On Friday, March 8 and Saturday, March 9 San Diego State
University had the privilege of hosting the Lewis Carroll Society of North America’s Spring Meeting, and
we loved falling down the rabbit hole together. Fans and scholars of Lewis
Carroll and literature alike came together for exciting talks including
Kathleen Krull’s discussion of the writing and publishing of her children’s
picture book “One Fun Day with Lewis Carroll”. Some familiar faces to the SDSU
campus popped up in Dr. Joseph Thomas’ talk on Shel Silverstein’s “Alice” poem
and Dr. Philip Serrato’s talk “It’s Not Easy Being a Girl in Heteropatriarchy.”
Kathleen Krull detailed her process of researching, writing,
and publishing her picture book, “One Fun Day with Lewis
Carroll: A Celebration of Wordplay and a Girl Named Alice”. After falling in love with
Alice in Wonderland as a child, she
wrote an entire children’s book about Lewis Carroll’s Life utilizing Carroll’s
nonsense words, evoking nostalgia for the whimsical language characterizing Alice
in Wonderland.
Dr. Thomas discussed Shel Silverstein’s “Alice” poem. The
symbols of childhood and play within the poem depends greatly on the knowledge
of Carroll’s original Alice in Wonderland.
The final lines of the poem truly stood out: “And so she changed, while other
folks/Never tried nothin’ at all” (Silverstein, 1974). Another poem he
discussed was Silverstein’s “The Missing Piece”, a poem about an almost
complete circle rejecting his perfectly fit piece. Dr. Thomas argues that this
questions the idea of perfection and “wholeness” by reversing the standards of
a “happy” or “fulfilled” life (pardon the pun), much like how Alice is learning
to accept more of the incongruous aspects of life.
Dr. Serrato’s “It’s Not Easy Being a Girl in a
Heteropatriarchy” upended traditional readings with a gothic reading of Alice’s in Wonderland. Under the guise
of a simple children’s fantasy tale, Dr. Serrato brought to light recycled
gothic features such as the beloved White Rabbit being a symbol of repressed
trauma, and Alice inhabiting the specter of seeing motherhood as fearsome and
unnerving. You can say I am never looking at my favorite childhood book the
same again.
The
meeting concluded with a visit to the once-lost Alice in Wonderland mural hidden on our very own SDSU campus. This
beautiful mural was found under layers of paint and restored by Dr. Seth
Mallios and his dedicated team, and we are so lucky to have a historic piece
that artfully represents the impact that Carroll has had on past SDSU students.
We had so much fun and we hope we get the opportunity to
host the Lewis Carroll Society of North America Again!
Works Cited:
Silverstein, Shel. Where the Sidewalk Ends. Harper
Collins Publishers, 1974.
