Why is a raven like a writing desk?

This confusing riddle is one of the authentic connections Tim Burton's film Alice in Wonderland (2010)The Wonderland Postage-Stamp Case (1890) connects with Lewis Carroll's original Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865).  The Mad Hatter asks this riddle in Carroll's book, but Carroll never gave the answer in his original text. 

However, in the 1896 edition Carroll wrote: "Enquiries have been so often address to me as to whether any answer to the Hatter's riddle can be imagined, that I may as well put on record here what seems to be a fairly appropriate answer, viz. 'Because it can produce a few notes, though they are very flat; and it is nevar put with the wrong end in front!' This, however, is merely an after-thought: the Riddle, as originally invented, hand no answer at all."  In Carroll's explanation, he spells never as 'nevar' as this is the reverse of 'raven,' a type of mirror writing that Carroll was so found of.

I had wanted to post about this riddle on April 1, but alas I broken a bone in my right foot the week before and am hobbling about everywhere.  Still, it's worth writing about.  Chapter 3 in my book, The Place of Lewis Carroll in Children's Literature, is primarily devoted to the raven conundrum.  British anthropologist Francis Huxley has even devoted an entire book on the problem, The Raven and the Writing Desk (1976).

Here are a few my thoughts excerpted from my book.

"As a compulsive creator of riddles and puzzles, it seems almost nonsensical that Carroll would publish a riddle without a solution in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.... The Mad Hatter's riddle is certainly not like the 'tremendously easy riddles'  (Wonderland, p.182 see below) that Alice A letter Lewis Carroll wrote to a child friend in backward handwriting that had to be read in a mirror. From an exhibit at the University of Illinois libraryposes to Humpty-Dumpty in Looking-Glass. ... Following Alice's procedure - which was to think 'over all she could remember about ravens and writing-desks, which wasn't much' (Wonderland, p. 61), I want to speculate on the possible connection between these two seemingly dissimilar objects and suggest that the solution may very well have to do with Carroll's own letter writing."

"Ravens have a rich history in folklore.  They are, as the scientist Bernd Heinrich points out in Ravens in Winter (1989) (p. 20), considered to be 'the brains of the birld world.'  In many mythologies, ravens are messengers who have the ability to speak and understand human language.  For example, in Norse mythology, odin, the chief God, kept two ravens perched on his shoulders. .. They were sent out at dawn to gather news from around the world and report back to him...

"Carroll had a serious interest in Anglo-Saxon language and literature. ... I would argue that the Mad Hatter's The Exeter Bookriddle has a more fitting Anglo-Saxon source in the riddles of The Exeter Book, which is an anthology of ninety Old English riddles and one Latin riddle.  The first systematic attempt to solve all the riddles in The Exeter Book was the series of articles in 1859 and 1865 by Franz Dietrich (which is around the time Wonderland was being created). The characters at the Mad Tea-Party who subsequently reappear as the Anglo-Saxon messengers certainly engage in a sort of riddle contest.   Two of the riddles from The Exeter Book have inkwell or inkhorn as the solution.  Riddle 89 has the inkwell fixed on a wooden table and features a quill made from a raven's feather."

"The most overt appearance of a letter in Wonderland is when Alice observes the Fish-Footman deliver to the Frog-Footman the invitation from the Duchess to play croquet with the Queen. Odin with Ravens In many ways, this episode embodies Carroll's attitude toward letters and letter-writing, specifically those letter that he wrote to children.  It is significant that the letter is an invitation to play a game because Carroll's letters were essentially a spirited game of wordplay between two partners."

"Within Carroll's playful approach to language, books and letters became an entertaining game between author and readers -- in which a baby becomes a pig or a raven is like a writing desk.  The stuttering and awkward speaker, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, retreats to his writing desk, and through the power of letters, is able to transform himself into Lewis Carroll, the clever creator of letters and books.  Significantly, the solution that I propose to the Mad Hatter's riddle also points to solving the vexing riddle of the two divergent personalities of Lewis Carroll, the inventive author of children's books, and Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, the seemingly dull Oxford lecturer of mathematics.  Carroll signed his letters both as "Lewis Carroll" and "Charles Lutwidge Dodgson" and on rare occassions as both.  Most of his letters written to children are signed "Dodgson," rather than "Carroll."  It is in his letters that the two seemingly distinctive aspects of his personality are united."

