Charles Lutwidge Dodgson
Born	27 January 1832(1832-01-27) Daresbury, Cheshire, England
Died	14 January 1898 (aged 65) Guildford, Surrey, England
Pen name	Lewis Carroll
Occupation	Author, Mathematician, Anglican Clergyman, Photographer, Logician
Nationality	British
Genres	Children's literature, Fantasy literature, Poetry
Notable work(s)	Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Through the Looking-Glass, "The Hunting of the Snark", "Jabberwocky"

The Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (IPA: /ˈdɒdsən/) (27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by the pen name Lewis Carroll (/ˈkærəl/), was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican clergyman and photographer. is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1832 (MDCCCXXXII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Friday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Daresbury is a small rural village in Warrington, Cheshire, northern England. ... For other uses, see Cheshire (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... is the 14th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... , For other places with the same name, see Guildford (disambiguation). ... This article is about the English county. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... A pen name or nom de plume is a pseudonym adopted by an author. ... This article is about work. ... For other uses, see Author (disambiguation). ... For other meanings of mathematics or uses of math and maths, see Mathematics (disambiguation) and Math (disambiguation). ... The term Anglican describes those people and churches following the religious traditions of the Church of England, especially following the Reformation. ... see also Holy Orders The following terms have traditional meanings for the Anglican Church, and possibly beyond: A churchman is in principle a member of a church congregation, in practice someone in holy orders. ... Photography [fÓ™tÉ‘grÓ™fi:],[foÊŠtÉ‘grÓ™fi:] is the process of recording pictures by means of capturing light on a light-sensitive medium, such as a film or electronic sensor. ... Logic (from Classical Greek λόγος logos; meaning word, thought, idea, argument, account, reason, or principle) is the study of the principles and criteria of valid inference and demonstration. ... In English usage, nationality is the legal relationship between a person and a country. ... A literary genre is one of the divisions of literature into genres according to particular criteria such as literary technique, tone, or content. ... Childrens books redirects here. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... This article is about the art form. ... Alice in Wonderland redirects here. ... Through the Looking Glass redirects here. ... The Bellman supporting the Banker by a finger entwined in his hair The Hunting of the Snark (An Agony in 8 Fits) is a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) in 1874, when he was 42 years old. ... For other uses, see Jabberwocky (disambiguation). ... is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1832 (MDCCCXXXII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Friday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... is the 14th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... A pen name or nom de plume is a pseudonym adopted by an author. ... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Author (disambiguation). ... For other meanings of mathematics or uses of math and maths, see Mathematics (disambiguation) and Math (disambiguation). ... Logic (from Classical Greek λόγος logos; meaning word, thought, idea, argument, account, reason, or principle) is the study of the principles and criteria of valid inference and demonstration. ... The term Anglican describes those people and churches following the religious traditions of the Church of England, especially following the Reformation. ... see also Holy Orders The following terms have traditional meanings for the Anglican Church, and possibly beyond: A churchman is in principle a member of a church congregation, in practice someone in holy orders. ... A photographer at the Calgary Folk Music Festival Paparazzi at the Tribeca Film Festival A photographer is a person who takes a photograph using a camera. ...

His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass as well as the poems "The Hunting of the Snark" and "Jabberwocky", all considered to be within the genre of literary nonsense. Alice in Wonderland redirects here. ... Through the Looking Glass redirects here. ... The Bellman supporting the Banker by a finger entwined in his hair The Hunting of the Snark (An Agony in 8 Fits) is a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) in 1874, when he was 42 years old. ... For other uses, see Jabberwocky (disambiguation). ... Literary Nonsense refers to literature in which there are either nonsensical words, or the meaning does not make the slightest bit of sense. ...

His facility at word play, logic, and fantasy has delighted audiences ranging from children to the literary elite, and beyond this his work has become embedded deeply in modern culture, directly influencing many artists. This article is about Word play. ... Logic (from Classical Greek λόγος logos; meaning word, thought, idea, argument, account, reason, or principle) is the study of the principles and criteria of valid inference and demonstration. ... For other uses, see Fantasy (disambiguation). ...

There are societies dedicated to the enjoyment and promotion of his works and the investigation of his life in many parts of the world including North America, Japan, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand. North American redirects here. ...

Early life

Antecedents

Dodgson's family was predominantly northern English, with Irish connections. Conservative and High Church Anglican, most of Dodgson's ancestors were army officers or Church of England clergymen. His great-grandfather, also Charles Dodgson, had risen through the ranks of the church to become a bishop. His grandfather, another Charles, had been an army captain, killed in action in 1803 when his two sons were hardly more than babies. For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... High Church relates to ecclesiology and liturgy in Christian theology and practice. ... This box:      Anglicanism most commonly refers to the beliefs and practices of the Anglican Communion, a world-wide affiliation of Christian Churches, most of which have historical connections with the Church of England. ... The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. ... The Church of England is the officially established Christian church[3] in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communions thirty-eight independent national churches. ... For other uses, see Army (disambiguation). ...

