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Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) (1832-1898)
 Carroll,
Lewis, pseud. of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson,1832–98, English
writer, mathematician, and amateur
photographer, b. near Daresbury, Cheshire (now in Halton).
Educated at Christ Church College, Oxford, he was nominated to a
studentship (life fellowship) in 1852, and he remained at Oxford
for the rest of his life. Although his fellowship was clerical,
Carroll never proceeded higher than his ordination as a deacon
in 1861. Shy and afflicted with a stammer, he felt himself
unsuited to the demanding life of a minister. He did, however,
lecture in mathematics at Christ Church from 1855 until 1881.
Among his mathematical works, now almost forgotten, is Euclid
and His Modern Rivals (1879).
Carroll is chiefly remembered as the author of the famous
children's books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865) and its
sequel, Through the Looking Glass (1872), both published under
his pseudonym and both illustrated by Sir John Tenniel. He
developed these stories from tales he told to the children of H.
G. Liddell, the dean of Christ Church College, one of whom was
named Alice. Many of his characters—the Mad Hatter, the March
Hare, the White Rabbit, the Red Queen, and the White Queen—have
become familiar figures in literature and conversation. Although
numerous satiric and symbolic meanings have been read into
Alice's adventures, the works can be read and valued as simple
exercises in fantasy. Carroll himself said that in the books he
meant only nonsense. He also wrote humorous verses, the most
popular of them being The Hunting of the Snark (1876). His later
stories for children, Sylvie and Bruno (1889) and Sylvie and
Bruno Concluded (1893), though containing interesting
experiments in construction, are widely regarded as failures.
Carroll remained a bachelor all his life. Partly because of his
stammer he found association with adults difficult and was most
at ease in the company of children, especially little girls,
with whom he was clearly obsessed. Early in 1856 he took up
photography as a hobby; his photographs of children are still
considered remarkable.
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