Lewis Carroll bio

Lewis Carroll biography 27 January 1832- 14 January 1898

(This information found on http://library.thinkquest.org/10977/carroll/)

Background- Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. (Lewis Carroll is the Latinized version of his first two names.) Aside from being an author, he was also a mathematician, Anglican deacon, and amateur photographer. He also invented a nyctograph, a device used for writing down thoughts in bed without getting up and turning out the light, and various word games including an early version of scrabble. He was brought up in a conservative, English family; and most of his family members were either in the army or held offices in the Church of England. He was the third of eleven children and found ways to entertain his family by doing marionette shows, writing poems, and doing magic tricks. Carroll excelled in math and theology during school, and soon developed an interest in pursuing both fields as professions. Despite his playful childhood, Carroll became very serious about his mathematician’s work. Logic appealed to him more as a game, which brings out his humorist’s qualities. He suffered from a stutter that made public speaking and preaching hard. He attended Christ Church Oxford and won the Christ Church Mathematical Lectureship which enabled him to stay on and teach. The pay was good but he found the work boring. It was at Oxford where he met the children of Dean Liddell, the inspiration of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

Liddell Sisters and the Beginnings of Alice- Carroll always seemed to have an affinity with children, but the Liddell sisters clearly had a special place in his heart. Alice, Lorina, and Edith Liddell used to go on picnics with Carroll, who would tell the girls stories. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was being formed from his stories told to the girls. One rainy day, he told the girls such a great story that Alice begged him to write it down. Novelist Henry Kingsley managed to read the story and confronted Carroll about publishing the story. Surprised by this request, Carroll agreed. He gained fame as a writer, and sometimes unwanted attention— according to one popular story which Dodgeson roundly denied, Queen Victoria loved Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland so much that she suggested the Dodgeson dedicate his next work to her, and was presented with his next work, An Elementary Treatise on Determinants.

Controversies- Carroll was accused of being on drugs, which fueled his imaginative worlds. Also, his photographs of the Liddell sisters (particularly Alice) were deemed inappropriate and reflected Carroll’s evident obsession with young girls. Carroll was also the only Senior Student at Christ Church who was allowed to stay on at the college despite being a priest— Dodgeson had to appeal to Dean Liddell for permission to not proceed with his ordination . At around the time Carroll insisted on not becoming a priest he was troubled by an unexplained sense of guilt, and in his diaries from this period he refers to himself as a “vile and worthless” sinner.