The elder of these sons — yet another Charles — was Carroll's father. He reverted to the other family business and took holy orders. He went to Rugby School, and thence to Christ Church, Oxford. He was mathematically gifted and won a double first degree, which could have been the prelude to a brilliant academic career. Instead he married his first cousin in 1827 and retired into obscurity as a country parson ^[1] Young Charles' father was an active and highly conservative clergyman of the Anglican church who involved himself, sometimes influentially, in the intense religious disputes that were dividing the Anglican church. He was High Church, inclining to Anglo-Catholicism, an admirer of Newman and the Tractarian movement, and he did his best to instill such views in his children. Young Charles, however, was to develop an ambiguous relationship with his father's values and with the Anglican church as a whole.^[2] Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      Catholic deacon... A view of Rugby School from The Close, the playing field where according to legend Rugby was invented Rugby School, located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, is one of the oldest public schools in England and is one of the major co-educational boarding schools in the country. ... and of the Christ Church College name Christ Church Latin name Ædes Christi Named after Jesus Christ Established 1546 Sister college Trinity College, Cambridge Dean The Very Revd Christopher Andrew Lewis JCR president Laura Ellis Undergraduates 426 GCR president Tim Benjamin Graduates 154 Location of Christ Church within central Oxford... For other meanings of mathematics or uses of math and maths, see Mathematics (disambiguation) and Math (disambiguation). ... A parson is a member of the Protestant clergy. ... The terms Anglo-Catholic and Anglo-Catholicism describe people, groups, ideas, customs and practices within Anglicanism that emphasise continuity with Catholic tradition. ... J H Newman age 23 when he preached his first sermon. ... For the 20th century Oxford Movement or Group see Moral Rearmament The Oxford Movement was a loose affiliation of High Church Anglicans who sought to demonstrate that the Church of England was a direct descendant of the Christian church established by the Apostles. ...

Young Charles

Dodgson was born in the little parsonage of Daresbury in Cheshire, the oldest boy but already the third child of the four-and-a-half year old marriage. Eight more were to follow and, remarkably for the time, all of them — seven girls and four boys (including Edwin H. Dodgson) — survived into adulthood. When Charles was 11, his father was given the living of Croft-on-Tees in north Yorkshire, and the whole family moved to the spacious Rectory. This remained their home for the next twenty-five years. Parsonage According to [The Oxford English Reference Dictionary], a parsonage is a church house provided for a parson. Sometime it refers specifically to the house where a university or college chaplain lives, as well. ... Daresbury is a small rural village in Warrington, Cheshire, northern England. ... For other uses, see Cheshire (disambiguation). ... Postage stamps issued by Tristan da Cunha. ... Croft-on-Tees is a village in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. ... Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England. ...

During the earlier times in his life, young Dodgson was educated at home. His "reading lists" preserved in the family testify to a precocious intellect: at the age of seven the child was reading The Pilgrim's Progress. He also suffered from a stammer — a condition shared by his siblings — that often influenced his social life throughout his years. At twelve he was sent away to a small private school at nearby Richmond, where he appears to have been happy and settled. But in 1846, young Dodgson moved on to Rugby School, where he was evidently less happy, for as he wrote some years after leaving the place: The Pilgrims Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come by John Bunyan (published, February, 1678) is a Christian allegory. ... Stuttering is a speech disorder in which pronunciation of the (usually) first letter or syllable of a word is repeated involuntarily. ... The town of Richmond as seen from the top of the keep of Richmond Castle Richmond is a market town on the River Swale in North Yorkshire, UK and is the administrative centre of the district of Richmondshire. ... A view of Rugby School from The Close, the playing field where according to legend Rugby was invented Rugby School, located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, is one of the oldest public schools in England and is one of the major co-educational boarding schools in the country. ...

I cannot say ... that any earthly considerations would induce me to go through my three years again ... I can honestly say that if I could have been ... secure from annoyance at night, the hardships of the daily life would have been comparative trifles to bear.^[3]

Scholastically, though, he excelled with apparent ease. "I have not had a more promising boy his age since I came to Rugby" observed R.B. Mayor, the Mathematics master.^[3]

Oxford

He left Rugby at the end of 1849 and, after an interval that remains unexplained, went on in January 1851 to Oxford, attending his father's old college, Christ Church. He had only been at Oxford two days when he received a summons home. His mother had died of "inflammation of the brain" — perhaps meningitis or a stroke — at the age of forty-seven.^[4] The University of Oxford (informally Oxford University), located in the city of Oxford, England, is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. ... and of the Christ Church College name Christ Church Latin name Ædes Christi Named after Jesus Christ Established 1546 Sister college Trinity College, Cambridge Dean The Very Revd Christopher Andrew Lewis JCR president Laura Ellis Undergraduates 426 GCR president Tim Benjamin Graduates 154 Location of Christ Church within central Oxford... For other uses, see Brain (disambiguation). ... Meningitis is the inflammation of the protective membranes covering the central nervous system, known collectively as the meninges. ... For other uses, see Stroke (disambiguation). ...

His early academic career veered between high-octane promise and irresistible distraction. He may not always have worked hard, but he was exceptionally gifted and achievement came easily to him. In 1852 he received a first in Honour Moderations, and shortly after he was nominated to a Studentship, by his father's old friend Canon Edward Pusey. However, a little later he failed an important scholarship through his self-confessed inability to apply himself to study. Even so, his talent as a mathematician won him the Christ Church Mathematical Lectureship, which he continued to hold for the next twenty-six years. The income was good, but the work bored him. Many of his pupils were older and richer than he was, and almost all of them were uninterested. However, despite early unhappiness, Dodgson was to remain at Christ Church, in various capacities, until his death.^[5] A studentship is similar to a scholarship but involves summer work on a research project. ... Edward Bouverie Pusey (August 22, 1800 - September 16, 1882), was an English churchman, one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement. ... Leonhard Euler, considered one of the greatest mathematicians of all time A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study and research is the field of mathematics. ...

