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There is a claim that Lewis Carroll was on drugs of some sort when he wrote Alice in Wonderland (or that the book is about drug use). Regardless of the truth (or lack thereof) of these claims, what are the origins of these claims? Can they be traced back to any specific individual(s) or time period?

EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine
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    Just googling books in tight date ranges, it does not seem that this is an oft-repeated claim. The earliest I can find is 1993 (http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/carroll/aiwl5.html). Do you have evidence that this indeed is an "oft repeated claim"? Ironically the denials that Carroll used drugs exclude his use of laudanum. – fundagain Jun 22 '18 at 14:26
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    Related to Is Alice in Wonderland about drugs? – Fabjaja Jun 22 '18 at 16:03
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    As further evidence that this is not an "oft repeated claim", there is not a single whiff of drugs under any of the controversy sections (which indeed exists) of either https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Carroll nor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland. While everyone thinks Alice is "trippy", I have never heard, let alone read, that Carroll was on drugs. Contrasted with say Coleridge. – fundagain Jun 22 '18 at 18:19
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    @EJoshuaS You obviously have heard this claim often. How did you first hear about it? What other further significant examples did you encounter? – fundagain Jun 22 '18 at 18:39
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    @fundagain I haven't heard it in academic literature by any means, but I've heard variants the rumor (either that the author was on drugs when he wrote it or that the entire book is about drugs) repeated by enough acquaintances that it seems worth asking about the origins of the ideas. – EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine Jun 22 '18 at 19:50
  • While I have never heard the Alice rumour, I have thought about it. I did, however, hear the rumour, at a certain stage of my life, more than once, that Noddy was about drugs. I guess it about the literacy of one's acquaintances. – fundagain Jun 22 '18 at 20:15
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    This claim was already present in the late 1960's, and is in effect implicit in the lyrics of Grace Slick's 1965-6 White Rabbit where Alice's adventures are figuratively equated with a drug trip. Or at least, so my dorm mates insisted. – kimchi lover Jun 22 '18 at 21:00
  • @kimichi lover Your dorm mates reading of White Rabbit, which is a truly awesome work of art, as a "drug trip" is a weak reading. Remember what the dormouse said Feed your head, feed your head. Your dorm mates reading supports my hypothesis that this is something many of us do when faced with any surreal text. – fundagain Jun 23 '18 at 16:26
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    Possible duplicate of Is Alice in Wonderland about drugs? – Rand al'Thor Jun 23 '18 at 23:43
  • @Randal'Thor It isn't a duplicate - I'm asking about the origin of the idea, not whether it's true or not. – EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine Jun 23 '18 at 23:58
  • @kimichi lover Seems I am wrong and you are right. "Slick claimed the composition was supposed to be a slap to parents who read their children such novels and then wondered why their children later used drugs.[8]". So perhaps this song is a key point in the answer to this question. – fundagain Jun 25 '18 at 10:26
  • @Randal'Thor The other question is Is Alice in Wonderland about drugs?. The claim that the book may be about drugs does not imply that its author was on drugs, nor does the claim that the author was on drugs imply that the book is about drugs. The questions are related but not duplicates. – Tsundoku Jun 26 '18 at 07:47

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Unlike Coleridge, for example, the question "Was Carroll on drugs?" does not exist in the literature. As a consequence, there is not a single whiff of drugs in either the Wikipedia entry on Lewis Carroll nor the entry for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Google scholar searches yields only the the medical condition called Alice in Wonderland syndrome.

Alice in Wonderland syndrome is a disorienting neuropsychological condition that affects perception. People experience size distortion such as micropsia, macropsia, pelopsia, or teleopsia. Size distortion may occur of other sensory modalities.

It is often associated with migraines, and the use of psychoactive drugs. It can also be the initial symptom of the Epstein–Barr virus (see mononucleosis).3 AiWS can be caused by abnormal amounts of electrical activity causing abnormal blood flow in the parts of the brain that process visual perception and texture.4

Anecdotal reports suggest that the symptoms are common in childhood,4 with many people growing out of them in their teens. It appears that AiWS is also a common experience at sleep onset,5 and has been known to commonly arise due to a lack of sleep.

Searching Google books in tight date ranges, 1900-1950, 1950-1960, 1960-1970, etc, yields only the above medical condition. The first reference to the question "Was Carroll on drugs?" seems to be the 1993 Opium as a Possible Influence upon the Alice Books, which seems to be a "blog post", unpublished at least (and hence not in any of the Wikipedia entries).

While not a question in the literature, the question "Was Carroll on drugs?" must be a question, since it has an answer, namely no.

How do we reconcile the fact that "Was Carroll on drugs?" is a question with an answer, but not a question in the literature?

I hypothesise that whenever we, the reader, read a surreal text, a few of us ask the question "is it about drugs, man?" Now we have Google to immediately give the answer. In this case, the answer is no.

fundagain
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