Letter: Psychedelic Alice

Sir: In your article "Alice in clubland upsets Lewis Carroll fans" (30 September), Kate Wilson, of Macmillan's Children's Books, claims that "Members of the Lewis Carroll Society will not like this."

Psychedelic videos based upon episodes from Alice in Wonderland have been around for some time. Probably they were a source of inspiration for the new venture described in the article. When one of these short videos was shown at a gathering of the Carroll Society it was greeted with astonishment and delight. If any members objected they certainly kept their objections well hidden.

What I find intriguing is the way Macmillan attempt to shore up the image of Carroll and the Alice books which they themselves have created. Alice in Wonderland is a highly sophisticated work in which all allusions are intended. Ms Wilson happens to be right when she says that Wonderland is "very much to do with innocence". But it has absolutely nothing to do with any narrow conceptions of "purity". The innocence of Wonderland is far from being incompatible with brilliantly humorous satire of drug- taking and of sexual aberrations.

JOHN DOCHERTY

Librarian George MacDonald Society

London WC2