Character and appearance

Physical appearance

The young adult Charles Dodgson was about six feet tall, slender and handsome, with curling brown hair and blue or grey eyes (depending on the account). He was described in later life as somewhat asymmetrical, and as carrying himself rather stiffly and awkwardly, though this may be on account of a knee injury sustained in middle age. As a very young child, he suffered a fever that left him deaf in one ear. At the age of seventeen, he suffered a severe attack of whooping cough, which was probably responsible for his chronically weak chest in later life. Another defect he carried into adulthood was what he referred to as his "hesitation", a stammer he acquired in early childhood and which plagued him throughout his life.^[6] Symmetry is a characteristic of geometrical shapes, equations and other objects; we say that such an object is symmetric with respect to a given operation if this operation, when applied to the object, does not appear to change it. ... “Stutter” redirects here. ...

Stammer

The stammer has always been a potent part of the conceptions of Dodgson; it is part of the belief that he stammered only in adult company and was free and fluent with children, but there is no evidence to support this idea.^[7] Many children of his acquaintance remembered the stammer while many adults failed to notice it. Dodgson himself seems to have been far more acutely aware of it than most people he met; it is said he caricatured himself as the Dodo in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, referring to his difficulty in pronouncing his last name, but this is one of the many "facts" oft-repeated, for which no firsthand evidence remains. He did indeed refer to himself as the dodo, but that this was a reference to his stammer is simply speculation^[8] For other uses, see Legend (disambiguation). ... For the book of comics by Daniel Clowes, see Caricature (Daniel Clowes collection). ... The Dodo is a fictional character appearing in Chapters 2 and 3 of the book Alices Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson). ...

Personality

Although Dodgson's stammer troubled him, it was never so debilitating that it prevented him from applying his other personal qualities to do well in society. At a time when people commonly devised their own amusements and when singing and recitation were required social skills, the young Dodgson was well-equipped to be an engaging entertainer. He could sing tolerably well and was not afraid to do so before an audience. He was adept at mimicry and storytelling, and was, reputedly, quite good at charades.^[9] Charades or charade is a word guessing game. ...

Dodgson was also quite socially ambitious and anxious to make his mark on the world as a writer or an artist. In the interim between his early published writing and the success of the Alice books, he began to move in the Pre-Raphaelite social circle. His scholastic career may well have been intended as something of a stop-gap on the way to other more exciting achievements. He first met John Ruskin in 1857 and became friendly with him. He developed a close relationship with Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his family, and also knew William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, and Arthur Hughes among other artists. He also knew the fairy-tale author George MacDonald well — it was the enthusiastic reception of Alice by the young MacDonald children that convinced him to submit the work for publication^[10][11]. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of English painters, poets and critics, founded in 1848 by John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Holman Hunt. ... Upper: Steel-plate engraving of Ruskin as a young man, made circa 1845, scanned from print made circa 1895. ... Dante Gabriel Rossetti (May 12, 1828 – April 09, 1882) was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. ... William Holman Hunt - Self-Portrait. ... Sir John Everett Millais Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, PRA (June 8, 1829 – August 13, 1896) was a British painter and illustrator and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. ... April Love, 1856. ... George MacDonald (December 10, 1824 – September 18, 1905) was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister. ...

Dodgson the artist

The author

From a young age, Dodgson wrote poetry and short stories, both contributing heavily to the family magazine Mischmasch and later sending them to various magazines, enjoying moderate success. Between 1854 and 1856, his work appeared in the national publications, The Comic Times and The Train, as well as smaller magazines like the Whitby Gazette and the Oxford Critic. Most of this output was humorous, sometimes satirical, but his standards and ambitions were exacting. "I do not think I have yet written anything worthy of real publication (in which I do not include the Whitby Gazette or the Oxonian Advertiser), but I do not despair of doing so some day", he wrote in July 1855^[12]. This article is in need of attention. ... Mischmasch was a periodical that Lewis Carroll wrote and illustrated for the amusement of his family from 1855 to 1862. ... The Whitby Gazette is an English provincial newspaper published in Whitby, North Yorkshire. ... 1867 edition of Punch, a ground-breaking British magazine of popular humour, including a good deal of satire of the contemporary social and political scene. ...

In 1856 he published his first piece of work under the name that would make him famous. A romantic poem called "Solitude" appeared in The Train under the authorship of "Lewis Carroll". This pseudonym was a play on his real name; Lewis was the anglicised form of Ludovicus, which was the Latin for Lutwidge, and Carroll being an anglicised version of Carolus, the Latin for Charles^[13]. For other uses, see Alias. ... To anglicise (or in North American English anglicize) is to adapt a foreign word into the English language, often modifying its form to correspond to standard English French demoiselle, meaning little lady. Another common type of anglicisation is the inclusion of a foreign article as part of a noun (eg. ... For other uses, see Latins and Latin (disambiguation). ...

Alice

"The chief difficulty Alice found at first was in managing her flamingo"

In the same year, 1856, a new Dean, Henry Liddell, arrived at Christ Church, bringing with him his young family, all of whom would figure largely in Dodgson's life and, over the following years, greatly influence his writing career. Dodgson became close friends with Liddell's wife, Lorina, and their children, particularly the three sisters: Lorina, Edith and Alice Liddell. He was for many years widely assumed to have derived his own "Alice" from Alice Liddell. This was given some apparent substance by the fact the acrostic poem at the end of Through the Looking Glass spells out her name, and that there are many superficial references to her hidden in the text of both books. Dodgson himself, however, repeatedly denied in later life that his "little heroine" was based on any real child,^{[14] [15]} and frequently dedicated his works to girls of his acquaintance and added their names in acrostic poems at the beginning of the text. Gertrude Chataway's name appears in this form at the beginning of The Hunting of the Snark, and no one has ever suggested this means any of the characters in the narrative are based on her^[16]. Image File history File links Alice_par_John_Tenniel_30. ... Image File history File links Alice_par_John_Tenniel_30. ... John Tenniel illustrated the first editions of the Alice books. ... Species See text For other uses, see Flamingo (disambiguation). ... The Very Rev. ... and of the Christ Church College name Christ Church Latin name Ædes Christi Named after Jesus Christ Established 1546 Sister college Trinity College, Cambridge Dean The Very Revd Christopher Andrew Lewis JCR president Laura Ellis Undergraduates 426 GCR president Tim Benjamin Graduates 154 Location of Christ Church within central Oxford... Alice Pleasance Liddell (May 4, 1852 – November 15, 1934) was the inspiration for childrens classic Alices Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. ... The Bellman supporting the Banker by a finger entwined in his hair The Hunting of the Snark (An Agony in 8 Fits) is a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) in 1874, when he was 42 years old. ...

