Alice's Creator
Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
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Even though we have all come to know the man behind the world of Wonderland by the name of Lewis Carroll, this was solely just a pseudonym. The infamous author's real name was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.
- Dodgson was born on January 27th, 1832 in Daresbury, Cheshire (coincidence?), England.
- He came from a highly Conservative, upper-class, Anglican household.
- The men in his family were highly regarded by the Church as well as the British army for their participation in both arenas.
- Dodgson was the youngest of the four boys in the family which, in all, included eleven children.
- His father was particularly involved in the church eventually becoming an Archdeacon.
- Dodgson began his education at a young age being taught at home.
- He was left-handed and, due to the idea that being left-handed had something to do with evil tendencies (in Latin the word for left is sinistre), Dodgson was forced to use his right hand. It is speculated that this caused him a great deal of grief and he was psychologically harmed because of it.
- At the age of 12, he was released from homeschooling and sent to a small private school.
- In 1845, just one year following, he was taken out of the private school and sent to Rugby school, which he did not enjoy at all.
- At the age of 17, Dodgson contracted the whooping cough which left him with a loss of hearing in one ear and quite possibly could be the reason why he had respiratory problems later in life.
- Four years later, Dodgson completed school at Rugby. After a brief time away from school, Dodgson attended his father's alma mater at Oxford, Christ Church.
- Two days into his studies at university, he is called home due to the death of his mother who died at the age of 47 of an "inflammation of the brain."
- After a short while he returned to Oxford and was considered to be a highly gifted individual. He was granted a Studentship (fellowship) by a friend of his father's.
- Dodgson was especially talented in mathematics. He won the honor of the Christ Church Mathematical Lectureship and held that status for a continuous 26 years. This gave him the opportunity to teach mathematics to the students of Christ Church. He did not enjoy this however. He was quite bored with the work and did not like teaching uppity students.
- In 1856, at the age of 24, he took up a new hobby: photography. Dodgson enjoyed this immensely and viewed it as the best form of creative expression.
- Between the years of 1854 and 1856 Dodgson had published everything from poetry to short stories in multiple national publications including The Comic Times, The Train, Whitby Gazette, and the Oxford Critic.
- 1856 was the first year in which the pseudonym of Lewis Carroll was introduced to readers. His poem "Solitude" which was published in The Train was the first piece published with this pen name.
- This was the same year in which Lewis Carroll met the family which produced the muse to his most famous work, Alice in Wonderland. The family of the new Dean of Christ Church, particularly the wife and daughters, became close friends of Dodgson's.
- During one of many boat rides in the park, Dodgson relayed the story of Alice to the actual Alice. She enjoyed the story so much that he realized how profitable and successful this story could become.
- After and throughout his success, Dodgson remained a teacher at Christ Church until 1881.
- Charles Lutwidge Dodgson died at the age of 65 in Guildford, England of a violent case of pneumonia on January 14th, 1898.
Resources: http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/carroll/bio1.html
http://who2.com/lewiscarroll.html
