There are any number of theories about the inspirations, origins and meaning of the two
Alice books (can't imagine why!
) Not many of them stand up to any scrutiny though.
By day Charles Dodgson was a professor of mathematics and a great logician, indeed a published author on the subject. It seems likely that this academic background was at least partly the real inspiration for the topsy -turvy worlds he created for Alice, both down the rabbit hole and through the looking glass. As she enters these strange lands Alice finds herself in situations where although the starting point is stood on its head, everything that happens is a progression of subverted logical events.
I find this a much more realistic theory than the usual stuff about drugs, and the books do actually make total sense if you bare the above in mind - particularly in the Looking Glass world and her bizarre train journey. (We've all had journeys like that!
)
In terms of his inspiration for the chessboard landscape of the Looking Glass world, Dodgson was from Cheshire and it has been suggested this was what he had in his mind's eye. However, a more likely theory is that he was inspired by the chessboard of fields he saw below him from the top of The Great Orme whilst on holiday in Llandudno. The area was still largely unbuilt-upon, and even today it is still possible to see what Dodgson saw. It is very reminiscent of the description of a chessboard of fields stretching into the far distance just as Alice sees it from the top of a hill.
)