Alice’s Oxford

 Alice’s Oxford

Reviewed By  Grasshopper2       May 20, 2025

 

Author  Peter Hunt

Distributor:      New South Books
ISBN:                 9781851246298
Publisher:         Bodleian Library Publishing
Release Date:   24 April 2025  

Website:    https://newsouthbooks.com.au/books/alices-oxford/ 

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People and Places that Inspired Wonderland

Professor Hunt introduces Alice’s Oxford by telling the reader how the stories told to Alice by Charles Dodgson evolved into the most treasured tales, Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass.

Dodgson, (Lewis Carroll), was keen to keep his professional life quite separate from that of his life as an author. He treasured his memories of Alice and the time they spent together and spent seven years writing stories while intimately involved in the day-to-day life in Oxford. Parts of Oxford that both Alice and Charles would have known are little changed today.

 This book shows us that the two stories told are quite different.” Wonderland, although it was densely layered as it developed from a personal gift to a published book has an air of spontaneity”.. ….. Alice is more contrived.

 There is also much conjecture about why Charles chose John Tenniel as the illustrator. John was a leading satirical artist of the day. His skill increased the complexity of the texts, but he found Charles difficult and demanding to work with.

Further chapters in this book look at the history and layout of Oxford with a map showing a section of streets and buildings included in the stories. From there, different places are shown and their inclusion into the stories discussed.

In the Ashmolean Museum there is a painting showing a nightmarish wood. This is thought to be the basis of the wood in the Looking Glass. The famous marmalade in the eyes of those who lived in Oxford was Coopers. The recipe for the jam was given to the Coopers by Alice’s mother. Alice found some when she was falling down the hole.

The notes, further reading, picture credits and index of people and places, makes this a very detailed and complete work. There are many hours of discoveries to be found in this small treasure.

Literature, Non Fiction