The text referenced Wonderland above is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. 1865/1871. Edited with an introduction and notes by Hugh Haughton. New York: Penguin, 1998.  This is the edition I teach from and think is a good standard source of the books.

Lewis Carroll and the Creation of the Alice Industry talk

I'm putting the finishing touches on "Lewis Carroll and the Creation of the Alice Industry," my talk to the Friends of the Milner Library on Tuesday, March 30.

Here are a few images that I will be discusing:

Flora Rankin in "No Lessons Today" 1863. Photograph by Lewis CarrollPhoebe Carlo in Henry Savile Clarke's Alice in Wonderland: A Musical Dream Play, 1876.Alice Biscuit tin, 1892.

Talk on Lewis Carroll next Tuesday

The Friends of Milner Library have kindly invited me to speak at their spring meeting about "The Place of Lewis Carroll in Children's Literature."  My talk will be Tuesday, March 30, at 7 p.m. in the Bone Student Center Founders Suite. 

I plan to give a talk and slide presentation based on my recent book from Routledge with a focus on Carroll as a book author, publisher, marketer, entrepreneur, scholar.  I will examine the importance of the Alice books within the history of children's literature -- including why they're pivotal in the field. I thought I would also briefly touch on some of the myths and misconceptions of Carroll.  I'm also working in a few thoughts about the recent Alice in Wonderland film as well.

Thanks to Toni Tucker at Milner for organizing the talk and to Eric Jome for additional publicity from Media Relations.

Mad-Hatter Tea party with Lewis Carroll's chessboard

The new Alice in Wonderland film has inspired a whirlwind of parties and events around the world.  It's great that the Alice books can stimulate so many imaginative ideas! Even though I may not be particularly keen onLewis Carroll's chessboard on exhibit at University of Illinois Tim Burton's Alice escapade, I am thrilled to see so many people get excited about the Alice books.

We were happy to be invited to a Mad-Hatter's Tea Party at the University of Illinois's Rare Book & Manuscript Library.  The Library was finishing a good exhibit of Lewis Carroll and Alice in Wonderland materials that are housed there titled "Curioser and Curioser: The Games and Mindgames of Lewis Carroll."  The most interesting objects on exhibit were the chessboard that Lewis Carroll used and letters that Carroll wrote to a child in mirror script.

It was an astonishingly fun party for children and adults surounded by objects that Carroll either created or owned.  The party featured giant cards, a beautifully set tea table, cookies marked "Eat Me," and an A chocolate and fondant chessboard cake.amazing cake shaped liked a chessboard complete with chocolate and white chocolate chess pieces.  The Cheshire Cat told the true story of her origins.  The Mad Hatter munched on carrots and apples and was a delightful master of ceremonies.  The Caterpillar smoked a soap bubble hookah.  Children and adults were dressed up in great costumes.  It was the best Mad-Tea Party we've been to.

Two Mad Hatters ready to challenge Johnny DeppEat Me cookies for Alice and friendsPartygoers could read original Lewis Carroll's letters in mirror script.

The cute Dormouse popped out of a teapot to enjoy the festivities.

Much Ado About Alice: Thoughts on the new Wonderland

Unless you’ve been living in a rabbit hole, you’re probably aware that Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland promotion poster for Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderlandopened up this weekend.  Its first day ticket sales were more successful than Avatar’s first day. But just because a lot of people go to see a film, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a great film.

There is an inverse relationship between Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland and Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland: the more you like the Alice books, the more you are probably going to dislike Burton’s film.  Obviously, I like the Alice books.  That’s not to say films are always inferior to the books on which they’re based.  For example, Victor Fleming’s Wizard of Oz film is more effective than L. Frank Baum’s Wonderful Wizard of Oz original novel.

This is not a film version of the Alice books.  Instead, key characters from the Alice books appear in the film.  It’s a bit like Gavin Miller’s Dreamchild in that an older Alice revists Wonderland.  In Dreamchild, it’s an 80-year-old Alice reflecting on the books and her friendship with Lewis Carroll.  In the new film, Alice is a fetching, independent 19-year-old contemplating a marriage proposal to a wimpy, titled young man.   Unlike Dreamchild, Lewis Carroll is absent in this film and even his usual stand-ins, the Dodo and the White Knight, don’t appear.

