The Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832–98,) better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English writer and an Anglican cleric. This author of the whimsical children’s classics Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass was also a reputed mathematician and photographer.
Born in Daresbury, Cheshire, Dodgson was educated at Christ Church, Oxford; he received first-class honors in mathematics in 1854. He remained on a clerical fellowship at Christ Church for the rest of his life. His position required him to take orders in the Anglican Church and remain unmarried. Though ordained a deacon in 1861, Carroll was too reserved and stricken with a stammer to work as a preacher. He taught mathematics 1855–81.
In the mid-1850s, Carroll began writing both humorous and mathematical works. In 1856, he generated the pseudonym “Lewis Carroll” by translating his first and middle names into Latin, swapping their order, and translating them back into English. However, his mathematics texts appeared under his real name.
Carroll could overcome his social awkwardness only in the company of children. He frequently made up stories for Alice Liddell, the 4-year-old daughter of the Dean of Christ Church, and her sisters. While picnicking with the Liddell girls, Carroll narrated the adventures of a little girl who fell into a rabbit hole. Alice asked that he write the tale for her. The first version, Alice’s Adventures under Ground, evolved into Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865.) Encouraged by its success, Carroll wrote the sequel Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There (1872.)
Unlike most of the children’s books of his day, the Alice books are celebrated as delightful adventure stories in which a healthy, sensible little girl reacts to the “reality” of the adult world. Alice’s intelligent responses to the many absurdities of language and action appealed to adults also.
Carroll also wrote a book of children’s poetry The Hunting of the Snark (1876) and the children’s novels Sylvie and Bruno (1889) and Sylvie and Bruno Concluded (1893.)
Around the world, many Carroll’s fan-societies delight in the enjoyment and promotion of his works and the investigation of his life. While the Reverend C. L. Dodgson was a shy and finicky bachelor, Lewis Carroll was a charming companion to the children for whom he wrote engrossing nonsense stories and poems. Biographers and psychologists have wondered how “Dodgson” and “Carroll” were facets of one personality.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)
How queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I’ve been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I’m not the same, the next question is, Who in the world am I? Ah, that’s the great puzzle!
—Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)
If you limit your actions in life to things that nobody can possibly find fault with, you will not do much.
—Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)
Topics: Risk, Success
If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.
—Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)
Topics: Goals
Theres the Kings Messenger. Hes in prison now, being punished: and the trial doesnt begin until next Wednesday: and of course the crime comes last of all. Suppose he never commits the crime? said Alice. That would be all the better, wouldnt it? the Queen said.
—Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)
We are but older children, dear, Who fret to find our bedtime near.
—Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)
Topics: Aging
There are three hundred and sixty-four days when you might get un-birthday presents … and only one for birthday presents, you know.
—Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)
I’d give all wealth that years have piled,
The slow result of Life’s decay,
To be once more a little child
For one bright summer day.
—Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)
Topics: Childhood
Everything’s got a moral, if only you can find it.
—Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)
The time has come, the Walrus said,
“To talk of many things:
Of shoes–and ships–and sealing-wax–
Of cabbages–and kings–
And why the sea is boiling hot–
And whether pigs have wings.”
—Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)
No, no! said the Queen. Sentence first – verdict afterwards.
—Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)
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