the men seem very different. There is a 21 year age gap between them, and Henry has five children, while Charles is still a young bachelor.

But despite all this, Charles and Henry quickly become close friends, and over the next few years, Charles often takes dinner with the littles, and hes soon adopted as an honorary uncle by the little children and joins the family on day trips around Oxford and on vacations to their second home in north Wales. When Charles becomes an early adopter of the new medium of photography, he takes the little family on excursions to shoot the local landscapes and countryside. Usually, Charles rows upriver to a quiet spot with a picnic basket in the bottom of the boat. The children then spend a happy few hours running around in the fields while Charles messes about with his camera. And it's during one of these trips, on July 4, 1862, that Charles invents.

Speaker A
A story about a young girl called. Alice who stumbles into a fantasy world. The three little daughters are gripped by Charles improvised and absurd tale. He has Alice follow a white rabbit carrying a pocket watch. She meets a perpetually grinning Cheshire cat and escapes from a short tempered queen of hearts.

Speaker B
That evening, as Charles returns the children back to the care of their parents, the middle daughter, Alice, asks Charles if he'll write the story down for her. She wants to be able to read it again and again. Charles is touched and agrees. Soon, Charles Dodgson will set to work on the promise he made to Alice. But after his story is finished and published, the strange tale of a girl lost underground will take on a life of its own and shatter the simple, scholarly one that Charles had built for himself in Oxford.

Speaker A
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Speaker B
It's October 19, 1863, in London, one. Year after Charles Dodgson improvised a story. During a boat trip on the River Thames. Now 31 years old, Charles walks through busy streets looking at a map to make his way. Although London is only 60 miles from Oxford, the bustling capital seems like a.

Speaker A
Different world to the tranquil college courtyards. Charles is more used to. With a final check of his bearings, Charles spots his destination and hurries to its door. There, a plaque declares that the building belongs to the publisher Alexander Macmillan. After promising Alice little that hed write up his story for her, Charles found it more challenging than he expected.

Speaker B
He was used to writing short stories and struggled to motivate himself to work on a full length novel. But several weeks ago, Charles finally sent his friend and author George Macdonald an incomplete manuscript. It was titled Alices Adventures underground. Upon reading it, George was so impressed that he immediately forwarded the manuscript to his own publisher, Alexander Macmillan. Now Charles has traveled to London to negotiate a publishing deal.

Taking a seat in Alexander's office, Charles waits anxiously for the publishers verdict. Alexander explains that most childrens books are educational texts. Even childrens novels tend to be designed more to instruct than to entertain. But Alices adventures underground goes against that trend. Its whimsical, silly even, but Alexander loves it for exactly that reason.

At the end of their meeting, Charles shakes hands with Alexander and leaves with a promise that Macmillan will publish Alices adventures underground when its finished. This publishing deal helps motivate Charles to get down to work, but progress is still slow. Between his responsibilities at the university, he spends hours poring over his notes, editing the text, and even rewriting entire chapters. Finally, though, he manages to finish the book a year after shaking hands with Alexander McMillan and two years after he told Alice that hed write the story. But at last, in November 1864, as promised, he presents Alice with a handwritten manuscript, complete with his own illustrations.

Charles then sends another unillustrated copy of his book to Alexander in London. But that isnt the end of Charless involvement. Alexander soon discovers Charles is a difficult author to handle. Charles wants control over every aspect of the publishing process. He wants to choose the artist who will provide the illustrations he wants to choose the typeface, the text.

He even wants to choose the quality of paper. But despite all his meddling, when the first run of 2000 books comes off the press, Charles still isn't happy and demands a reprint. Alexander McMillan is an experienced businessman, however, and knows when to stand up for himself. He agrees to the reprint, but insists on Charles paying for it. And that's not the only fight Alexander wins with Charles.

