Lewis Carroll was a professional writer. Lewis Carroll short biography
Lewis Carroll, real name: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Dodson). Date of birth: January 27, 1832. Place of birth: the quiet village of Dersbury, Cheshire, UK. Nationality: British to the core. Special features: asymmetrical eyes, the corners of the lips are turned up, deaf in the right ear; stutters. Occupation: Professor of Mathematics at Oxford, deacon. Hobbies: amateur photographer, amateur artist, amateur writer. Emphasize the last one.
Our birthday boy, in fact, is an ambiguous personality. That is, if you represent it in numbers, you get not one, but two - or even three. We count.
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832 - 1898), who graduated with honors in mathematics and Latin, in subsequent years a professor at Oxford University, as well as the curator of the teaching club (with the quirks inherent in status and institution!), a prosperous and exceptionally respectable citizen of Victorian society, who sent during his life, more than a hundred thousand letters written in clear, neat handwriting, a pious deacon of the Anglican Church, the most talented British photographer of his time, a gifted mathematician and an innovative logician, many years ahead of his time - this is time.
Lewis Carroll, the beloved author of the classic works Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865), Through the Looking-Glass (1871) and The Hunting of the Snark (1876), was a man who spent three-quarters of his free time with children, able to tirelessly tell children fairy tales for hours, accompanying them with funny drawings, and, going for a walk, loading his bag with all kinds of toys, puzzles and gifts for the children he might meet, a kind of Santa Claus for every day - that's two.
Perhaps (only perhaps, and not necessarily!), there was also a third one - let’s call him “Invisible”. Because no one has ever seen him. A man about whom, immediately after Dodgson’s death, a myth was specially created to cover up a reality that no one knew.
The first can be called a successful professor, the second an outstanding writer. Carroll III is a complete failure, Boojum instead of Snark. But it was a failure at the international level, a sensational failure. This third Carroll is the most significant, the most brilliant of the three, he is not of this world, he belongs to the world of the Looking Glass. Some biographers prefer to talk only about the first, Dodgson the scientist, and the second, Carroll the writer. Others pointedly hint at all sorts of quirks of the third (about whom almost nothing is known, and what is known is impossible to prove!). But in fact, Carroll - like a liquid terminator - was all of his hypostases at once - although each of them with its entire being refuted the others... Is it any wonder that he had his own oddities?
The irony of fate, or the yellow wig
The first thing that comes to my mind when Lewis Carroll is mentioned is, oddly enough, his love for little girls, including Alice Liddell, the wide-eyed seven-year-old beauty, the rector’s daughter, who, thanks to Carroll, turned into fairy-tale Alice.
Carroll, indeed, was friends with her for many years, including after she successfully married. He took many wonderful photographs of little and big Alice Liddell. And other girls I know. But “owls are not what they seem.” As the queen of Russian Carroll studies N.M. notes in her study. Demurova, the well-known version of Carroll’s “pedophilism” is, to put it mildly, a gross exaggeration. The fact is that relatives and friends deliberately fabricated a lot of evidence about Carroll’s supposedly great love for children (and girls, in particular) in order to hide his overly active social life, which included many acquaintances with “girls” of quite mature age - behavior that at that time absolutely unforgivable for either a deacon or a professor.
Having selectively destroyed much of his archive immediately after Carroll’s death and created a heavily “powdered” biography, the writer’s relatives and friends deliberately mummified the memory of him as a kind of “Grandfather Lenin” who really, really loved children. Needless to say, how ambiguous such an image has become in the twentieth century! (According to one of the “Freudian” versions, Carroll developed his own reproductive organ in the image of Alice!) The writer’s reputation, ironically, fell victim to a word of mouth conspiracy, precisely created with the aim of protecting his good name and presenting him in a favorable light before his descendants...
Yes, even during his lifetime, Carroll had to “conform” and hide his versatile, active and sometimes even stormy life under an impenetrable mask of Victorian respectability. Needless to say, it’s an unpleasant task; for such a principled man as Carroll, this was undoubtedly a heavy burden. And yet, it seems, a deeper, more existential contradiction was hidden in his personality, besides the constant fear for his professorial reputation: “oh, what will Princess Marya Aleksevna say.”
Here we come close to the problem of Carroll the Invisible, Carroll the Third, who lives on the dark side of the Moon, in the Sea of Insomnia.
They say Carroll suffered from insomnia. In 2010, perhaps, a kitsch full-length film will finally be filmed and released, the main character of which will be Carroll himself. The film, which is supported by such masters of cinema as James Cameron and Alejandro Jodorowsky, should be called "Phantasmagoria: The Vision of Lewis Carroll", and it is being directed by - who do you think? - none other than... Marilyn Manson! (I wrote more about this.)
However, even if Carroll was indeed tormented by insomnia at night, he also could not find peace during the day: he constantly needed to keep himself busy with something. In fact, Carroll invented and wrote so much during his life that you are simply amazed (again, one involuntarily recalls grandfather Lenin, who was also distinguished by his literary prolificacy!). But at the center of this vigorous creativity was conflict. Something weighed on Carroll: something prevented him, for example, from getting married and having children, whom he loved so much. Something turned him away from the path of the priest, which he had set out on in his youth. Something simultaneously undermined his faith in the very foundations of human existence and gave him the strength and determination to follow his path to the end. Something huge, like the whole world revealed to our eyes, and incomprehensible, like the invisible world! What it was, we can now only guess, but there is no doubt about the existence of this deepest “abyss”.
So, for example, in the passage that Carroll (on the advice of J. Tenniel, the artist who created the “classic” illustrations for both books about Alice) removed during the final editing, contains a bitter complaint about the double - not to say “two-faced” life that he had to lead under social pressure. I will quote the poem in full (translated by O.I. Sedakova):
When I was gullible and young,
I raised my curls, took care of them, and loved them.
But everyone said: “Oh, shave them off, shave them off,
And get a yellow wig as soon as possible!”
And I listened to them and did this:
And he shaved his curls and put on a wig -
But everyone shouted when they looked at him:
“To be honest, this is not what we were expecting at all!”
“Yes,” everyone said, “he doesn’t sit well.
He’s so unbecoming of you, he’ll forgive you so much!”
But, my friend, how could I save? –
My curls couldn’t grow back...
And now, when I am not young and gray,
And the old hair on my temples is gone.
They shouted to me: “Come on, you crazy old man!”
And they pulled off my ill-fated wig.
And yet, wherever I look.
They shout: “Rude! Dude! Pig!"
Oh my friend! What kind of insults am I used to?
How I paid for the yellow wig!
Here it is, “the laughter visible to the world and the tears invisible to the world” of Carroll the Invisible! The following is a clarification:
“I sympathize with you very much,” said Alice from the bottom of her heart. “I think if your wig fit better, they wouldn’t tease you like that.”
“Your wig fits perfectly,” muttered Bumblebee, looking at Alice with admiration. - That's because your head shape is suitable.
There can be no doubt: a wig is, of course, not a wig at all, but a social role in general, a role in this crazy performance, which, in the good old Shakespearean tradition, is played out on the stage of the whole world. Carroll - if, of course, we take it on faith that in the image of Bumblebee Carroll portrayed himself, or his “dark” half (remember Carroll’s famous self-portrait, where he sits in profile - yes, yes, this is the Moon, the dark side of which will never exist visible!) - so, Carroll is tormented by both the wig and the lack of curls, as well as the beauty and lightness of childhood - these perfectly fitting “wigs” of lovely little girls.
This is the “one, but fiery” passion that torments the deacon: he doesn’t want sex with little girls at all, he wants to return to childhood, idealized in the image of seven-year-old Alice with “eyes wide shut”, who is naturally immersed in her own Wonderland! After all, little girls don't even have to jump down the rabbit hole to leave the adult world somewhere out there, far away. And the world of adults, with all its conventions - is it worth spending your life on? And in general, what is this whole world, social life, etc. really worth, Carroll asks himself. After all, people are generally strange creatures who walk with their heads up all the time and spend half their lives lying under the covers! “Life, what is it but a dream?” (“Life is just a dream”) - this is how the first fairy tale about Alice ends.
Professor Dodgson's head
TRINITY:
You came here because you want
find out the answer to the hacker's main question.
NEO:
Matrix... What is the Matrix?
(conversation in a nightclub)
To the point of gnashing of teeth, the highly spiritual Carroll was tormented by the idea of an existential, esoteric breakthrough into the “present,” into Wonderland, into the world outside the Matrix, into the life of the Spirit. He (like all of us!) was that ill-fated “eternity hostage to time in captivity,” and he was extremely aware of this.
Carroll's character was characterized by an unbending determination to realize his dream. He worked all day long, without even stopping to eat a normal meal (during the day he “blindly” snacked on cookies) and often spent long sleepless nights doing his research. Carroll, indeed, worked like crazy, but the purpose of his work was precisely to bring his mind to perfection. He was painfully aware of himself being locked in the cage of his own mind, but he tried to destroy this cage, not seeing a better method, with the same means - the mind.