Though information is scarce (Dodgson's diaries for the years 1858–1862 are missing), it does seem clear that his friendship with the Liddell family was an important part of his life in the late 1850s, and he grew into the habit of taking the children (first the boy, Harry, and later the three girls) on rowing trips to nearby Nuneham Courtenay or Godstow^[17] . Nuneham Courtenay is a village in Oxfordshire, England. ... The ruined Godstow Abbey. ...

It was on one such expedition, on July 4, 1862, that Dodgson invented the outline of the story that eventually became his first and largest commercial success. Having told the story and been begged by Alice Liddell to write it down, Dodgson eventually (after much delay) presented her with a handwritten, illustrated manuscript entitled Alice's Adventures Under Ground in November 1864^[18]. is the 185th day of the year (186th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about 1862 . ...

Before this, the family of friend and mentor George MacDonald read Dodgson's incomplete manuscript, and the enthusiasm of the MacDonald children encouraged Dodgson to seek publication. In 1863, he had taken the unfinished manuscript to Macmillan the publisher, who liked it immediately. After the possible alternative titles Alice Among the Fairies and Alice's Golden Hour were rejected, the work was finally published as Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in 1865 under the Lewis Carroll pen name, which Dodgson had first used some nine years earlier ^[19]. The illustrations this time were by Sir John Tenniel; Dodgson evidently thought that a published book would need the skills of a professional artist. George MacDonald (December 10, 1824 – September 18, 1905) was a Scottish author, poet, and Christian minister. ... Alice in Wonderland redirects here. ... 1889 Self-portrait Caterpillar using a hookah. ...

The overwhelming commercial success of the first Alice book changed Dodgson's life in many ways. The fame of his alter ego "Lewis Carroll" soon spread around the world. He was inundated with fan mail and with sometimes unwanted attention. He also began earning quite substantial sums of money. However, he didn't use this income as a means of abandoning his seemingly disliked post at Christ Church^[20].

In 1872, a sequel — Through the Looking-Glass — was published. Its somewhat darker mood possibly reflects the changes in Dodgson's life. His father had recently died (1868), plunging him into a depression that would last some years^[21]. Through the Looking Glass redirects here. ...

The Hunting of the Snark

In 1876, Dodgson produced his last great work, The Hunting of the Snark, a fantastic "nonsense" poem, exploring the adventures of a bizarre crew of variously inadequate beings, and one beaver, who set off to find the eponymous creature. The painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti reputedly became convinced the poem was about him^[22]. The Bellman supporting the Banker by a finger entwined in his hair The Hunting of the Snark (An Agony in 8 Fits) is a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) in 1874, when he was 42 years old. ... Dante Gabriel Rossetti (May 12, 1828 – April 09, 1882) was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. ...

The photographer

Photo of Alice Liddell taken by Lewis Carroll (1858).

In 1856, Dodgson took up the new art form of photography, first under the influence of his uncle Skeffington Lutwidge, and later his Oxford friend Reginald Southey. Image File history File links Photo by Lewis Carroll, circa 1859. ... Image File history File links Photo by Lewis Carroll, circa 1859. ... Alice Pleasance Liddell (May 4, 1852 – November 15, 1934) was the inspiration for childrens classic Alices Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. ... Photography [fәtɑgrәfi:],[foʊtɑgrәfi:] is the process of recording pictures by means of capturing light on a light-sensitive medium, such as a film or electronic sensor. ... Reginald Southey (1835-1899). ...

He soon excelled at the art and became a well-known gentleman-photographer, and he seems even to have toyed with the idea of making a living out of it in his very early years ^[23].

A recent study by Roger Taylor and Edward Wakeling^[24] exhaustively lists every surviving print, and Taylor calculates that just over fifty percent of his surviving work depicts young girls. He would later use many of his photographs of children in conjunction with his writings to add illustration to his work. Alexandra Kitchin, known as "Xie" (pronounced "Ecksy"), was his favourite photographic subject. From 1869 until he gave up photography in 1880, Dodgson photographed her at least fifty times, ending just before her sixteenth birthday. Less than a third of his original portfolio has survived^[25], however; Dodgson also made many studies of men, women, male children and landscapes; his subjects also include skeletons, dolls, dogs, statues and paintings, trees, scholars, scientists, old men and little girls. His studies of nude children were long presumed lost, but six have since surfaced, four of which have been published. Alexandra Xie Rhoda Kitchin (1864-1925) was the favourite photographic subject of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll), who photographed her around fifty times, from ages four until sixteen. ...

