Lewis Carroll
(1832–1898)

Lewis Carroll's life was filled with contradictions. Some reports suggest that he was so shy he could sit at a party for hours without adding a word to the conversation. Others say that he was a sociable, charming man who had many friends. One undisputed fact about him, however, is that his two Alice books are among the most entertaining children's stories ever written.

Lewis Carroll was born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson in 1832 in Daresbury, Cheshire, England. He was the third of the 11 children of the Reverend Charles Dodgson and his wife, Frances Jane Lutwidge.

In Dodgson's early years, he was educated at home. His "reading lists" show that he was very intelligent. He entertained his brothers and sisters by creating his own magazines full of poetry, stories, and drawings.

After the age of 12, Dodgson was educated at private schools. He went on to Christ Church, a college at Oxford University, in 1851. He was a brilliant student, especially in mathematics. After graduating in 1854, he became a lecturer in mathematics at Christ Church. Despite reports that his lectures were extremely boring, he held this position for the next 26 years.

Dodgson was a shy man who sometimes stuttered when he was nervous. However, among children, he was thoroughly at home. Some stories about him say that he lost his stutter when he was with children. One of his young friends, the dainty Alice Liddell, was his favorite child. She was one of the three daughters of the dean of Christ Church.

On July 4, 1862, Dodgson and his friend, the Reverend Robinson Duckworth, rowed the three Liddell girls up the Thames River from Oxford for a picnic. To entertain the girls, Dodgson made up the story of a girl named Alice and her adventures in a marvelous underground world. When they returned home, Alice said, "Oh, Mr. Dodgson, I wish you would write out Alice's adventures for me!" Dodgson produced a handwritten copy with his own illustrations. He called it Alice's Adventures Underground and gave it to Alice for Christmas in 1864.

Children's author George MacDonald, a friend of Dodgson's, read the handwritten book. He took it home to read to his six-year-old son, Greville, who declared that he "wished there were 60,000 volumes of it." Encouraged by this enthusiastic response, Dodgson decided to publish the book. He made a number of changes, including doubling the story's length and altering its title. He then chose John Tenniel, a magazine cartoonist, to illustrate it.

Finally, the book was ready to be published. Dodgson put his pen name, "Lewis Carroll," on the cover. To get this name, he first changed his birth name, Charles Lutwidge, into Latin, to get Carolus Ludovicus. Then he changed the order of the names and retranslated them into English, to get Lewis Carroll.

By the following year, the book was so successful that Dodgson started planning the sequel. Six years later, he published Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There.

In addition to writing for children, Dodgson took fine photographs. At the time, photography was a young art, and it took 30 to 40 seconds to expose the film. Even though the subjects had to remain still during that time, Dodgson managed to make them look relaxed and natural. Among his subjects were the actress Ellen Terry; the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson; and the poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Dodgson is considered one of the best amateur photographers of his time.

Dodgson tried to write other whimsical stories like the Alice books later in life. His two attempts, Sylvie and Bruno and Sylvie and Bruno Concluded, were unsuccessful. In fact, Sylvie and Bruno Concluded has been called "one of the most interesting failures in English literature."

Dodgson died suddenly in 1898 after contracting pneumonia. At that time, the Alice books were the most popular children's books in England. By 1932, the hundredth anniversary of Dodgson's birth, they were perhaps the most famous children's books in the world.

Throughout the Alice books, Alice refers to the lessons she has learned in school. She takes great pride in the knowledge she has acquired, and considers it a defining part of her character. However, the information she retains is often unhelpful or wrong. For example, in the excerpt from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, she knows the words "latitude" and "longitude", but has no idea what they mean.

The Alice books can teach us about the role of education in Victorian England. During that time, traditional public schools emphasized Greek and Latin. In addition, they focused on improving character and on molding students into young men and women with strict morals.

This approach can be seen in the Alice books, since her knowledge consists largely of maxims and morals about obedience, politeness, and safety. In "Humpty Dumpty," for example, Alice tries hard to hide her true thoughts for the sake of making pleasant conversation. She often says things "hoping to turn her remark into a sort of compliment," or "not wishing to begin an argument."

Often, Alice cannot stop herself from revealing her true thoughts. In this way, Carroll gently satirizes the Victorian goal of training children to be mild and obedient above all else. His whimsical, nonsensical stories show that he valued creativity and imagination—especially that of a child.

A  |  B  |  C  |  D  |  E  |  F  |  G  |  H  |  I  |  J  |  K  |  L  |  M
N  |  O  |  P  |  Q  |  R  |  S  |  T  |  U  |  V  |  W  |  X  |  Y  |  Z