Complete Alice in Wonderland - L. Carroll [155]
The Back Cover: Holiday’s illustration for the back cover of the first edition portrays a hazard buoy, rocking in wild seas. The ironwork of its frame spells out the words, “IT WAS A BOOJUM.” A bell, of course, is ringing in the buoy’s core.
Speculative Chronology of Jabberwock Isle
By Kent David Kelly
THE FOLLOWING dates pertain to Jabberwock Isle specifically. Interesting correlations, however, can be found when this timeline is collated together with those for Wonderland and Looking-Glass Land!
The Age of the Anglo-Saxons (circa 1000 A.D.): The Jabberwock is slain. (Whenever this actually occurred, it took place in the early evening; the princely Jabberwock slayer met with his father at brillig, which (as Humpty Dumpty tells us) is 4:00 PM.
The Age of England (1066-1855 A.D.): The legend of the Jabberwock fades into obscurity, as the island becomes a distant memory.
1855: Lewis Carroll is mysteriously inspired to write “A Stanza of Anglo-Saxon Poetry,” which will later become “Jabberwocky.” (He may have been inspired by a Snark, or his odd dreams at this time may have given birth to the Snarks themselves. Or both!)
1859: Jabberwock Isle remains forgotten, wild and untouched, as Alice explores nearby Wonderland and Looking-Glass Land. (The White King and others, however, know of Bandersnatches.)
1874: This may be the year of the Hunting of the Snark. (The poem was written in this year, and Carroll was aged 42. If Carroll is indeed represented by the Baker, who announces himself as 42 years old, this is certainly the time period of the story.)
Spring 1874: The Bellman strives to secure funding and a crew for his Snark hunting expedition to Jabberwock Isle.
Summer 1874: The Baker is warned by his Uncle.
Summer 1874: The ship of fools departs for Jabberwock Isle. (Most exploratory voyages overseas take place in the summer, to minimize the danger as much as possible.)
Autumn 1874: The landing is made, and the exploration of Jabberwock Isle begins. The disappearance occurs. (We are told that the ship has been at sea for several months, so an autumn timeframe is likely.)
PART XII
BEYOND WONDERLAND
In Retrospect: Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson)
CHARLES LUTWIDGE DODGSON was certainly one of the most interesting people living in a very interesting time. He was born on January 27, 1832 in a rural parsonage known as Daresbury (near Warrington, Cheshire). His father was a man of the church and his mother was a very loving housewife. Charles had a difficult education in Rugby School, where he may have formed a permanent ill opinion of boys (as opposed to girls). He later went to Oxford, and attended his father’s old college, Christ Church.
Charles had many eccentric friends at school, including Robinson Duckworth. But he preferred the company of children, of whom the most famous to be remembered is Alice Liddell. (The years relating to Alice and the creation of her stories are explained in more detail in the chronology, later in this section.)
Charles was not only a writer of children’s tales, however. In fact, he was quite reclusive and often embarrassed to be known as “the author of Alice,” which led not only to the separation of himself from his pen name, but also to deeper studies in his chosen fields of serious endeavor. Charles was a noted mathematician, logician, inventor, critic, and systems analyst. He loved the theater, games, puzzles, traveling, laughter and adventure. After a long, inspiring and thoroughly eventful life, he died unmarried in 1898.
This capsule biography is shamefully brief; Lewis Carroll was one of the most complex and