In 1862 Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a shy Oxford mathematician with a stammer, created a story about a little girl tumbling down a rabbit hole. Thus began the immortal adventures of Alice, perhaps the most popular heroine in English literature. Countless scholars have tried to define the charm of the Alice books–with those wonderfully eccentric characters the Queen of Hearts, Tweedledum, and Tweedledee, the Cheshire Cat, Mock Turtle, the Mad Hatter et al.– by proclaiming that they really comprise a satire on language, a political allegory, a parody of Victorian children’s literature, even a reflection of contemporary ecclesiastical history. Perhaps, as Dodgson might have said, Alice is no more than a dream, a fairy tale about the trials and tribulations of growing up–or down, or all turned round–as seen through the expert eyes of a child. From the Paperback edition. In 1862 Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a shy Oxford  mathematician with a stammer, created a story about  a little girl tumbling down a rabbit hole. Thus  began the immortal adventures of Alice, perhaps the  most popular heroine in English literature.  Countless scholars have tried to define the charm of  the Alice books--with those  wonderfully eccentric characters the Queen of Hearts,  Tweedledum and Tweedledee, the Cheshire Cat, Mock  Turtle, the Mad Hatter et al.--by proclaiming that  they really comprise a satire on language, a  political allegory, a parody of Victorian children's  literature, even a reflection of contemporary  ecclesiastical history. Perhaps, as Dodgson might have  said, Alice is no more than a  dream, a fairy tale about a trials and tribulations  of growing up--or down, or all tumed round--as  seen through the expert eyes of a child. From the Paperback edition.