In Our Time
BBC Radio 4
Categories: Education
Listen to the last episode:
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Lewis Carroll's book which first appeared in print in 1865 with illustrations by John Tenniel. It has since become one of the best known works in English, captivating readers who follow young Alice as she chases a white rabbit, pink eyed, in a waistcoat with pocket watch, down a rabbit hole that becomes a well and into wonderland. There she meets the Cheshire Cat, the Hatter, the March Hare, the Mock Turtle and more, all the while growing smaller and larger, finally outgrowing everyone at the trial of Who Stole the Tarts from the Queen of Hearts and exclaiming 'Who cares for you? You’re nothing but a pack of cards!'
With
Franziska Kohlt Leverhulme Research Fellow in the History of Science at the University of Leeds and the Inaugural Carrollian Fellow of the University of Southern California
Kiera Vaclavik Professor of Children’s Literature and Childhood Culture at Queen Mary, University of London
And
Robert Douglas-Fairhurst Professor of English Literature at Magdalen College, University of Oxford
Producer: Simon Tillotson
Reading list:
Kate Bailey and Simon Sladen (eds), Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser (V&A Publishing, 2021)
Gillian Beer, Alice in Space: The Sideways Victorian World of Lewis Carroll (University of Chicago Press, 2016)
Will Brooker, Alice's Adventures: Lewis Carroll and Alice in Popular Culture (Continuum, 2004)
Humphrey Carpenter, Secret Gardens: A Study of the Golden Age of Children’s Literature (first published 1985; Faber and Faber, 2009)
Lewis Carroll (introduced by Martin Gardner), The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition, (W. W. Norton & Company, 2000)
Gavin Delahunty and Christoph Benjamin Schulz (eds), Alice in Wonderland Through the Visual Arts (Tate Publishing, 2011)
Robert Douglas-Fairhurst, The Story of Alice: Lewis Carroll and the Secret History of Wonderland (Harvill Secker, 2015)
Colleen Hill, Fairy Tale Fashion (Yale University Press, 2016)
Franziska Kohlt, Alice through the Wonderglass: The Surprising Histories of a Children's Classic (Reaktion, forthcoming 2025) Franziska Kohlt and Justine Houyaux (eds.), Alice: Through the Looking-Glass: A Companion (Peter Lang, forthcoming 2024)
Charlie Lovett, Lewis Carroll: Formed by Faith (University of Virginia Press, 2022)
Elizabeth Sewell, The Field of Nonsense (first published 1952; Dalkey Archive Press, 2016)
Kiera Vaclavik, 'Listening to the Alice books' (Journal of Victorian Culture, Volume 26, Issue 1, January 2021)
Diane Waggoner, Lewis Carroll's Photography and Modern Childhood (Princeton University Press 2020)
Edward Wakeling, The Man and his Circle (IB Tauris, 2014)
Edward Wakeling, The Photographs of Lewis Carroll: A Catalogue Raisonné (University of Texas Press, 2015)
Previous episodes
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967 - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Thu, 14 Mar 2024
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966 - Hormones Thu, 07 Mar 2024
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965 - The Hanseatic League Thu, 29 Feb 2024
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964 - Panpsychism Thu, 22 Feb 2024
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963 - Nefertiti Thu, 15 Feb 2024
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962 - Condorcet Thu, 08 Feb 2024
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961 - Twelfth Night, or What You Will Thu, 25 Jan 2024
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956 - Vincent van Gogh Thu, 18 Jan 2024
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955 - Tiberius Thu, 11 Jan 2024
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954 - Karl Barth Thu, 04 Jan 2024
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953 - Edgar Allan Poe Thu, 28 Dec 2023
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952 - Marguerite de Navarre Thu, 21 Dec 2023
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951 - The Theory of the Leisure Class Thu, 14 Dec 2023
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950 - The Barbary Corsairs Thu, 07 Dec 2023
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949 - Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics Thu, 30 Nov 2023
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948 - Germinal Thu, 23 Nov 2023
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947 - Julian of Norwich Thu, 16 Nov 2023
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946 - The Federalist Papers Thu, 09 Nov 2023
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945 - Plankton Thu, 02 Nov 2023
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944 - The Economic Consequences of the Peace Thu, 26 Oct 2023
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943 - The Seventh Seal Thu, 19 Oct 2023
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942 - Melvyn Bragg talks to Mishal Husain Thu, 19 Oct 2023
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941 - Albert Einstein Thu, 12 Oct 2023
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694 - Jupiter Thu, 27 Jul 2023
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693 - Elizabeth Anscombe Thu, 20 Jul 2023
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692 - Death in Venice Thu, 13 Jul 2023
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691 - Oedipus Rex Thu, 06 Jul 2023
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690 - Mitochondria Thu, 29 Jun 2023
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689 - Louis XIV: The Sun King Thu, 22 Jun 2023
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688 - Virgil's Georgics Thu, 15 Jun 2023
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687 - The Shimabara Rebellion Thu, 08 Jun 2023
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686 - The Dead Sea Scrolls Thu, 01 Jun 2023
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685 - Walt Whitman Thu, 25 May 2023
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684 - Linnaeus Thu, 18 May 2023
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683 - The Battle of Crécy Thu, 11 May 2023
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682 - Cnut Thu, 04 May 2023
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681 - A Room of One's Own Thu, 27 Apr 2023
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680 - Solon the Lawgiver Thu, 20 Apr 2023
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679 - Mercantilism Thu, 13 Apr 2023
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678 - The Ramayana Thu, 06 Apr 2023
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677 - Megaliths Thu, 30 Mar 2023
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676 - Paul Erdős Thu, 23 Mar 2023
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675 - Stevie Smith Thu, 16 Mar 2023
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674 - Chartism Thu, 09 Mar 2023
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673 - Tycho Brahe Thu, 02 Mar 2023
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672 - Superconductivity Thu, 23 Feb 2023
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671 - Rawls' Theory of Justice Thu, 16 Feb 2023
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670 - John Donne Thu, 09 Feb 2023
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669 - The Great Stink Thu, 26 Jan 2023
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668 - Persuasion Thu, 19 Jan 2023