Charles Dodgson, to whom we will hereafter refer by his pseudonym Lewis Carroll, wrote Alice's Adventures in Wonderland for a little girl he befriended named Alice Liddell. There are many jokes in the text specifically connecting Alice Liddell to the Alice of the story, though obviously the story has had a long life unconnected to her. Lewis Carroll has been tarred as a vaguely shady character due to his penchant for befriending very young girls, but there is no evidence that his relationship with Liddell was inappropriate.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland are known today for their wicked satire of Victorian mores and for their absurdist joy. Alice and her adventures are strange and...