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Lewis Carroll – Charles Lutwidge Dodgson
On January 27th in 1832, Lewis Carroll was born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, at Daresbury parsonage, Cheshire. His family’s strong religious heritage and his education at Christ Church, Oxford, sparked his starting a religious career (he became a reverend), but his stammer and general shyness prevented him from gaining a higher position than deacon or holding sermons on a regular basis.
His father Charles, also a reverend, apparently conveyed his sense of nonsensical humour and his interest in mathematics to him, because his son studied and, from 1855 on, taught mathematics at Christ Church, Oxford. He remained lecturer at the college up to his death in 1898 (Jan. 14th). His lectures were said to be exceptionally boring, and in fact his contributions to mathematical studies were few and not of any great significance to the academic community.
However Rev. C.L. Dodgson had a keen interest in all sorts of logical and mathematical problems and puzzles, and as a lover of games – mind games especially – invented a great deal of games himself.
He also sported a deep – and apparently nonsexual - affection towards little girls.
Alice Liddell, one of the three daughters of the Dean of Christ Church, is very often referred to as Carroll’s “great love.” She used to be his favourite child friend during her childhood, and also one of his favourite motifs for photography. (He did not only portray his child friends, but also grown-ups, adult friends, family, and celebrities, developing great skill in the new art.) Alice Liddell, whose name he borrowed for his most famous literary works, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, remained a friend, whom he wrote often and received letters from.
Dodgson’s first completed literary work was a collection of poems titled Useful and Instructive Poetry (1845), which was not published until 1954. It already hints at thoughts about dreams and the state of sleep and fantasies which Carroll later used to produce Alice.
How the actual story of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland came to be is recorded in his diary. On July 4th in 1862, on an afternoon trip near Oxford with the three Liddell sisters, they urged him to tell a story, which he later wrote out, originally just for Alice Liddell to read. His friend George Macdonald (author of At the Back of the North Wind, published in 1871) however persuaded him to have it published. John Tenniel consented to contribute illustrations to Alice, and a publisher, Macmillan, was found. The book then became an immediate success.
Because of its several different possible approaches to interpretation, it has invited children and grown-ups alike to read. It has been published in over a hundred languages, and has never lost any of its popularity. There are numerous adaptations of Alice in the forms of books, comics, TV series, movies, stage plays, and even computer and video games. There is even a store dedicated to Alice in Oxford (the Sheepshop).
With Alice, Lewis Carroll has contributed an exceptional and unequaled piece of literature to the genre of children’s books, the fantastical and nonsensical elements of which have been fascinating millions of readers and inspiring other artists. To this day, Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland is an important classic, the most famous nonsensical novel in the world, and might still be the most famous children’s book as well.
Bibliography
Magazines:
Derek Hudson, Writers And Their Work: 96 (1966)
Books:
Lewis Carroll, The Annotated Alice (Norwich: Fletcher & Son Ltd, 1976)
Stuart Dodgson Collingwood, The Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll (Rev. C.L. Dodgson) (New York: The Century Co., 1898)
Sidney Herbert Williams and Falconer Madan, The Lewis Carroll Handbook (London: Oxford UP, 1962)
On January 27th in 1832, Lewis Carroll was born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, at Daresbury parsonage, Cheshire. His family’s strong religious heritage and his education at Christ Church, Oxford, sparked his starting a religious career (he became a reverend), but his stammer and general shyness prevented him from gaining a higher position than deacon or holding sermons on a regular basis.
His father Charles, also a reverend, apparently conveyed his sense of nonsensical humour and his interest in mathematics to him, because his son studied and, from 1855 on, taught mathematics at Christ Church, Oxford. He remained lecturer at the college up to his death in 1898 (Jan. 14th). His lectures were said to be exceptionally boring, and in fact his contributions to mathematical studies were few and not of any great significance to the academic community.
However Rev. C.L. Dodgson had a keen interest in all sorts of logical and mathematical problems and puzzles, and as a lover of games – mind games especially – invented a great deal of games himself.
He also sported a deep – and apparently nonsexual - affection towards little girls.
Alice Liddell, one of the three daughters of the Dean of Christ Church, is very often referred to as Carroll’s “great love.” She used to be his favourite child friend during her childhood, and also one of his favourite motifs for photography. (He did not only portray his child friends, but also grown-ups, adult friends, family, and celebrities, developing great skill in the new art.) Alice Liddell, whose name he borrowed for his most famous literary works, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass, remained a friend, whom he wrote often and received letters from.
Dodgson’s first completed literary work was a collection of poems titled Useful and Instructive Poetry (1845), which was not published until 1954. It already hints at thoughts about dreams and the state of sleep and fantasies which Carroll later used to produce Alice.
How the actual story of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland came to be is recorded in his diary. On July 4th in 1862, on an afternoon trip near Oxford with the three Liddell sisters, they urged him to tell a story, which he later wrote out, originally just for Alice Liddell to read. His friend George Macdonald (author of At the Back of the North Wind, published in 1871) however persuaded him to have it published. John Tenniel consented to contribute illustrations to Alice, and a publisher, Macmillan, was found. The book then became an immediate success.
Because of its several different possible approaches to interpretation, it has invited children and grown-ups alike to read. It has been published in over a hundred languages, and has never lost any of its popularity. There are numerous adaptations of Alice in the forms of books, comics, TV series, movies, stage plays, and even computer and video games. There is even a store dedicated to Alice in Oxford (the Sheepshop).
With Alice, Lewis Carroll has contributed an exceptional and unequaled piece of literature to the genre of children’s books, the fantastical and nonsensical elements of which have been fascinating millions of readers and inspiring other artists. To this day, Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland is an important classic, the most famous nonsensical novel in the world, and might still be the most famous children’s book as well.
Bibliography
Magazines:
Derek Hudson, Writers And Their Work: 96 (1966)
Books:
Lewis Carroll, The Annotated Alice (Norwich: Fletcher & Son Ltd, 1976)
Stuart Dodgson Collingwood, The Life and Letters of Lewis Carroll (Rev. C.L. Dodgson) (New York: The Century Co., 1898)
Sidney Herbert Williams and Falconer Madan, The Lewis Carroll Handbook (London: Oxford UP, 1962)
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