Lewis Carroll Centenary Article

The following remarks where what Joel Birenbaum, President of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America, intended to say at the Dinner at Christ Church, Oxford hosted by the Lewis Carroll Society (UK) on the hundreth anniversary of Lewis Carroll's death. When prompted by Ralph Steadman (shortly after dinner and before speaking) to give 'em the "Welly", he decided to ditch his notes and shoot from the hip. We know from Wonderland that sometimes recitations don't come out exactly as you planned. So people at the dinner heard a bit of this and a bit of that.


First, I bring you greetings from your friends across the pond. Last week I wasn't even sure that I could attend this dinner and now here I am speaking at it. Ah, it's good to be president. There is no more suitable place to be than here at Christ Church to celebrate this anniversary. Does anyone know if this building is available for sale? It would be so much more convenient if it was in the States. (Expect hissing). I'm just kidding. We tried that with London Bridge - we got the wrong bridge and without the history and surrounding environment of England it's not the same.

What is the significance of this centenary? In a centenary year we have EVENTS instead of our normal meetings. Due to the centenary I stand before you in a tuxedo instead of jeans and an Alice in Wonderland T-shirt. We in the societies celebrate Lewis Carroll every year, but in a centenary year we do so with a larger audience. I think we humans see major anniversaries as a time to reflect. I remember getting interested in Lewis Carroll when I was in High School and being amazed at his depth. Years later I began collecting Illustrated editions of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and became more involved with the hunt and later still with recording bibliographic data. Still later I became involved with the LCSNA and was more involve with planning activities and administration of the society. This is a good time to step back, take a breath, and remember what the center of this activity is, the genius of Lewis Carroll.

The greatest accomplishment of his life was to write two childrens books that are a reflection of life that resonates with almost everyone who reads them. This is quite a feat in itself, but then consider that this is true independent of time and geography. That is to say it is as true today as it was when he wrote them and they are accepted in translation all over the World. This is truly phenomenal. This is certainly a man worth remembering on this occasion.

The LCSNA started celebrating the centenary in October, 1997 and will continue to celebrate until the Spring of 1999. We Americans do have a tendency to overdo things as you might have noticed. We invite you all to join us in New York the last weekend in March, 1998 for the centerpiece of these events. Even with the confusion whether the millenium is in the year 2000 or 2001, it will only be celebrated over two years not three. The Carroll Centenary is clearly more important.

There is a tremendous amount of preperation that goes into setting up the centenary events. In fact Mark Richards (Centenary Committee Chairman) called me up last night to see if I had a minute to discuss the plans for the bi-centenary. Now that's what I call optimism. I would like to congratulate the LCS committee for the fine job they have done here in the UK. Well done!

Now I want to introduce Charles Lovett, former President of the LCSNA and current Publications Chairman, to make a presentation to Christ Church.

Joel Birenbaum