of film versions, starting in 1933, both animated
and with live actors, and the term Alice in Wonder-
landhas entered the language as a term for a per-
son caught up in circumstances so unusual that
they are bewildering.
The young Alice, who may or may not have
dreamed the entire story, follows an oddly attired
rabbit into his hole and eventually finds herself in
Wonderland, where she has a series of odd adven-
tures and meets a large cast of memorable charac-
ters including the March Hare, the Mad Hatter,
Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and the Queen of
Hearts. Carroll sprinkled the book with bizarre
images that appealed to young readers, including
a caterpillar whose body parts tend to disappear,
the Mad Hatter’s very nonsensical tea party, cro-
quet played with birds instead of mallets, drugs
that make people grow or shrink, and other in-
spired madness. Alice eventually escapes back to
the real world after a series of adventures that are
exciting without being overly frightening, and she
remains in tight control of herself throughout
most of her experiences. Embedded within the
text are verses including the memorable “The
Hunting of the Snark.”
Alice’s second adventure, Alice Through the
Looking Glass(1871), followed in much the same
vein, this time admitting Alice by means of a magi-
cal mirror through which she can step between
worlds, a device used later in several adult fantasies.
As with the first volume, it has self-contained
poems and episodes, including “Jabberwocky” and
“The Walrus and the Carpenter.” Carroll undoubt-
edly was satirizing people and events around him at
times, although the references are so obscure that
they amounted to little more than a private joke.
The major plot of the novel is somewhat loosely
based on a game of chess.
Although there have been many imitators, one
notable instance being The Phantom Tollbooth
(1961) by Norton Juster, who also shared Carroll’s
interest in mathematics, no other writer has man-
aged to fully capture the madcap atmosphere of the
original. There have also been several sequels of
varying quality, the most recent of which is Alice’s
Journey Beyond the Moon(2004), by R. J. Carter,
which is presented as a lost manuscript complete
with annotations and original illustrations.
The Alvin Maker SeriesOrson Scott Card
(1987–2003)
Orson Scott Card, who is primarily known as a sci-
ence fiction writer, displays clear evidence that his
work has been influenced by his Mormon back-
ground. His deep commitment to his faith is even
more evident in his fantasy fiction, particularly the
Alvin Maker series, which parallels the early days
of the Mormon Church and the original trek to
Utah. Alvin made his debut in Seventh Son(1987),
set in an alternate early America where the Revo-
lution never took place and there is no large na-
tion-state. It is a simpler, more rural version of
America, and one where magic works. Although
the circumstances of his birth as the seventh son
are supposed to confirm Alvin as unusually lucky,
he quickly acquires powerful enemies as he grows
to manhood, a tension that grows more palpable
and dangerous in Red Prophet(1988). By the time
of the events in Prentice Alvin(1989), there is a
clearly dominant opposing figure in the form of
Alvin’s brother, and the two become, to a great ex-
tent, parallels of Christ and the Antichrist.
Although Alvin appears to have fulfilled his
destiny by the end of the original trilogy, Card re-
turned to his character after several years with
Alvin Journeyman(1995). Also back is Calvin, the
“Unmaker,” still determined to thwart his brother’s
plans. The story spreads to a wider stage in Heart-
fire(1998), with a prophetess traveling to Europe
to meet the king of England, and investigations
into the Salem witchcraft trials, which unfortu-
nately took place in this reality as well as our own.
After another considerable gap, Alvin and his fol-
lowers returned in The Crystal City(2003), this
time attempting to establish a separate community
of the faithful in a remote part of the American
West, surrounded by various Native American so-
cieties but still not completely free from the med-
dling of Alvin’s enemies.
With the growing popularity of Christian-
oriented fantasy, it is not surprising that Card’s
Mormon-inspired series found a loyal audience.
They are first and foremost entertainments that
are patterned after historical and religious events,
but they are not designed to proselytize and avoid
the trap of preaching to their audience. Card had
already demonstrated that he could command a4 The Alvin Maker Series