Early-1800s England was a land of great social change - therefore there were many warring opinions on the purpose of art. To start, Carroll inhabited a social climate very different, yet in some ways similar, to our own. Undoubtedly, there are thousands of nonsensical kids books lost to history, so why did the Alice mythos survive? Why does the world care so much about these meaningless books? There are hundreds of attempts to find some deeper meaning in the narrative, but none are convincing. But through all this, it’s worthwhile to stop and ask: Maybe we read The Looking Glass Wars or played Alice: Madness Returns. Maybe we loved the animated Disney version and hated the Tim Burton version - or hated the animated Disney version and loved the Tim Burton version but in either scenario agreeing that the live-action sequel was trash. We all grew up alongside the Alice mythos in one way or another. Fahrenheit 451 was first published almost 70 years ago? World War One was 107 years ago? Really? Now, in the year 2021, it’s the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll’s classic children’s book Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, meaning the book isn’t a thousand years old? It feels like centuries between me and Lewis Carroll, but it turns out that a single Galapagos Tortoise could have met both of us in its lifespan.
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