Adapting Alice
Illustration as Adaptation, by Marcelle Saulnier
Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) is deserving of its longevity and of its loving readers; this is indicated proudly by the book’s countless adaptations. From the 1951 Disney animated movie to the Tim Burton film released in 2010, the story of Alice has been cherished as a book and as other forms of art, all serving proof of the inspiring nature of Carroll’s fantasy world; his own imagination of Wonderland provokes endless creation by others.The Disney film adaptation was in fact originally slated to be a dual live-action and animated feature, enlisting the creative power of filmmaker Aldous Huxley. However, this project was forgotten as Disney decided to fully animate the film in lieu of attempting a live-action version (Higdon and Lehrman). This choice by Disney to animate the entire story proved a successful one; the film is still enjoyed by children today, nearly 70 years later. Meanwhile, Tim Burton has reimagined the story of Alice, incorporating more blatantly dark themes and choosing an older version of Alice to illustrate the altered plot. Burton plays with the theme of madness, comparing individuals with society and suggesting that our assumptions of what is possible may be entirely backwards (Callen).
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) has been adapted countless times by numerous artists, filmmakers, and even playwrights. However, the first adaptation of Alice was in fact created by Carroll himself. The Nursery “Alice,” published in 1889, is a version of the original story that Carroll rewrote to appeal to an even younger audience of children ages “naught to five” (or, more likely, to the caregivers of said children). The Cassady Collection of Lewis Carroll’s works and artifacts contains two copies of The Nursery “Alice,” each originally belonging to a young child. These physical books represent the tangible nature of this specialized adaptation and bear the evidence of two very different ownerships. While one copy has a more worn cover and was clearly read countless times, the other includes a book plate labeling it property of a princess. Even this is sufficient to show the broad reach of Carroll’s world of Wonderland.
The original book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland featured illustrations by renowned artist John Tenniel, who lended his creative interpretation as well as his elite status to the book, leading to increased readership upon publication. Carroll’s adaptation into The Nursery “Alice” was meant to simplify the original story, making it more accessible to smaller children who could not even read themselves. In keeping with Alice’s own declaration at the beginning of the story, pictures are what make a book worthwhile; in this case, pictures actually dominated. Carroll enlisted Tenniel’s help once again to re-illustrate the scenes from Alice with this younger audience in mind. It was based off of these illustrations, rather than the other way around, that Carroll filled in the text of the story. Tenniel’s work, both for the original Alice books and the nursery version, has been long praised for its imaginative representation of Wonderland.
What is more, critics have analyzed Tenniel’s drawings and argued that his choices and style served not only to increase reader engagement, but also to build tone and suggest thematic elements in the text that may have appealed more to a broad range of readers. Tenniel’s renown, then, was not the sole reason why Carroll chose him; Tenniel’s illustrations lived up to the elite reputation. In her article “The Animals of Wonderland: Tenniel as Carroll’s Reader,” scholar Rose Lovell-Smith dives into the complexities of Tenniel’s illustrated interpretations of the text of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Lovell-Smith argues that the style and details of the illustrations allow readers to experience a depth of tone that would be lost without the images. Tenniel creates a visual component that draws on social and political issues of the time, especially in the way that the animals are given such distinctly human clothing and mannerisms. Additionally, Lovell-Smith argues that the depictions of Alice’s size transformations and of the animals she encounters encourage a more complicated scientific reading; Darwinian theories on evolution were in debate at the time, making this a bold statement (Lovell-Smith). Tenniel’s choices in illustrating the original Alice suggest that, in a way, his drawings are an adaptation in and of themselves. The illustrations do not just accompany the text but they also drastically broaden the analysis we can perform on Carroll’s work and set the stage for many more interpretations and adaptations to come.
Just as it is significant to consider Tenniel’s role as the original illustrator, it is also interesting to note that it was Tenniel’s updated and full-color illustrations that formed the primary basis of The Nursery “Alice.” Carroll had the inspiration for the project in 1881, deciding that he should continue the Alice legacy by expanding his audience. Over the course of the decade, Carroll enlisted Tenniel’s illustration services again; Tenniel redrew 20 fully colored illustrations that best summarized the story of Alice in Wonderland. It was based off of these newly illustrated images that Carroll filled in the minimal text of the book, intending that the very young children be entertained by the images and the corresponding descriptions of the story as read by a parent or caretaker. Rebranded as The Nursery “Alice,” and drawing clearly on the foundational success of the first two Alice books, this version — arguably the first adaptation of the original — was marketed towards children who would enjoy the images. This choice on Carroll’s behalf to emphasize the images is indicative not only of the altered audience, but of the intense attraction of Tenniel’s illustrations. The power of these illustrations is further demonstrated by the works of other artists, including even the surrealist Salvador Dalí, which provide numerous interpretations of Alice across various media and styles. The initial inclusion of illustrations in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland undoubtedly inspired the imaginations of other artists, but the original images by Tenniel remain the source of all adaptations that followed. Clearly, Tenniel’s imagination and pen captured the whimsy of Wonderland in a way that was worthy of a book such as The Nursery “Alice.”