The Dark Side of Alice in Wonderland

Book excerpt: A unique exploration of the character, the author, and the many transformations of Alice in modern culture—often in edgy and menacing ways. The Dark Side of Alice in Wonderland is the first investigation of the vast range of darker, more threatening aspects of this famous story, and the way Alice has been transformed over time. Although the children’s story has been in print for over 150 years, the mysteries and rumors surrounding the story and its creator Lewis Carroll have continued to grow. Alice has been transformed—this is the Alice of horror films, Halloween, murder and mystery, spectral ghosts, political satire, mental illnesses, weird feasts, Lolita, Tarot, pornography, and steampunk. The Beatles based famous songs such as “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and “I am the Walrus” on Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and she has even attracted the attention of world-famous artists including Salvador Dali. The Japanese version of Lolita is so different from that of novelist Vladimir Nabokov—yet both are based on Alice. This is Alice in Wonderland as you have never seen her before: a dark, sometimes menacing, and threatening character. Was Carroll all that he seemed? The stories of his child friends, nude photographs, and sketches affect the way modern audiences look at the writer. Was he just a lonely academic, a closet pedophile, a brilliant puzzle maker—or even Jack the Ripper? For a book that began life as a simple children’s story, it has resulted in a vast array of dark concepts, ideas, and mysteries. With this book, you can step inside the world of Alice in Wonderland—and discover a dark side you never knew existed.