Photo of John Everett Millais and his wife Effie Gray with two of their children, signed by Effie (c. 1860)

He also found photography to be a useful entrée into higher social circles. During the most productive part of his career, he made portraits of notable sitters such as John Everett Millais, Ellen Terry, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Julia Margaret Cameron, Michael Faraday and Alfred, Lord Tennyson^[26]. Ambrotype photograph by Lewis Carroll from c1860 depicting Effie Gray and John Everett Millais with two of their children, signed by Effie Millais. ... Ambrotype photograph by Lewis Carroll from c1860 depicting Effie Gray and John Everett Millais with two of their children, signed by Effie Millais. ... Sir John Everett Millais Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, PRA (June 8, 1829 – August 13, 1896) was a British painter and illustrator and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. ... photograph by Lewis Carroll of Effie Gray and John Millais with two of their children c1860, signed by Effie. ... Sir John Everett Millais Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, PRA (June 8, 1829 – August 13, 1896) was a British painter and illustrator and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. ... Dame Ellen Terry, GBE (February 27, 1848 – July 21, 1928) was an English stage actress. ... Dante Gabriel Rossetti (May 12, 1828 – April 09, 1882) was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. ... Self-portrait by Julia Margaret Cameron. ... Michael Faraday, FRS (September 22, 1791 – August 25, 1867) was an English chemist and physicist (or natural philosopher, in the terminology of that time) who contributed to the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. ... Lord Tennyson, Poet Laureate Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (August 6, 1809 - October 6, 1892) is generally regarded as one of the greatest English poets. ...

Dodgson abruptly ceased to photograph in 1880. Over 24 years, he had completely mastered the medium, set up his own studio on the roof of Tom Quad, and created around 3,000 images. Fewer than 1,000 have survived time and deliberate destruction. His reasons for abandoning photography remain uncertain.

With the advent of Modernism tastes changed, and his photography was forgotten from around 1920 until the 1960s. He is now considered by many to be one of the very best Victorian photographers, and is certainly the one who has had the most influence on modern art photographers. For Christian theological modernism, see Liberal Christianity and Modernism (Roman Catholicism). ... Fine art photography, sometimes simply called art photography, refers to high-quality archival photographic prints of pictures that are created to fulfill the creative vision of an individual professional. ...

The inventor

To promote letter writing, Dodgson invented The Wonderland Postage-Stamp Case in 1889. This was a cloth-backed folder with twelve slots, two marked for inserting the then most commonly used 1d. stamp, and one each for the other current denominations to 1s. The folder was then put into a slip case decorated with a picture of Alice on the front and the Cheshire Cat on the back. All could be conveniently carried in a pocket or purse. When issued it also included a copy of Carroll's pamphletted lecture, Eight or Nine Wise Words About Letter-Writing.^[27][28][29] This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Another invention is a writing tablet called the Nyctograph for use at night that allowed for note-taking in the dark; thus eliminating the trouble of getting out of bed and striking a light when one wakes with an idea. The device consisted of a gridded card with sixteen squares and system of symbols representing an alphabet of Dodgson's design.

Among the games he devised outside of logic, croquet, billiards and those played on a chess board, there are a number of word games, including an early version of what today is known as Scrabble. He also appears to have invented, or at least certainly popularised, the Word Ladder (or "doublet" as it was known at first); a form of brain-teaser that is still popular today: the game of changing one word into another by altering one letter at a time, each successive change always resulting in a genuine word. For instance, CAT is transformed into DOG by the following steps: CAT, COT, DOT, DOG ^[30] The verb to scrabble also means to scratch, scramble or scrape about: see Wiktionary:scrabble. ... Word Ladder is a game dealing with the players vocabulary, invented by Lewis Carroll, the author of books such as Alices Adventures in Wonderland or Through the Looking-Glass. ...

Other items include a rule for finding the day of the week for any date; a means for justifying right margins on a typewriter; a steering device for a velociam (a type of tricycle); new systems of parliamentary representation; more nearly fair elimination rules for tennis tournaments; a new sort of postal money order; rules for reckoning postage; rules for a win in betting; rules for dividing a number by various divisors; a cardboard scale for the college common room he worked in later in life, which held, next to a glass, insured the right amount of liqueur for the price paid; a double sided adhesive strip for things like the fastening of envelopes or mounting things in books; a device for helping a bedridden invalid to read from a book placed sideways; and at least two ciphers. ^[31].

Richard Grey's Memoria Technica and John Jaques In Statu Quo traveling chess set have at times been mistakenly credited to Dodgson. Richard Grey (1458? – June 13(?), 1483) was son to John Grey, 2nd Baron Ferrers of Groby, and Elizabeth Woodville, later Queen Consort to King Edward IV of England. ...

The later years

Over the remaining twenty years of his life, throughout his growing wealth and fame, his existence remained little changed. He continued to teach at Christ Church until 1881, and remained in residence there until his death. His last novel, the two-volume Sylvie and Bruno, was published in 1889 and 1893 respectively. Its extraordinary convolutions and apparent confusion baffled most readers and it achieved little success. It does contain an extremely concise account of three-valued logic when Bruno counts "about a thousand and four" pigs because he is certain about the four but estimates the remainder. In three-valued logic, unknown plus four = unknown (see Null (SQL)). Harry Furniss title illustration for Sylvie and Bruno Concluded Sylvie and Bruno, first published in 1889, and its 1893 second volume Sylvie and Bruno Concluded form the last novel by Lewis Carroll published during his lifetime. ... The Greek lowercase omega (ω) character is historically used by academics to represent Null in relational databases. ...

He died on January 14, 1898 at his sisters' home, 'The Chestnuts' in Guildford, of pneumonia following influenza. He was 2 weeks away from turning 66 years old. He is buried in Guildford at the Mount Cemetery^[32]. is the 14th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... , For other places with the same name, see Guildford (disambiguation). ... Mount Cemetery is a cemetery in Guildford, Surrey, England. ...

