Since I've been writing a fair amount about cats in the past few days, I think it would be appropriate to include something about one of the more famous literary felines. No, not Dick Whittington's cat (although I can certainly elaborate on that story if anyone is interested), but the Cheshire Cat from Lewis Carroll's
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Like the Ozian Leopard I posted about yesterday (and, for that matter, fellow Wonderland denizens the Mad Hatter and March Hare), the character is based on an expression, in this case "to grin like a Cheshire cat." The phrase dates back at least as far as the late eighteenth century, but its origin isn't entirely clear. Some possible explanations include that it was a reference to the Cheshire cheeses made in the shape of a grinning cat, while others say that it reflected the happiness of the dock cats in Chester. Regardless, the Cheshire Cat of the book does grin throughout its several appearances. The Cat appears to officially be a pet of Wonderland's ugly Duchess, but it comes and goes as it pleases, with its body parts appearing and disappearing at will.
As with many of Carroll's characters, the Cat is probably most often recognized in its form from the Disney movie, in which it's voiced by Sterling Holloway. It's drawn as pink with purple stripes, but I suppose that's artistic license, and Carroll never specifies a color anyway. More significantly, while Carroll's Cheshire Cat can be frustrating, it's usually friendly in its own way. Disney's Cat is, however, genuinely nasty at times, purposely acting to get Alice in trouble with the Queen of Hearts. Not a huge change to the character, perhaps, but an odd one nonetheless. I seem to recall the store at Disney's Hollywood Studios devoted to villains including some Cheshire Cat merchandise.
I've actually seen the grinning feline a few places recently. A store in Portland sold mugs with pictures of the Cat in various states of presence (based on Tenniel's drawings, rather than Disney's), and
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therealtavie mentioned that she owned one of them. Also, the Cat is an important character in the Thursday Next series, working as the librarian in the Great Library that holds every book.
Incidentally, while speculations on the origin of the grinning Cheshire Cat can now be found on the Internet, it was my grandmother's copy of
The Annotated Alice that first introduced me to them. The annotations were written by Martin Gardner, who actually turns 95 today. Gardner is also known for his recreational mathematical puzzles and skepticism, and I believe he was one of the earliest members of the
International Wizard of Oz Club. Unfortunately, his one attempt at an original Oz novel,
Visitors from Oz, isn't very good, at least based on the little bit of it I've read and reviews from fellow Oz fans. But it's odd how often I've come across totally independent mentions of Gardner, right up to
Penn Jillette just recently saying on Twitter that Gardner loves the Penn & Teller iPhone application.
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