Lewis Carroll
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by Arthur Rackham, is a whimsical delight enjoyed by young and old, alike. A host of memorable talking creatures, Mad Hatter tea parties, riddles, puns galore, mushrooms to make you grow or shrink in size, and other nonsensical events are seen through the eyes of Alice, a young girl with the curiosity and wonderment of a child. The novel’s influence is still felt more than 150 years after its publication. The characters and events have become a frame of reference—a sort of shorthand for the nonsensical; expressions such as, “falling down a rabbit hole” and “curiouser and curiouser” have become part of the English lexicon.
This nudge into a fantasy world with eccentric characters, playful language, and a young girl as our guide may be just what the doctor ordered. The escape from rational thinking by turning reason upside down and inside out can be a refreshing reprieve so long as we remember to emerge from the rabbit hole.