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Alice at 150 and Counting

By Peggy Roalf   Thursday July 2, 2015

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland revolutionized children’s literature by flouting the conventions of its day. It sought neither to educate nor to instruct, but only to delight. It has never been out of print and is translated into over 125 languages

Since copyright expired in 1907 Alice has inspired almost every major illustrator from Arthur Rackham to Ralph Steadman and artists and designers from Salvador Dali and Max Ernst to John Galliano. Parodies, sequels and adaptations abound from comics to computer games. Its language, like Shakespeare, permeates our vernacular and informs the way we see and make sense of our world. 

Together with her exuberant companions, the Mad Hatter, the Cheshire Cat and the White Rabbit, the Alice of Lewis Carroll’s Wonderland influences and inspires beyond the parameters of the text. As the comic book artist Bryan Talbot reveals, Alice lives in our ‘collective imagination’, pervading our literature, art, music, law, politics, philosophy and religion.

In the New York area, exhibitions continue, with more to come in the fall:

150 Years of Wonderland at the Morgan Library and Museum, through October 11, 2015. Information

Centenary Exhibit at the Butler Library, Columbia University, September 7-December 4, 2015. Information.

Alice in a World of Wonderlands at the Grolier Club, September 16-November 21, 2015. Information.

Flat Alice in Wonderland and Popular Culture, at the Fales Library, NUY, September 26-December 11, 2015. URL

Alice Live!, at the New York Public Library of Performing Arts, September 18, 2015-January 7, 2016. TBA.

Down the Rabbit Hole: Celebraring 150 Years of Alice in Wonderland, The Rosenbach Museum & Library, Philadelphia, Octiber 14, 2015-March 27, 2016. Information.

For World Events, conferences, publications etc, visit Alice 150here.

 


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