4 July is the 150th anniversary of when Lewis Carroll (real name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) first told the story of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to entertain Alice Liddell and her sisters on a boat trip in 1862.

He later wrote it down, and it was published in 1865 to become a classic children’s story. It was followed by the equally perplexing Through the Looking Glass.

The story was immediately accessible not only to children but also to adults. There are endless interpretations of what the book is really about, and of course the Freudians and Jungians had a field day with this story as did the the LSD users of the 1960s. It combines the whimsy of Victorian times with some quite startling episodes. The strangeness of the story continues to appeal to artists.

© Lebrecht

© Lebrecht Authors