Fascinating Photographs of Famous Literary Characters in Real Life

by Emily Temple. Posted on Flavorpill - Sunday Sept 30, 2012

Though they exist in our minds in many forms — the way we conjured them up at first reading, the way they were illustrated or the way they were portrayed on screen — many of our most famous literary characters are in fact based on real people, and have “true” faces beyond any adaptation. Or at least to some extent — at least in fiction, very few characters are true carbon copies (except Kerouac’s). After the jump, we’ve collected a few photographs of the real people behind famous literary characters to invade your memories. Click through to check them out, and since there are of course many more to add to this list, get to it in the comments.



Alice in Wonderland — Alice Liddell

It’s well known that Lewis Carroll took at least some of his inspiration for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland from Alice Liddell, and that he named the title character after her. Though Lewis Carroll played with and photographed many different children, he had a special relationship with the Liddells, and Alice was his favorite. If there’s any doubt, the above image of Alice Liddell, which was taken by Lewis Carroll in 1860, when Alice was 7, was published as a miniature on the last page of the original Alice’s Adventures Underground.