Controversies and mysteries

The possibility of drug use

Many people have interpreted the encounters and events in the Alice books as hallucinations, usually noting the drinking of tea, consumption of mushrooms and the hookah smoking caterpillar, as references to psychedelic substances. The suggestion of drug use made him extremely popular to the counterculture of the 1960s, often being utilised by drug users as a positive way of showing the mainstream that one of their most famous and highly regarded writers also used these forbidden substances. A hallucination is a false sensory perception in the absence of an external stimulus, as distinct from an illusion, which is a misperception of an external stimulus. ... Magic mushrooms are also known as sacred mushrooms, psychedelic mushrooms, and, more generally, hallucinogenic mushrooms. ... Egyptian hookah Hookah (Hindi: , Urdu: hukka) or shisha (Arabic: ‎, Hebrew: נרגילה) or (Turkish:nargile) is a single or multi-stemmed (often glass-based) water pipe device for smoking. ... The general group of pharmacological agents commonly known as hallucinogens can be divided into three broad categories: psychedelics, dissociatives, and deliriants. ... Counterculture (also counter-culture) is a sociological word used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day,[1] the cultural equivalent of political opposition. ...

However, there is no evidence that he ever abused drugs. It is true that the standard domestic painkiller of the time, laudanum, was in fact a tincture of opium and could produce a "high" if used in a large enough dose^[33] and that Dodgson, most historians would agree, probably used it from time to time, but again there is no evidence he ever abused it or that its effects had any impact on his work. This article is about the medicine. ... This article is about the drug. ...

The priesthood

Dodgson had been groomed for the ordained ministry in the Anglican Church from a very early age and was expected, as a condition of his residency at Christ Church, to take holy orders within four years of obtaining his master's degree. However, he evidently became reluctant to do this. He delayed the process for some time but eventually took deacon's orders in December 1861. But when the time came a year later to progress to priestly orders, Dodgson appealed to the dean for permission not to proceed. This was against college rules, and Dean Liddell told him he would very likely have to leave his job if he refused to take orders. He told Dodgson he would have to consult the college ruling body, which would almost undoubtedly have resulted in his being expelled. However, for unknown reasons, Dean Liddell changed his mind and permitted Dodgson to remain at the college, in defiance of the rules.^[34] Dodgson never became a priest. The Anglican Communion is a world-wide organisation of Anglican Churches. ... Topics in Christianity Movements · Denominations · Other religions Ecumenism · Preaching · Prayer Music · Liturgy · Calendar Symbols · Art · Criticism Important figures Apostle Paul · Church Fathers Constantine · Athanasius · Augustine Anselm · Aquinas · Palamas · Luther Calvin · Wesley Arius · Marcion of Sinope Archbishop of Canterbury · Catholic Pope Coptic Pope · Ecumenical Patriarch Christianity Portal This box:      Catholic deacon...

There is currently no conclusive evidence about why Dodgson rejected the priesthood. Some have suggested his stammer made him reluctant to take the step, because he was afraid of having to preach,^{[citation needed]} but this seems unlikely given his willingness to take on other public performances (story-telling, recitations, magic lantern shows), and the fact that he did indeed preach in later life, even though not in orders.^{[citation needed]} Others have suggested that he was having serious doubts about the Anglican church.^{[citation needed]} It is known that he was interested in minority forms of Christianity (he was an admirer of FD Maurice) and "alternative" religions (theosophy).^{[citation needed]} Dodgson was deeply troubled by an unexplained sense of sin and guilt at this time (the early 1860s), and frequently expressed the view in his diaries that he was a "vile and worthless" sinner, unworthy of the priesthood.^[35] John Frederick Denison Maurice (August 29, 1805 - April 1, 1872) was an English theologian. ... Theosophy is a word and a concept known anciently, commonly understood in the modern era to describe the studies of religious philosophy and metaphysics originating with Helena Petrovna Blavatsky from the 1870s. ...

The missing diaries

At least four complete volumes^[36] and around seven pages^[37] of text are missing from Dodgson's 13 diaries. The loss of the volumes remains unexplained; the pages have been deliberately removed by an unknown hand. Most scholars assume the diary material was removed by family members in the interests of preserving the family name, but this has not been proven.^[38] All of the missing material, except for a single page, is believed to date from the period between 1853 (when Dodgson was 22) and 1863 (when he was 32).^[39]

Many theories have been put forward to explain the missing material. A popular explanation for one particular missing page (June 27, 1863) is that it might have been torn out to conceal the fact that Dodgson had proposed marriage on that day to the 11-year old Alice Liddell. However, there has never been any evidence to suggest this was so, and a paper^[40] that came to light in the Dodgson family archive in 1996 provides some evidence to the contrary. is the 178th day of the year (179th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1863 (MDCCCLXIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ...

The "Cut Pages in Diary" document

The "cut pages in diary" document, in the Dodgson family archive in Woking, UK.

This paper, known as the "cut pages in diary document", was compiled by various members of Carroll's family after his death. Part of it at least was presumably written at the time that some of the pages were being mutilated, as it offers a brief summary of two diary pages that are now missing, including the one for June 27, 1863. The summary for this page states that Mrs. Liddell told Dodgson there was gossip circulating about him and the Liddell family's governess, as well as about his relationship with "Ina", presumably Alice's older sister, Lorina Liddell. The "break" with the Liddell family that occurred soon after was presumably in response to this gossip.^[41][42] An alternate interpretation has been made regarding Carroll's rumored involvement with "Ina": Lorina was also the name of Alice Liddell's mother. What is deemed most crucial and surprising is that the entry seems to make it clear Dodgson's break with the family was not connected with Alice at all. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 366 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (389 × 637 pixel, file size: 27 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 366 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (389 × 637 pixel, file size: 27 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) The two-dimensional work of art depicted in this image is in the public domain in the United States and in those countries with a copyright... is the 178th day of the year (179th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1863 (MDCCCLXIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ...

