Alice and Persephone
Artist Statement
When I first began sifting through the USC Cassady Lewis Carroll Bibliography and learned it was 2076 pages, I immediately became flustered and overwhelmed. I thought to myself, "How could I possibly concoct a research paper when I have every resource in the world in front of me?" And then, it came to me: stick to what I know."Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" was my favorite book as a child. My parents did not buy me a lot of books as we were constantly moving and my books were the heaviest things I owned. But they let me keep Alice. So, in second grade, I read it. And reread it. And reread it. I cherished every page. To this day it continues to be one of my favorites, so much so that for my most recent birthday I treated myself to a collector's edition of the book to furnish my current bookshelf.
As I grew older though, I started to flirt with the teachings and parables of Greek mythology, before falling into a fully-fledged obsession with many of the classic myths. As I began to reread Alice for this paper, so many miniscule details stuck out to me, aligning with a story I knew so very well: Persephone, goddess of spring. I realized that this submission would give me the privilege to merge two of my passions into one, interconnecting two aspects of my life into this lovechild of research and admiration and curiosity.
Once I realized I didn't have to stray too far from my interests to create a credible research topic, I was more comfortable delving into the Cassady Collection. I was so inexplicably impressed with the sheer amount of Carrollian influence that flows throughout each piece of the treasure trove. If I had perhaps carved out more time for myself I surely would have loved to look through each and every piece the USC libraries have to offer, but for this paper I selected four works to disseminate within my Persephone research. I know I have barely scratched the surface of what our libraries have to offer in terms of Lewis Carroll and his craft. Knowing the breadth of the Cassady Collection, I can now state with confidence that I will most definitely be participating in the Wonderland Awards for the rest of my time here at USC, coming at Carroll and Wonderland from a different perspective or angle with each submission.