Possessing a brilliant intellect, a professional mathematician and capable linguist Carroll tried, with the help of these tools, to find a way out, that very forbidden door into a wonderful garden that would lead him to freedom. Mathematics and linguistics are two areas in which Carroll conducted his experiments, esoteric and scientific at the same time - depending on which side you look at. Dodgson published about a dozen books on mathematics and logic, leaving his mark on science, but he strived for much deeper results. Playing with words and numbers was for him a war with the reality of common sense - a war with which he hoped to find eternal, endless, imperishable peace.
According to contemporaries, Deacon Carroll did not believe in eternal torment of hell. I dare to suggest that he, moreover, admitted the possibility of going beyond the limits of human syntax already during his lifetime. Exit and complete transformation into another reality - a reality that he conventionally called Wonderland. He admitted - and passionately desired - such liberation... Of course, this is just a guess. Within the framework of the Christian tradition, to which, without a doubt, Deacon Dodgson belonged, this is unthinkable, however, for example, for a Hindu, Buddhist or Sufi, such a “Cheshire” disappearance is quite natural (as the disappearance in parts or in whole is for the Cheshire Cat himself!) .
It is a fact that Carroll tirelessly conducted experiments on a kind of “breakthrough of the Matrix.” Having abandoned the logic of common sense and using formal logic as a lever that “turns the world upside down” (or rather, the usual combinations of words that people use to describe this world, out loud and to themselves, during reflection), Carroll “scientifically groped” for a much deeper logic.
As it turned out later, in the 20th century, in his mathematical, logical and linguistic studies, Professor Dodgson anticipated later discoveries in mathematics and logic: in particular, “game theory” and the dialectical logic of modern scientific research. Carroll, who dreamed of returning to childhood by turning back time, was in fact ahead of the science of his era. But he never achieved his main goal.
The brilliant, perfect mind of Dojon, a mathematician and logician, suffered, unable to overcome the abyss that separated him from something fundamentally incomprehensible to reason. That existential abyss that is bottomless: you can “fly, fly” into it. And the aging Dodgson flew and flew, becoming increasingly lonely and misunderstood. This abyss has no name. Perhaps this is what Sartre called “nausea.” But since the human mind tends to attach labels to everything, let’s call it an abyss. Snark-Boojuma. This is the gap between the human consciousness striving for freedom and the inhumanity of its environment.
Those around him (part of the environment) considered Dojohn-Carroll a man with quirks, a little out of his mind. And he knew how crazy and bizarre everyone else was - people who “think” in words while they play “royal croquet” in their own heads. “Everyone here is out of their minds, both you and me,” says the Cheshire Cat to Alice. Reality, when you apply reason to it, becomes even crazier. It becomes, deconstructed, the world of “Alice in Wonderland.”
The life story of Dodgson-Carroll is a story of search and disappointment, struggle and defeat, as well as that special disappointment-defeat that comes only after victory at the end of a long, life-long search. Carroll, after a long struggle, won his place in the sun, and the sun went out. “For the Snark *was* a Boojum, you see” - with this sentence (offer of one’s head, or (de-) capitulation) ends Carroll’s last famous work - the nonsense poem “The Hunting of the Snark”. Carroll got a Snark, and that Snark was Boojum. In general, Carroll's biography is the story of Snark, who *was* Boojum. Carroll's failure was three people: Morpheus, who did not find his Neo, Trinity, who also did not find his Neo, and Neo himself, who never saw the Matrix as it is. The story of a liquid terminator that no one loved or understood well, and who dissolved into oblivion. A story that doesn't leave you indifferent.
Carroll got involved in a fight that no reasonable person could win. Only when (and if! And this is a big If!) thoughts are transcended, states known as intuition appear beyond the mind. Carroll was just trying - intuitively feeling that he needed it - to develop such a superpower in himself, to pull himself out of the swamp by his hair. Intuition is higher than any and all intellect: the mind and intellect operate with the help of words, logic and reason (in which Carroll achieved significant heights) and are therefore limited. Only the state of super logic and intuition surpasses reasonable logic. While Carroll used his mind, he was a good mathematician, an innovative logician, and a talented writer. But when the “golden city” stood before him - Wonderland, the Radiant Himalayas of the Spirit - he wrote under the inspiration of something superhuman, and these glimpses of the Supreme can be seen even through the translation: Carroll, like a dervish, spins in his mystical dance, and before ours Words, numbers, chess pieces, poems flash with a mental (and sometimes thoughtless!) gaze; finally, gradually, the very texture of the world, the lines of the Matrix, begins to appear... Is it possible to demand more from a writer? This is his gift to us - something that he could only allow to happen - our dear Uncle Carroll, visionary mathematician, theatrical deacon, humorous prophet in an awkward yellow wig.