Migraine and Epilepsy

In his diary for the year 1880 Dodgson recorded experiencing his first episode of migraine with aura, describing very accurately the process of 'moving fortifications' that are a manifestation of the aura stage of the syndrome^[43]. Given this manifestation, it's possible that he chronically experienced the more common form of migraine, consisting simply of headache and nausea, but no real evidence exists either way, though several people have suggested the odd experiences Alice undergoes in the stories may have been inspired by migraine-like symptoms. Indeed a condition, Alice in Wonderland Syndrome, has been named after it. Also known as micropsia and macropsia, it is a brain condition affecting the way objects are perceived by the mind. For example, an afflicted person may look at a larger object, like a basketball, and perceive it as if it were the size of a mouse. Alice in Wonderland syndrome (AIWS), or micropsia, is a disorienting neurological condition which affects human visual perception. ... Alice in Wonderland syndrome (AIWS), or micropsia, is a disorienting neurological condition which affects human visual perception. ... Macropsia is a neurological condition affecting human visual perception, in which objects appear larger than normal, and the subject smaller. ...

Dodgson also suffered two attacks in which he lost consciousness. He was diagnosed by two different doctors; a Dr. Morshead believed the attack to be an "epileptiform" seizure. Some have concluded from this he was a lifetime sufferer from this condition, but there is no evidence for it in any of his diaries or letters, and it would seem unlikely for this to be the case if he had indeed suffered generalized seizures.^[44]. However, according to Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti, Carroll may have suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy in which consciousness is not always completely lost, but altered, and in which the patient experiences many of the same experiences as Alice in Wonderland; Ranson-Polizzotti writes about this in detail in her article "What About Lewis Carroll. More of Ranson-Polizzotti's articles can be found at Tant Mieux. This article does not cite any references or sources. ...

Suggestions of Peadophilia

Dodgson's friendships with young girls, together with his perceived lack of interest in romantic attachments to adult women, and psychological readings of his work — especially his photographs of nude or semi-nude girls^[45] — have all led to speculation that he was, in modern parlance, a paedophile. This possibility has underpinned numerous modern interpretations of his life and work, particularly Dennis Potter's play Alice and his screenplay for the motion picture, Dreamchild, and a number of recent biographies, including Michael Bakewell's Lewis Carroll: A Biography (1996), Donald Thomas's Lewis Carroll: A Portrait with Background (1996) and Morton N. Cohen's Lewis Carroll: A Biography (1995). All of these works more or less unequivocally assume that Dodgson was a peadophile, albeit a repressed and celibate one. Pedophilia (American English) or paedophilia / pædophilia (British English), from the Greek παιδοφιλια (paidophilia) < παις (pais) boy, child and φιλια (philia) friendship, (ICD-10 F65. ... Liber Amoris Dennis Christopher George Potter (17 May 1935—7 June 1994) was a controversial British dramatist who is best known for several widely acclaimed television dramas which mixed fantasy and reality, the personal and the social. ... Dreamchild is a 1985 drama film directed by Gavin Millar. ... Michael Bakewell is a British television producer. ... American author and scholar, best known for his studies of Lewis Carroll. ...

Cohen claims Dodgson's "sexual energies sought unconventional outlets", and further writes:

We cannot know to what extent sexual urges lay behind Charles's preference for drawing and photographing children in the nude. He contended the preference was entirely aesthetic. But given his emotional attachment to children as well as his aesthetic appreciation of their forms, his assertion that his interest was strictly artistic is naive. He probably felt more than he dared acknowledge, even to himself.^[46]

Cohen notes that Dodgson "apparently convinced many of his friends that his attachment to the nude female child form was free of any eroticism", but adds that "later generations look beneath the surface" (p. 229). Eroticism is an aesthetic focused on sexual desire, especially the feelings of anticipation of sexual activity. ...

Cohen and other biographers argue that Dodgson may have wanted to marry the 11-year old Alice Liddell and that this was the cause of the unexplained "break" with the family in June 1863.^[47] But there has never been significant evidence to support the idea, and the 1996 discovery of the "cut pages in diary document" (see above) might imply that the 1863 "break" had less to do with Alice, but was perhaps connected with rumors involving her older sister Lorina, or possibly their governess.

Some writers, e.g., Derek Hudson and Roger Lancelyn Green, who have fallen short of accepting Dodgson as a peadophile, have tended to concur that he had a passion for small female children and next to no interest in the adult world. Roger (Gilbert) Lancelyn Green (2 November 1918 – 8 October 1987) was a British biographer and childrens writer. ...

"The Carroll Myth"

The accepted view of Dodgson's biography has been challenged recently by a group of scholars led by Hugues Lebailly and Karoline Leach who argue that Dodgson's diaries and letters reveal him to have been very different in many key aspects from the traditional image. Leach's book, In the Shadow of the Dream Child, in particular has raised a considerable amount of controversy. French academic, Senior Lecturer in English Cultural Studies at the Sorbonne. ... Karoline Leach is an English playwright and author, best known for her book In The Shadow Of The Dreamchild (ISBN 0-7206-1044-3), which re-examines the life of Lewis Carroll (pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), the author of Alices Adventures in Wonderland. ... Title of a book by British author Karoline Leach that launched the concept of the Carroll Myth; the idea that many of the most famous aspects of Lewis Carrolls biography, including his infamous supposed adoration of Alice Liddell, are more legend than fact. ...

