The Great Puzzle: Issues of self-identity in Carroll's Wonderland

Earlier this year, Jen Harrison at East Stroudsburg University, asked me to write a Guest Post on her blog, The Worrisome Words. Here's a link to my post "The Great Puzzle: Issues of Self-identity in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."

Thanks Professor Harrison for publishing my essay on a question Alice asks, "Who in the world am I?"

Remembering Morton Cohen

 I was saddened to learn of the passing of Morton Cohen at age 96 who obituary is in The New York Times. Cohen was the premiere Lewis Carroll scholar. He edited the two-volume The Letters of Lewis Carroll, with assistance from Roger Lancelyn Green, which was published in 1979. Cohen's Lewis Carroll: A Biography (1995, is the definitive biography on the Victorian author, photographer, and mathematician. 

Cohen was a classic researcher and scholar. While Cohen published many works on Carroll, the edited Letters and the biography form the basis for serious Lewis Carroll scholarship. 

I was fortunate to meet Cohen on several occassions through the meetings of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America. He was formal,  but friendly. He seemed be a man steeped in Victorian culture. 

Cohen was also well known for significant work on H. Rider Haggard.

After a lifetime of researching Lewis Carroll, Cohen wrote his definitive Lewis Carroll: A Biography. Click here or on the title to a link of a .pdf of my book review of Cohen's biography: "On a First-Name Basis with Charles Lutwidge Dodgson" published in Children's Literature 26. 

Secrets of Famous Children's Literature

Do you know about the real lost map that's connected to Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson? This mystery is one of several background stories about children's books that I talked about with Rachel Hatch in an article in the latest issue of Redbird Scholar, Illinois State University's magazine on faculty & staff research.

Q&A with Jan Susina: Secrets and origins of famous children's literature

 Jan Susina

Chatting about Lewis Carroll with Kara Miller of Innovation Hub

How did Lewis Carroll change children's literature and publishing? Those were the questions that Kara Miller wanted to know about when she interviewed me from WGBH's radio show  "Innovation Hub." The show airs Saturday, Nov. 21, at 10 a.m. eastern time. Here's a link to the blog post: http://blogs.wgbh.org/innovation-hub/2015/11/20/what-you-dont-know-about-alice-wonderland/

We had fun chatting about how Lewis Carroll was influential in changing children's literature from didactic to more entertaining. We also talked about how Carroll was involved in publishing the first Alice book.

I appreciated the opportunity share the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the publcation of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" with WGBH, a radio station I enjoyed listening to when I lived in Boston.

Update on Wednesday, January 27, 2016 at 09:56PM by JAS

Thanks to Innovation Hub for re-tweeting about my interview on Lewis Carroll's birthday.

Evolution of Alice exhibit at Milner Library

Photos from the new exhibit of "The Evolution of Alice in Wonderland for 150 years" at Milner Library at Illinois State University. 

Title of Alice in Wonderland exhibit near Special Collections on the 6th floor of Milner Library at Illinois State UniversityA first edition of Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and materials inspired by Alice.

Alice puppets from the library's Lois Lenski collections