Lewis Carroll, English writer and mathematician, died on January 14, 1898. the site decided to remember the most striking stories associated with him or his life.
1. After reading “Alice in Wonderland” and “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” Queen Victoria was delighted and demanded that the rest of the works of this wonderful author be brought to her. The queen’s request, of course, was fulfilled, but the rest of Dodgson’s works were entirely devoted to... mathematics. The most famous books are “Algebraic Analysis of the Fifth Book of Euclid” (1858, 1868), “Notes on Algebraic Planimetry” (1860), “Elementary Guide to the Theory of Determinants” (1867), “Euclid and His Modern Rivals” (1879), "Mathematical Curiosities" (1888 and 1893) and "Symbolic Logic" (1896).
2. In English-speaking countries, Carroll's tales rank third among the most cited books. The first place was taken by the Bible, the second by the works of Shakespeare.
Carroll was one of the first portrait photographers
3. The first Oxford edition of Alice in Wonderland was completely destroyed at the request of the author. Carroll did not like the quality of the publication. At the same time, the writer was not at all interested in the quality of publication in other countries, for example, in America. In this matter, he completely relied on the publishers.
4. In Victorian England, being a photographer was not at all easy. The process of photographing was unusually complex and labor-intensive: photographs had to be taken at extremely high shutter speeds, on glass plates coated with collodion solution. After shooting, the plates had to be developed very quickly. Dodgson’s talented photographs remained unknown to the general public for a long time, but in 1950 the book “Lewis Carroll – Photographer” was published.
5. During one of Carroll's lectures, one of the students had an epileptic attack, and Carroll was able to help. After this incident, Dodgson became seriously interested in medicine, and he acquired and studied dozens of medical reference books and books. To test his endurance, Charles attended an operation where a patient's leg was amputated above the knee. His passion for medicine did not go unnoticed - in 1930, the Lewis Carroll Children's Department was opened at St. Mary's Hospital.
In Victorian England, a child under 14 was considered asexual and asexual.
6. In Victorian England, a child under 14 was considered asexual and asexual. But communication between an adult man and a young girl could ruin her reputation. Many researchers believe that because of this, girls underestimated their age when talking about their friendship with Dodgson. The innocence of this friendship can also be judged by Carroll’s correspondence with his older girlfriends. Not a single letter hints at any love feelings on the part of the writer. On the contrary, they contain discussions about life and are completely friendly in nature.
7. Researchers cannot say exactly what kind of person Lewis Carroll was in life. On the one hand, he had a hard time making friends, and his students considered him the most boring teacher in the world. But other researchers say that Carroll was not shy at all and consider the writer a famous ladies' man. They believe that relatives simply did not like to mention it.
Lewis Carroll was a suspect in the Jack the Ripper case
8. Lewis Carroll loved to write letters. He even shared his thoughts in the article “Eight or Nine Words of Wise About Writing Letters.” And at the age of 29, the writer started a journal in which he recorded all incoming and outgoing correspondence. Over 37 years, 98,921 letters were registered in the journal.
9. In addition to being accused of pedophilia, Lewis Carroll was a suspect in the case of Jack the Ripper, a serial killer who was never caught.
The real Alice had to sell 1 handwritten version of the book for £15,400
10. The exact date of that memorable boat ride on the Thames during which Carroll told his story about Alice is unknown. It is generally accepted that “Golden July Noon” is July 4, 1862. However, the Journal of the English Royal Meteorological Society reports that on July 4, 1862, 3 cm of rain fell per day from 10:00 am, with the main amount falling from 2:00 pm late at night.
11. The real Alice Liddell had to sell the first handwritten version of Alice's Adventures Underground for £15,400 in 1928. She had to do this because she had nothing to pay for the house.
12. There is Alice in Wonderland syndrome. During an acute attack of a certain type of migraine, people feel themselves or surrounding objects disproportionately small or large and cannot determine the distance to them. These sensations can be accompanied by a headache or occur independently, and the attack can last for months. In addition to migraines, Alice in Wonderland syndrome can be caused by a brain tumor or taking psychotropic drugs.
13. Charles Dodgson suffered from insomnia. Trying to escape from sad thoughts and fall asleep, he invented mathematical puzzles and solved them himself. Carroll published his “midnight tasks” as a separate book.
14. Lewis Carroll spent a whole month in Russia. He was, after all, a deacon, and at that time the Orthodox and Anglican churches were trying to establish strong contacts. Together with his theologian friend Lyddon, he met with Metropolitan Philaret in Sergiev Posad. In Russia, Dodgson visited St. Petersburg, Sergiev Posad, Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod, and found the trip exciting and educational.