Lebailly has endeavoured to set Dodgson's child-photography within the "Victorian Child Cult", which perceived child-nudity as essentially an expression of innocence. Lebailly claims that studies of child nudes were mainstream and fashionable in Dodgson's time and that most photographers, including Oscar Rejlander and Julia Margaret Cameron, made them as a matter of course. Lebailly continues that child nudes even appeared on Victorian Christmas cards — implying a very different social and aesthetic assessment of such material. Lebailly concludes that it has been an error of Dodgson's biographers to view his child-photography with 20th or 21st century eyes, and to have presented it as some form of personal idiosyncrasy, when it was in fact a response to a prevalent aesthetic and philosophical movement of the time. Self-portrait by Julia Margaret Cameron. ...

Leach posed a new analysis of Dodgson's sexuality. She argues that the allegations of peadophilia rose initially from a misunderstanding of Victorian morals, as well as the mistaken idea, fostered by Dodgson's various biographers, that he had no interest in adult women. She termed the traditional image of Dodgson "the Carroll Myth".She asserts his diaries show he was also keenly interested in adult women, married and single, and enjoyed several scandalous (by the social standards of his time) relationships with them. In later life many of those he described as "child-friends" were girls in their late teens and even twenties.^[48]. She argues that suggestions of paedophilia evolved only many years after his death, when his well-meaning family had suppressed all evidence of his relationships with women in an effort to preserve his reputation, thus giving a false impression of a man interested only in little girls. Similarly, Leach traces the claim that many of Carroll's female friendships ended when the girls reached the age of 14 to a 1932 biography by Langford Reed,^[49] who Leach claims intended to suggest from this that Dodgson was a "pure man" untainted by sexual desire.^[50]

The concept of the Carroll Myth has been opposed by some leading Carroll scholars, in particular Morton Cohen and Martin Gardner. Morton Cohen is a former Australian politician, elected from 1981 to 1984 as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, for the electoral district of Bligh. ... Martin Gardner (b. ...

Works

Alice in Wonderland redirects here. ... Through the Looking Glass redirects here. ... For other uses, see Jabberwocky (disambiguation). ... The Bellman supporting the Banker by a finger entwined in his hair The Hunting of the Snark (An Agony in 8 Fits) is a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) in 1874, when he was 42 years old. ... Harry Furniss title illustration for Sylvie and Bruno Concluded Sylvie and Bruno, first published in 1889, and its 1893 second volume Sylvie and Bruno Concluded form the last novel by Lewis Carroll published during his lifetime. ... Harry Furniss title illustration for Sylvie and Bruno Concluded Sylvie and Bruno, first published in 1889, and its 1893 second volume Sylvie and Bruno Concluded form the last novel by Lewis Carroll published during his lifetime. ... What the Tortoise Said to Achilles is a brief dialog by Lewis Carroll which playfully problematizes the foundations of logic. ... Euclid and his Modern Rivals is a mathematical work by the English mathematician Lewis Carroll (1832-1898), issued in 1879 under his real name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. ...

See also

• Barbershop paradox
• Jack the Ripper, Light-Hearted Friend: deals with the unusual idea that Carroll may have been the Ripper.

The Barbershop Paradox was proposed by Lewis Carroll in a short story titled A Logical Paradox, although it has appeared in abstract terms in several of his writings before that. ... In 1996 author Richard Wallace published a book titled Jack the Ripper, Light-Hearted Friend. ...

Notes

is the 84th day of the year (85th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 295th day of the year (296th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 297th day of the year (298th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about 1862 . ... is the 123rd day of the year (124th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full 1996 Gregorian calendar). ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ... is the 124th day of the year (125th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...

References

American author and scholar, best known for his studies of Lewis Carroll. ... Dr. Darien Graham-Smith is a British journalist and former scholar. ... Karoline Leach is an English playwright and author, best known for her book In The Shadow Of The Dreamchild (ISBN 0-7206-1044-3), which re-examines the life of Lewis Carroll (pseudonym of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson), the author of Alices Adventures in Wonderland. ... Edward Lear, 1812-1888 Eagle Owl, Edward Lear, 1837 Another Edward Lear owl, in his more familiar style Edward Lear (12 May 1812 – 29 January 1888) was an artist, illustrator and writer known for his nonsensical poetry and his limericks, a form which he popularised. ... Sir James Matthew Barrie, 1st Baronet, OM (9 May 1860 – 19 June 1937), more commonly known as J. M. Barrie, was a Scottish novelist and dramatist. ... This article is about the play by J.M. Barrie. ... Kenneth Grahame Kenneth Grahame (March 8, 1859 – July 6, 1932) was a Scottish novelist. ... For other uses, see The Wind in the Willows (disambiguation). ... Alan Alexander Milne (IPA pronunciation: ) (January 18, 1882 – January 31, 1956), also known as A. A. Milne, was an English author, best known for his books about the teddy bear Winnie-the-Pooh and for various childrens poems. ... Winnie the Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh is a fictional bear created by A. A. Milne. ... Fine art photography, or simply art photography, refers to high-quality archival photographic prints of pictures that are created to fulfill the creative vision of an individual professional. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Lewis Carroll

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Lewis Carroll

Wikisource has original works written by or about:

Lewis Carroll

• Looking for Lewis Carroll
• The Lewis Carroll Society
• Lewis Carroll Society of North America
• Lewis Carroll at victorianweb.org
• Contrariwise; the Association for New Lewis Carroll Studies
• Works by Lewis Carroll at Project Gutenberg
• The Photography of Lewis Carroll (selected colourised plates from his child photography)
• Lewis Carroll Collection at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin