The REAL Alice in Wonderland - Neatorama

Photo: Lewis Carroll / Getty Images

Here's a fun trivia for you for when you go see Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland movie: did you know that there actually was a real alice? Her name was Alice Pleasance Lidell.

From The Real Alice in Wonderland gallery over at LIFE:

Before Alice ever set foot in Wonderland, there was Alice Liddell, the 10-year-old friend of an eccentric, stuttering lecturer in mathematics who would later find fame as a writer, under the name Lewis Carroll. (Pictured: A photo by Carroll of a 6-year-old Alice Liddell as "the Beggar-Maid" in 1858.)

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That girl looks like actress from movie )) a little. Is it daugther of Lewis Carrol?

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nemo, the Smithsonian article is just as biased in the opposite direction. It presents evidence to "prove" that he was interested in adult women that's flimsier than the evidence that "proves" he liked little girls.

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The Smithsonian article is interesting. It's nice to see some common myths, such as the notion that Carroll was uninterested in adult women cleared up, as well as a clarification that there were no photos he took that were anything unusual for the time.

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There's a great, recent-ish, historical fiction book out about Dodgson and Lidell. Alice I Have Been is the title, and the author is escaping me.

Of course, it is fiction, but I found it fairly fascinating and informative. Some portion of the book dealt with the very photograph shown here.

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This month's Smithsonian has an extended article discussing Charles Lutwidge Dodgson's relationship with Alice and other children:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Lewis-Carrolls-Shifting-Reputation.html

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