He also convinces Charles to change the book's title. Its Alexander who suggests something more befitting of the story. And thanks to his intervention, Alices Adventures underground becomes Alices adventures in Wonderland. But all the disputes and disagreements between publisher and author are worth it. When Alices Adventures in Wonderland is published in November 1865, the book is an immediate hit.

Reviewers rave over the innovative story, and the first 2000 copies sell out within a month. A new edition is rushed out in time for Christmas, and even Queen Victoria reads it to her children. But Charles doesnt get the chance to celebrate his success with the girl who inspired his story. Soon after the publication of Alices adventures in Wonderland, Charles falls out with Henry little and stops visiting the family. Although he and Henry eventually resume their friendship, they are never as close.

Charles no longer joins the littles on their excursions, and he never again takes the children out for day trips on the River Thames. Although he will rarely see the real Alice again, Charles will return to the fictional Alice in 1871 when he writes a sequel through the Looking Glass. And in the years that follow, Charles will remain at Oxford where he will write more short stories, two poetry collections, and another novel, all under the pen name that made him famous. Charles Dodgson will forever be better known as Lewis Carroll. But long after his death, his reputation will be tarnished when uncomfortable questions emerge about his relationship with the girl behind his iconic creation.

Speaker A
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Speaker D
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Speaker B
Its 1930 in London, 65 years after the publication of Alices Adventures in Wonderland, 35 year old american journalist Florence Baker Lennon enters the living room of a townhouse with pen and paper in hand. For years, Florence has been interested in the work of Lewis Carroll, and shes come to London to interview someone who knew him personally. Now, 82 year old Lorena Skeen, the. Eldest daughter of Henry Little Charles Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, died more than 32 years ago at the age of 65. But his works have remained popular, and Alices adventures in Wonderland is still one of the worlds best selling childrens books.

So today Florence is here to find out more about the man who wrote the story. She scribbles down notes as Lorena describes the bow trip on July 4, 1862, when Charles first made up a story to entertain her and her two younger sisters. Then Lorena drops a bombshell. She explains why her father broke off relations with Charles around the time that Alices adventures in Wonderland was published. According to Lorena's recollections, Henry thought that Charles had an unhealthy and inappropriate attraction to Lorena's sister, Alice.

Florence is shocked by the revelation, but she keeps it under her hat for another 15 years, until her biography of Charles Dodgson is released in 1945. In her book, Florence repeats Lorena's accusations that Charles was attracted to Alice. She even suggests that Charles proposed marriage when Alice was just eleven years old, and that Henry Little responded by briefly ending his friendship with Charles. Other scholars soon cast doubt on Florence's findings, though the only evidence supporting these allegations is a 30 minutes interview with an elderly witness. The events happened more than 67 years prior, and everyone else who was involved has since died.

A note from the time also implies that Henry Little fell out with Charles not because of his attraction to Alice, but because Charles was hoping to court the littles daughters governess. But with the publishing of Florences book, the damage is done. Over the decades, others will repeat Florences allegations and use Charles photographs of the little children as evidence, even though Charles defenders point out there's no proof that Charles took some of the photographs used to smear him. Even to this day, literary scholars continue to debate the subject. But despite the rumors that plague its author, Alice's adventures in Wonderland remains a classic of children's literature that's never once.

Speaker A
Been out of print. Since it was published, it's been translated into 174 languages and adapted on screen and stage many times. A spectacular afterlife for a story that was conceived during a summer boat trip on the River Thames on July 4, 1862.

Speaker B
Next on History Daily July 5, 1954 Elvis Presley introduces mainstream America to rock and roll when he records his debut single, it's All Right, from Noiser and airship. This is History daily. Hosted, edited, and executive produced by me, Lindsey Graham. Audio editing by Mohammad Shazib Sound design by Gabriel Gould music by Thrum. This episode is written and researched by Scott Reeves, edited by William Simpson managing producer Emily Burke.

Executive producers are William Simpson for airship and Pascal Hughes for R.

Speaker E
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