Alice and Wonderland by Lewis Carroll can evoke feelings of nostalgia for many, whether that may be due to the child-like and whimsical tone of the novel, or because it brings up memories of watching or reading an edition in one’s youth, or the nonsensicality that Carroll injected the scenery with. The satirization of other important aspects of Victorian culture, like fairy-tales and maternalism, almost borders on surrealism.
Surrealism was a literary movement that began half a century after the publication of Alice in Wonderland— beginning in the 1910’s and 1920s (Voorhies). Loosely inspired by Dadaism, a multidisciplinary movement created by those disillusioned with the mass destruction and huge death toll of the first World War, Surrealism touched on music, poetry, art, politics, and psychology; particularly the unconscious mind (Trachtman). It seems that Alice predates these movements with her deconstruction and decontextualization of this new world around her, and the fact that her adventure in Wonderland took place while she was asleep could point to a surrealist reading of this story.
Was Alice an early adopter of surrealist modes of thought? Or was she just a child forced into a strange new world, just like the world was forced to adapt to industrial advances and international war? Looking at her reaction to the non-logic of Wonderland, it appears she could’ve swung either way: “‘Stuff and nonsense!’ said Alice loudly,” (Carroll, pg 85).
Bibliography!
Carroll, Lewis, 1832-1898, Martin Gardner and John Tenniel. 2000. The Annotated Alice: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-glass. New York, Norton
Paul Trachtman. “A Brief History of Dada.” Smithsonian Magazine, https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/dada-115169154/.Accessed 5 Dec. 2023.
Voorhies, James. “Surrealism | Essay | The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.” The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/surr/hd_surr.htm. Accessed 5 Dec. 2023.
Victorian Visual Culture 
So interesting to consider the cyclical impact of Alice in Wonderland. As you say, we already have nostalgia for Alice because of consuming it as children, and it is amplified by the explicit, literary sentiment of nostalgia. Double whammy!
By: mayaduganbloom on December 5, 2023
at 1:10 pm
I love both aspects of this post! First, as Maya points out, you unpack the layers of nostalgia for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland that so many people experience. Next, you raise compelling questions about whether this text anticipates Surrealism, is a proleptic example of the kind of work associated with the movement.
By: amartinmhc on December 23, 2023
at 6:02 pm