Lewis Carroll

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Illustrated Lewis Carroll

In 1862 Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a shy Oxford mathematician with a stammer, created a story about a little girl tumbling down a rabbit hole. Thus began the immortal adventures of Alice, perhaps the most popular heroine in English literature. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (commonly shortened to Alice in Wonderland) is an 1865 novel written by English author Lewis Carroll (the pseudonym of Charles Dodgson). It is considered to be one of the best examples of the literary nonsense genre. The tale plays with logic, giving the story lasting popularity with adults as well as with children. Perhaps, as Dodgson might have said, Alice is no more than a dream, a fairy tale about the trials and tribulations of growing up-or down, or all turned round-as seen through the expert eyes of a child. One of the best-known and most popular works of English-language fiction, its narrative, structure, characters, and imagery have been enormously influential in popular culture and literature, especially in the fantasy genre.