Chapter 29

Mention of that book also makes me consider how false is nearly all literary fame, or, rather, how great an element of falsity there is in nearly all such fame. ‘Alice in Wonderland’ is a very remarkable book, as are, indeed, other books of Dodgson’s, though not all. But a large element in its vast diffusion was its consonance with a particular ‘drawing-room’ mood of a particular day. I shall be called blasphemous, I know, but I am perfectly certain that ‘Alice’ will not long survive the ease and unquestioned secur…