Lewis Carroll, born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, was an English writer, mathematician, logician, and photographer. He is best known for his literary works Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), Through the Looking-Glass (1871), and The Hunting of the Snark (1876). Alongside his fiction, he published works on mathematics and symbolic logic and taught mathematics at Christ Church, Oxford for more than twenty-five years.

Early Life and Education

Lewis Carroll was born on January 27, 1832, in Daresbury, Cheshire, England. He was the third of eleven children born to Anglican clergyman Charles Dodgson and Frances Jane Lutwidge. He received his early education at home before attending Richmond School in 1844 and Rugby School from 1846 to 1849.

In 1851, he entered Christ Church, part of the University of Oxford. Although he was not equally interested in every subject, he excelled in mathematics, earning first-class honours in the subject in 1854. He subsequently received a mathematical lectureship at Christ Church, beginning his teaching duties in 1856. He remained in that position until 1881.

Early Writing and the Lewis Carroll Pen Name

Interested in poetry and short stories from an early age, Lewis Carroll initially circulated his writings in Mischmasch, a family magazine he compiled and illustrated. During the 1850s, his work also appeared in publications including The Comic Times and The Oxford Critic.

In 1856, he adopted the pen name Lewis Carroll for his poem Solitude, published in The Train magazine. The name was formed by translating Charles Lutwidge into Latin, reversing the order, and converting the names back into English. He continued using Charles Lutwidge Dodgson for his mathematical publications.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

On July 4, 1862, Lewis Carroll told a story during a boat trip on the River Thames with the daughters of Henry George Liddell, Dean of Christ Church. One of the children, Alice Liddell, asked him to write it down. Carroll developed the story into a manuscript titled Alice's Adventures Under Ground, which he presented to her in 1864.

He subsequently expanded the manuscript into Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, published in 1865 with illustrations by John Tenniel. The novel follows Alice, a young girl who enters a fantastic world populated by unusual characters and governed by unfamiliar rules. Its wordplay, logical puzzles, and absurd situations became central features of Carroll's literary style.

The sequel, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, was published in December 1871, although its title page carried the date 1872. The book follows Alice into a world arranged around the movements of a chess game and introduced characters including Tweedledum, Tweedledee, and Humpty Dumpty.

The Hunting of the Snark and Other Works

In 1876, Lewis Carroll published The Hunting of the Snark, a long nonsense poem describing a crew's search for a mysterious creature called the Snark. Illustrated by Henry Holiday, the poem combines absurd situations, invented language, and logical contradictions.

Carroll also wrote works on mathematics and logic, including Euclid and His Modern Rivals (1879), The Game of Logic (1886), and Symbolic Logic (1896). His later fiction included Sylvie and Bruno (1889) and Sylvie and Bruno Concluded (1893).

Photography and Other Interests

Lewis Carroll began photography in 1856 and continued until 1880. He produced approximately 3,000 photographs, although fewer than one-third are known to survive. His subjects included children, families, public figures, animals, and landscapes. Among those he photographed were Alice Liddell and the actress Ellen Terry.

Some of his photographs featured children in costumes or partially undressed, a subject that has prompted debate among later biographers and historians. Claims concerning his personal motives remain disputed, and no evidence establishes that he committed sexual abuse.

Carroll also devised mathematical puzzles, word games, and practical inventions, including the nyctograph, a writing device designed for use in the dark. He travelled to Russia in 1867 with Henry Parry Liddon and continued developing his interests in logic, literature, and photography while working at Oxford.

Final Years and Death

Lewis Carroll retired from his mathematical lectureship at Christ Church in 1881 but continued writing and maintained his association with Oxford.

He died of pneumonia on January 14, 1898, at his sisters' home in Guildford, Surrey, thirteen days before his 66th birthday. He was buried at Mount Cemetery in Guildford.

Major Works

1865 - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland - Novel
1869 - Phantasmagoria and Other Poems - Poetry Collection
1871 - Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There - Novel
1876 - The Hunting of the Snark - Nonsense Poem
1879 - Euclid and His Modern Rivals - Mathematics
1886 - The Game of Logic - Logic
1889 - Sylvie and Bruno - Novel
1893 - Sylvie and Bruno Concluded - Novel
1896 - Symbolic Logic, Part I - Logic

Source: Biyografiler.com