July 4, 1862 is the day that was described as overcast in the journal of the British Royal Meteorological Society. However, for Charles Dodgson and his little friends: Lorina, Edith and Alice Lidell, he became one of the sunniest in life. Carroll invited the girls to go to the Thames to take a boat trip.
Alice Lidell, who was sitting on the steering wheel, got bored and demanded that Dodgson immediately tell the tale, and it should contain as much nonsense as possible. Charles could not refuse his darling, and in a desperate attempt to invent a new plot, he decided to send the heroine on a journey through an endless rabbit hole. So one of the greatest fairy tales in the world was born, which both children and adults around the world reread with bated breath. However, the biography of Lewis Carroll is no less interesting than his works. This article is dedicated to her.
Charles Dodgson: The Early Years
Charles Dodgson was born in Cheshire, in the village of Dursbury, in 1832. The parents of the future mathematician and writer were the clergyman Charles Jodgson and Francis Lutwich.
Charles took a pseudonym in honor of the names of both parents. In Latin, Charles Lutwich sounds like Carlus Ludovicus. If you swap these words and translate them again into English, Lewis Carroll will come out - a name that everyone knows today.
Since childhood, Charlie was passionate about mathematics. When the time came to choose a specialty, there was no doubt: only the faculty of mathematics of Oxford. After completing his studies, Dodgson remained at the university as a teacher.
Oxford landmark
Having received a new status, Dodgson settled in a cozy house with towers. The young teacher quickly became one of Oxford sights, because his appearance was distinguished by its originality: a slightly asymmetrical face, one corner of the lips is raised, the other is omitted. In addition, he stuttered pretty much. Perhaps that is why the professor was so lonely: he tried to avoid dating and spent hours walking around the surroundings of Oxford.
Students considered Dodgson's lectures boring: he read the necessary material with a dry, lifeless voice, without trying to make the lesson more interesting.
Passion for photography
Lewis Carroll's biography could have been very different. In his youth, Dodgson dreamed of becoming an artist: he drew well and himself illustrated his short stories. Once Dodgson even sent his illustrations to Time magazine. True, the editors did not find them professional enough for publication.
The main hobby of Charles was photography. In the XIX century, amateur photographers had to make a lot of efforts to get pictures: photographs were taken on special glass plates coated with a colloidal solution. However, these difficulties did not stop Dodgson: he was able to make wonderful photographs of Huxley, Tennyson, Faraday. True, critics believe that Dodgson dedicated his best works to Alice Lidell, daughter of the rector of Oxford University.
Alice Lidell
In April 1856, Dodgson met the charming daughters of the rector of Oxford. And thanks to this meeting, the biography of Lewis Carroll made a sharp turn. Alice Lidell became a real muse of the unsociable mathematician: it was to her that he dedicated the book, which is one of the most widely read, published and quoted in the world. Numerous photo portraits of Alice Lidell have survived to this day: critics note their undoubted artistic value. However, friendship lasted only a few years.
Parting with the muse
When Alice turned 12, Charles Dodgson became a rare guest at the rector's house of Oxford. Biographers are still arguing about the reason for this alienation. Rumor has it that Dodgson was in love with Alice and even made her a marriage proposal. Some argue that the mathematician has gone beyond decency in communicating with a girl. The latter is hardly true: all meetings of Jojson and the Lidell sisters took place in the presence of adults. However, Carroll's diary pages about this time frame were torn out and destroyed. Therefore, many do not believe that Lewis Carroll, whose biography in English attracts a huge amount of attention, had only friendly interest in the girls. In addition, Alice's mother destroyed most of her daughter’s pictures taken by Dodgson, and also burned letters addressed to the girl.
However, be that as it may, Dodgson managed to give Alice Lidell immortality: even on her gravestone is written "Alice from the Lewis Carroll Tale."
Eternal child
They say that Lewis Carroll (a brief biography is given in this article) was able to preserve his childhood throughout his life. Perhaps this explains why all the friends of the mathematician were much younger than him. In the children's company, Dodgson stopped stuttering, his speech became lively, he seemed to be turning into another person. However, as his friends grew older, Dodgson gradually lost interest in them. The children inspired him to work: it is worth reading the letters that the mathematician wrote to his little friends, they are no less interesting than the main work of Carroll.
The secret of popularity
It's hard to say what made Carroll's tale so popular. Maybe the whole thing is in numerous experiments with the language: only young children can freely speak with speech. It is possible that a fairy tale helps to find answers to delicate philosophical and logical questions: after all, this story is loved not only by children, but also by adults. In addition, the biography of Lewis Carroll for children proves that this person was able to combine things that seem opposite: humor and logic, mathematics and a good fairy tale.
By the way, many believe that Carroll is the founder of paradoxical literature, whose heroes violate logic at every turn. However, it is not. Oddly enough, the heroes of "Alice in Wonderland" and "Alice in Through the Looking Glass" always follow the logic, however, they bring it to the point of absurdity. That is why Lewis Carroll, whose brief biography in English is very interesting to anyone, was able to obtain the status of one of the greatest storytellers of mankind.
The two sides of genius
Charles Dodgson not only created one of the greatest fairy tales in the world, he seemed to embody all the archetypal features of a Victorian eccentric scientist. The unsociable and taciturn mathematician always wore a high top hat and gloves. He rarely had fun and led an almost ascetic lifestyle. His works on logic are considered mathematical classics.
However, this person also had a sunny side. Lewis Carroll's biography says that he could make any child laugh, composed good tales and letters, enthusiastically painted and wrote humorous stories. Who knows, maybe genius is the ability to combine the unconnected? If so, then Charles Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, can be called one of the greatest geniuses of mankind.
Lewis Carroll, whose brief biography for the children seems surprising, left behind many works on mathematics, letters and stories. However, two books dedicated to Alice Lidell brought fame to him. Everyone should read “Alice in Wonderland” and “Alice through the Looking Glass”: very few such kind, bright and amazing books have been written.