Or as pretty much everyone else knows him as Lewis Carroll. Born January 27, 1832 at Daresbury, Cheshire in England. This interesting man was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican Deacon, and a photographer.Most commonly wrote in the genre of literary nonsense, he's noted for his word play, logic, and fantasy. Many societies have been interested in his works and have continued to use his characters in spoofs, parodies, and shape them into works of their own. Even years later his characters of Alice and her friends are popular culture icons throughout the world. Even my room is sporting Alice in Wonderland gear and has for many years, starting with the doll collection my grandma had given me.
He was the third child in a line of 11. He began his education at home, and incidentally ended up having a pretty high reading level at a very early age. Yet he and his siblings had a slight stammer that would put a damper on his social life. Though that never stopped his apparent excellence with scholastic achievement.
He ended up going on to Christ Church - the same college his father had attended, but was only there two days before he was summoned home from the death of his mother. He continued to have a difficulty applying himself, but when he actually tried he did do pretty well. His talent as a mathematician won him the Christ Church Mathematical Lectureship, which he held for 26 years. However, he ended up staying at Christ Church until his death.
From a young age he wrote poetry and short stories that contributed to the family magazine Mischmasch, for which he had a moderate success. Though he claimed he didn't feel any of it was really worth a real publication.
In the year of 1856 a new Dean - Henry Liddell- arrived at the College and brought his family which would become a big influence in his life. Befriending the wife and three daughters. It's been assumed that his Alice was a parallel to the youngest daughter, Alice Liddell. Some substance to the assumption was made with the acrostice poem at the end of Through the Looking Glass spelling out her name, and some references hidden within the text of both of his Alice books. Though, Dodgson denied many times in life that his heroine was ever based on any real child. Also dedicating his works to girls of his acquaintances, adding their names in acrostic poems at the beginning of texts. However, a lot of information about Dodgson is merely speculation as chunks of his diary are missing and many years have passed to add onto rumors.
Most famously known for his works of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Also the two major of his poems "The Hunting of the Snark" and "Jabberwocky".
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was first published in 1865 under his pen name Lewis Carroll which he'd first used nine years earlier. And he gained huge commerical success with the publication. Sir John Tenniel was the illustrator of the book. Then in 1871 the sequel Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There was published - though, the title page lies and says 1872. And it's claimed that the darker mood of the novel could reflect his own changes in life, such as his father's death in 1868. In 1876 his last great work was published, "The Hunting of the Snark", a poem exploring the adventures of a group that set off to find the eponymous creature. The painter Dante Gabriel Rossettti became convinced the poem was about him.
In 1856 Dodgson began his photography. It began under the influence of his uncle Skeffington Lutwidge and later his Oxford friend Reginald Southey. He became quite talented at photography and became pretty well-known. Fun fact: A study by Roger Taylor and Edward Wakeling lists all the surviving prints of his and over 50% are of young girls. However, the fun fact is pretty skewed as over 60% of his overall prints he had in his portfolio are gone. He also had taken pictures of men, women, male children, landscapes, skeletons, dolls, dogs, statures, paintings, and trees. Though apparently he did take some nude photos of children.
Photography was a useful means of climbing the social ladder for him and he took portraits of some rather important people. One being Lord Alfred Tennyson (another famous writer in the British Literature circle). Over a period of 24 years he'd mastered the medium, had his own studio, and created around 3,000 photos. Fewer than 1,000 of them exist now, be it from time or deliberate destruction. He stopped photographing in 1880 and his reasons remain uncertain as to why he quit.
He continued to teach at Christ Church until 1881.
Died on January 14th, 1898 at his sister's home "The Chestnuts" in Guildford, Surrey in England, of pneumonia following influenza. He was two weeks from turning 66 and is buried at the Mount Cemetry in Guildford.
Controversies and Mysteries:
The Carroll Myth - basically discusses that the accusations of his pedophilia is largely mistaken as by the victorian standards nothing he did was wrong. During that era pictures of children nude was considered normal, (keep in mind cherubs) and that he also mentions in his diaries that he had a fondness for adult women single or married. And that he had a couple scandalious affairs with women, and most "child-friends" he mentioned were girls in their late teens or twenties. Also stating that these accusations did not occur until many years after his death, when critics weren't taking into consideration the victorian era. When looking at a piece of literature (or artform) it's always a bad idea to look upon it with the eyes of your century, as the study of the time period plays a huge role upon such opinions.
The Missing Diaries - four volumes of his thirteen are missing from Dodgson's diaries. The loss of them are still unknown, though some theorize that they have been removed by the family to keep away from scandal - but again it's just a theory. The period of his missing diaries are between 1853-1863 (between ages 22-32). One theory about a specific page (june 27, 1863) is that it was torn out to conceal he's proposed marriage to 11 year old Alice Liddell, however no evidence suggests such. In actuality according to the "Cut Pages in Diary Document" compiled by the family after his death the break from the Liddell family could have been due to the rumors of the involvement between Dodgson and Ina, the elder Liddell daughter and not about Alice at all. Other Things of Interest:
If you're an Alice fan I'd suggest you pick up The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor. It's a more 'mature' versioned twist of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, but at the same time not at all. New characters, new relationships, new twists, and lots of fun to read. He also did an interesting version of Alyss's diary with photographs taken by Charles Dodgson, which is also a lot of fun.
Credit: Wikipedia. A lot more interesting information is there, so go check it out. :)
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