Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll (real name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, or Charles Lathuage Dodgson; 1832-1898) - English writer, mathematician, logician, philosopher, deacon and photographer.

Gained popularity thanks to the fairy tales "Alice in Wonderland" and "Alice Through the Looking Glass". Professor of Mathematics at Oxford University.

There are many interesting facts in the biography of Lewis Carroll, which we will talk about in this article.

So, here is a short biography of Carroll.

Biography of Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll was born on January 27, 1832 in the English village of Darsbury. He grew up and was brought up in a large family of a clergyman. He had 7 sisters and 3 brothers.

Childhood and youth

Lewis, along with his siblings, initially studied literacy with his father. An interesting fact is that the boy was left-handed.

According to some sources, he was forced to write with his right hand, as a result of which the child's psyche was traumatized. There is a version that such retraining led to Carroll's stuttering. At the age of 12, he became a student at a private school, but later entered Rugby School.

Here Lewis studied for 4 years. He received high marks in many disciplines. He was especially good at mathematics and theology. Upon reaching the age of majority, he successfully passed the exams for an elite college at Oxford University.

During this period of his biography, Carroll received rather mediocre marks. However, due to his outstanding mathematical ability, he managed to win the competition to give mathematical lectures at Christ Church.

As a result, the future writer lectured for the next 26 years of his life. And although he did not take pleasure in speaking to the students, the lectures brought him a good profit.

Since theology played an important role in the curriculum at that time, the lecturer Carroll had to become a clergyman. Not wanting to work in the parish, he agreed to become a deacon, giving up the duties of a priest.

Alice's creation

As a student, Lewis Carroll began to write short stories and poems. It was then that he decided to publish his works under such a pseudonym.

In 1856, Christ Church College received a new dean. It turned out to be the philologist and lexicographer Henry Liddell, who was married and had five children. Carroll became friends with this family, as a result of which he began to frequent their homes.

One of the daughters of the married couple was named Alice, who in the future will become the prototype of the famous fairy tales about Alice. Lewis liked to tell the kids different interesting stories that he composed on the go.

Once, little Alice Liddell asked Carroll to come up with a fascinating story about her and her sisters - Lauren and Edith. The man did not mind telling them a story about the adventures of a little girl who got to the Underworld.

To make it more interesting for children to listen to him, Lewis made the main character look like Alice, while he endowed other characters with the qualities of her sisters. When he finished his story, bewitched Alice demanded that Carroll write down the story on paper.

Later, the man complied with her request, giving her a manuscript - "Alice's Adventures Underground." Later this manuscript will form the basis of his famous works.

Books

World famous books - "Alice in Wonderland" and "Alice Through the Looking Glass", the writer published during the biography of 1865-1871. Lewis Carroll's style of storytelling was unparalleled in literature.

With great imagination and intelligence, as well as outstanding logical and mathematical abilities, he founded a special genre of "paradoxical literature". He did not seek to make his heroes absurd, but, on the contrary, endowed them with a certain logic, which was brought to the point of absurdity.

In his works, Carroll touched upon many serious and philosophical problems concerning human life and nature. This led to the fact that the books aroused keen interest not only among children, but also among adults.

Lewis's unconventional narrative was also traced in his other works, including The Hunt for a Snark, Tales with Knot, What the Turtle Said to Achilles, etc. According to a number of biographers, his creative world was so bright due to the use of opium.

Carroll took opium on a regular basis because he suffered from severe headaches. According to his contemporaries, he was a very "bizarre person." He was a sociable man who constantly attended various social events.

But at the same time, Lewis dreamed of returning to childhood, where everything was much simpler and there was no need to lead a double life, being afraid to say or do something wrong. In this regard, he even developed insomnia.

The writer devoted all his free time to numerous studies. He actually believed that a person can go beyond the reality he knows. As a result, he was eager to learn about something more than science could offer in that era.

In adulthood, Carroll visited many European countries, including Germany, Belgium, Poland, France and Russia. Later he became the author of the work "Diary of a trip to Russia in 1867".

Mathematics

Lewis Carroll was a very talented mathematician, as a result of which the riddles in his works were so difficult and varied. In parallel with writing fiction, he published many works in mathematics.

The scientist's sphere of interests included Euclidean geometry, algebra, probability theory, mathematical logic, etc. Few people know the fact that he developed one of the methods for calculating determinants. At the same time, he was fond of solving logical problems - "sorites".

Although Carroll's mathematical work left no significant mark in the history of mathematics, his achievements in the field of mathematical logic were ahead of their time.

Photography and chess

Lewis Carroll was seriously interested in photography. He took photographs in the style of pictorialism, which implied the use of visual and technical techniques that bring photography closer to painting and graphics.

Most of all, the man liked to photograph little girls. In addition to photography, he was interested in chess, following the news in the world of big chess. He himself loved to play this game, and also taught her children.

The plot of the work "Alice Through the Looking Glass" is built on a chess game invented by the author himself, while he placed the chess diagram of its initial position at the beginning of the book.

Personal life

Carroll really enjoyed being around children, especially girls. Sometimes, with the permission of the mothers, he painted them naked or half-naked. He himself considered his friendship with girls absolutely innocent.

It is worth noting that from the point of view of the then morality, such a friendship did not surprise anyone. However, later many biographers of Lewis Carroll began to accuse him of pedophilia. And yet, no one could provide reliable facts in any form of corruption.

In addition, all the letters and stories of contemporaries, in which mathematics was presented in the form of a seducer, were subsequently exposed. Experts managed to establish that more than half of the "girls" with whom he corresponded were over 14, and about a quarter were over 18.

Over the years of his personal biography, the writer was never able to find his other half, remaining single until the end of his life.