(Spotlight4777)The Man Behind Alice in Wonderland 26 September, 2011
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Hello, and welcome to Spotlight. I'm Liz Waid. Voice 2
And I'm Joshua Leo. This program uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
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'Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and not having anything to do. One or two times she had looked into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or talking in it. Alice could not imagine a book without pictures or talking.' Voice 1
This is from a popular book for children and young adults, Alice in Wonderland . It was written by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. Most people know him as Lewis Carroll. Alice is the main character of the book. She uses her imagination, her ability to form creative ideas. With her imagination, she explores the strange world called Wonderland. Today's Spotlight program is on Lewis Carroll, the man behind Alice in Wonderland . Voice 2
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, or Lewis Carroll, was born in Darnesbury, Cheshire on January 27th, in 1832. He was one of eleven children. In the year 1850, Charles Dodgson started at Christ Church. This is a school in Oxford in the United Kingdom. He showed excellent skills in mathematics. Dodgson earned many awards and degrees in mathematical and religion studies. He wrote many books about mathematics. Those books were important in their area, but were not popular.
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Dodgson soon started writing different books. He decided to publish the new stories under a new name. He created his new name in the year 1856. He translated his last name into Latin, creating the name Ludovicus. He translated Ludovicus back into English, creating Lewis. And he translated Charles into Latin, creating the name Carolus. He then translated Carolus, creating Carroll. He published Alice in Wonderland under the name Lewis Carroll.
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Carroll enjoyed writing fun situations and logic or thinking problems. He also enjoyed turning ideas into games to make the learning easier and more fun. Lewis Carroll is still recognized and respected around the world for his ideas about math and logic problems.
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Lewis Carroll began writing Alice in Wonderland in the year 1862. The story started out simply. It was a short story for a group of three children. These children were daughters of the dean of Christ Church, Henry George Liddell. Their names were Alice, Lorina and Edith Liddell. Young Alice Liddell was the most important child for his story.
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Carroll had a hard time speaking smoothly. But he found it easy to talk to children. He enjoyed being with the Liddell family. With a friend, Robinson Duckworth, he would often take the little children on little trips. They would take a boat on the river for a day, and enjoy a meal together.
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One particular day, Carroll started to tell his story while the children enjoyed their food. The first name of the story was Adventures of Alice Underground. A lot of the story was based on earlier days with the children.
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However, it started to rain. The meal was ruined. But both Duckworth and Alice later said that the rain had inspired Carroll to tell a much better story. Alice even asked Dodgson to write down the story.
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Carroll did as he was asked and wrote down the story for Alice. He also added new parts. He drew a few strange pictures to go along with the stories. Once he was finished writing and drawing pictures, he gave it to Alice. He did not know that he would hear the story again.
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But the story did not end here. The Liddells knew many people, and some of these visitors saw the book. One of these was the novelist Henry Kingsley. He asked Miss Liddell to persuade Lewis Carroll to publish it. Carroll was very surprised. But he had a friend, George Macdonald, who was a very popular children's author. He asked Macdonald what he should do. Macdonald told Carroll that he should publish the story. Macdonald's children had also enjoyed reading the book. Voice 1
Lewis Carroll took his original story and made some changes. He took out a few things. And he added more stories to make the story longer. One of the stories he added was called 'The Walrus and the Carpenter'. Here are a few lines from that story.
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The sun was shining on the sea, Shining with all his might. He did his very best to make The waves smooth and bright. And this was strange because it was The middle of the night.
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'The Jabberwocky' was another story he added. This story is a good example of Lewis Carroll's strange writing. It is one of his most complex stories. He combined different parts of the English language to create new words. This is a great example of Carroll's love of the English language. Here are a few lines from 'The Jabberwocky'. Voice 3
'Twas brilling, and the slithy toves Did gyre and gimble in the wabe All mimsy were the borogoves And the mome raths outgrabe. Voice 2
A few of those words are real words. Most of them are made up. Carroll enjoyed making new problems with numbers and math. So he also enjoyed making new words with different letters. He used a lot of the new words in the poem. People still read this poem in public today.
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Alice in Wonderland was first published in 1865. The book was a huge success. Carroll published a second story about Alice called Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There . This book was also very popular.
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After the release of his books, Carroll continued to teach at Christ Church. He published his last book, Sylvie and Bruno , in 1893. But it was not as popular as his Alice stories. He died of pneumonia in 1898.
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Since his death, many people have discussed Carroll's friendship with the Liddell children. Some people have argued that this relationship was not acceptable. Other people argue that the friendship was innocent. He related better with children. History about this relationship is not clear.
Although Carroll published many different things, his stories for children remain the most popular. Alice in Wonderland was even made into several films.
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Carroll's books have been translated into 125 languages. And his books are still popular today with readers of all ages. Alice in Wonderland continues to reach the imaginations of children and adults all over the world.
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The writer of this program was Erin Layman. The producer was Michio Ozaki. The voices were from the United States. All quotes have been adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. Computer users can hear our programs, read our scripts, and see our word list on our website at http://www.radio.english.net. This program is called 'The Man Behind Alice in Wonderland'. If you have a comment or question for Spotlight you can email us. Our email address is radio@english.net. We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye!