I think the film is misnamed and should be called Return to Wonderland.  Burton’s Wonderland relates to Carroll’s Alice books in the same way that Walter Murch’s Return to Oz relates to Baum’s Oz series.

What is surprising about this film is how much references previous films.  It is a very much a pastiche of similar films, mostly fantasy films.  Tim Burton clearly references his previous films, including Nightmare Before Christmas, Edward Scissorhands, Sweeney Todd, Corpse Bride, and Planet of the Apes. The screenwriter, Linda Woolverton has helped with Disney films such as The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast.  So, the film dips into Disney references including the opening taken directly from the Disney animated Peter Pan.  Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter is a combination of Peter Pan, the Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz combined with Jack Sparrow from the Pirates of the Caribbean series and the Joker from Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Night and perhaps Charlie Chaplin.

There are plenty of references to The Wizard of Oz and the Broadway musical Wicked, The Golden Compass, and The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.  The last two films were inspired by the success of The Lord of the Rings, so that’s in here, too.  The relationship between the Red and White Queens is borrowed from Wicked.  Others have noted reference to The Princess Bride and Shrek.  The fighting Dormouse reminded me of The Tales of Despereaux.

Woolverton seems to have acknowledged problems with the script.  In fact, a running theme throughout the film is whether this is the ‘right’ Alice.  The Wonderland characters frequently ask the White Rabbit if he has brought the wrong Alice back.  Is she an imitation Alice? Has she lost her Muchness? She’s not Alice, but Almost Alice. In short, Tim Burton has directed the wrong Alice.  I sort of think he knows this because the question of an authentic Alice is an essential aspect of the film.

Alice is warned in this film not to divert herself from the path.  Alice replies, I don’t divert myself from the path, I make the path.  If you are going to re-write Alice in Wonderland, then you better be as good a writer as Lewis Carroll. 

Burton’s film is not as bad as the dreadful The Cat in the Hat by Bo Welch, which featured Mike Meyers as the Cat.  But it is not as inventive as the interpretation of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are by Dave Eggers and Spike Jonez.

Mia Wasikowska makes an arresting Alice.  But viewers haven’t seen so much skin in Alice since the 1976 X-rated, musical version of Alice in Wonderland.  Not only does Tim Burton feature a 20-year-old play Alice, she is constantly on the verge of having her clothes slip off.  Sometimes this film feels as if it’s a Maxim version of Alice in Wonderland.

In the beginning of the film, Alice refuses to wear a corset or stocking, which shocks her proper Victorian mother.  Once the adventure begins, Alice is running around in flimsy petticoats in a land that’s actually Underland, not Wonderland.  Alice’s clothes never quite fit; they are either too tight, too loose, too short, or slipping off completely. This is less Queen Victoria’s Alice and more of a Victoria’s Secret Alice.

Not only does Burton up the sexualization of Alice, but he increases the violence in Wonderland as well.  This film transforms a minor episode of Through the Looking-Glass involving the Jabberwocky into the climax of the film.  This has become a violent film, as so many children’s fantasy films are these days.  They all have to end with a big battle.  The original Alice books are much less violent.  When the Red Queen says “Off with her head,” the King quietly pardons them.  In this film, the King’s head is floating in the moat with the other heads that have been cut off by order of the Red Queen. This is mock execution the way children play.  It wasn’t intended to be staged execution viewed with violent lust by the Red Queen, as it is in this film.

There are a several clever additions to the Alice film.  Much is done with the Hatter’s meditation on words beginning with the letter M.  But a couple of words not mentioned in the film are a fair description of it: messy, major mashup of previous children’s movies, and mayhem.  Tweedledum and Tweedledee characters are great.  The landscapes are highly imaginative.

I felt the 3-D version seemed somewhat of a distraction to me and unnecessary.  Younger audience members seemed to like it.  Ironically, Carroll would have been fascinated with 3-D films. 

While this is certainly not my favorite Alice film, it is an interesting variation on Carroll’s characters.  But as long as it directs some folks back to Lewis Carroll’s original Alice books, it’s fine with me.