Lewis Carroll spent a whole month in Russia
15. Carroll had two passions - photography and theater. He, being a famous writer, was personally present at the rehearsals of his fairy tales, showing a deep understanding of the laws of the stage.
16. During the time of Lewis Carroll, felt hat makers worked for a long time with mercury vapor. Mercury poisoning often resulted in symptoms such as slurred speech, memory loss, and tremors, which is reflected in the saying “Mad as a hatter.” This is why the Hatter from Alice in Wonderland, aka the Hatter, is presented as mad.
Introduction
Translated literature has always occupied a large place in children's reading. It, just like native literature, has a serious influence on the moral and aesthetic education of children. The best works of progressive foreign writers instill in young citizens humanism, devotion to moral ideas, love of knowledge, and hard work. This is the most important means of exchanging cultural values, helping to bring people closer together and interact. It contributes to the study of social conditions and the culture of the peoples of different countries, since without sociocultural knowledge real communication and understanding cannot take place. “Art has the magical ability to overcome barriers of nationality and tradition, making people aware of their universal wealth. The scientific and technical achievements of a nation win it respect and admiration, but the creations of art make everyone fall in love with this nation,” wrote S.Ya. Marshak.
Of particular importance in translated children's literature are the works of British writers such as: Edward Lear, Lewis Carroll, Kenneth Grahame, Joseph Rudyard Kipling, Walter de la Mare, Eleanor Farjeon, Alan Alexander Milne, Hugh Lofting.
Lewis Carroll: biography and creativity
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, whom everyone knows under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll, was born on January 27, 1832 in the small village of Daresbury, located in Cheshire. He was the first child of the parish priest Charles Dodgson. The future writer's mother's name was Frances Jane Lutwidge. At baptism, the child received two names: the first, Charles, in honor of his father, the second, Lutwidge, in honor of his mother. Later, Charles had seven more sisters and three brothers - at that time large families were common. Lewis Carroll was British to the core. He had a special appearance: asymmetrical eyes, the corners of his lips were turned up, he was deaf in his right ear; stuttered.
All children in the Dodgson family received home education: the father himself taught them the law of God, literature and the basics of natural sciences, “biography” and “chronology”. The boy was then sent to Richmond Grammar School. After six months of study, young Charles managed to enter Rugby School, where he studied for four years. During his studies, teachers noted the boy's outstanding abilities in theology and mathematics. Carroll's entire subsequent life was connected with Oxford.
In May 1850, Dodgson was admitted to Christ Church College, Oxford University, and in January of the following year he moved permanently to Oxford. Charles graduated from college with honors in two departments: mathematics and classical languages, which was a rare case even at that time. Considering the young man’s outstanding abilities, he was offered to stay and work at Oxford, and in the fall of 1855 he was appointed professor of mathematics at one of the colleges. In those years, a prerequisite for scientific work was taking holy orders and a vow of celibacy. Dodgson hesitated for some time, fearing that taking holy orders would force him to give up his favorite pastimes - photography and going to the theater.
In 1861, Dodgson was ordained deacon, the first step in the priesthood process, but university rules soon changed and ordination became optional.
Dodgson wrote a large number of scientific books and brochures on logic and mathematics. The most famous books are The Fifth Book of Euclid Treated Algebraically (1858, 1868), A Syllabus of Plane Algebraical Geometry (1860), An Elementary Treatise on Determinants, 1867) and Euclid and His Modern Rivals (1879), Mathematical Curiosities (Curiosa Mathematica, 1888 and 1893), Symbolic Logic (1896).
In Oxford, Charles Dodgson lived in a small, cozy house with turrets. In his youth, he wanted to learn to be an artist, so he drew a lot, mainly with charcoal or pencil, and he himself illustrated his own handwritten magazines, which he published for his brothers and sisters. Once he sent several of his drawings to the humor supplement of the Time newspaper, but the editors did not publish them. Then Charles became acquainted with the art of photography, a passion for which he retained throughout his life. He bought a camera and took up photography seriously. In the era of the birth of photography, the process of photographing was unusually complex: photographs had to be taken with a long shutter speed, on glass plates coated with a colloidal solution. The plates then had to be developed very quickly after shooting. For a long time, Dodgson's photographs were not known to a wide circle, but in 1950, the book “Lewis Carroll - Photographer” was published, which revealed Dodgson as a talented photographer.
Lewis Carroll loved Alice Liddell, a seven-year-old beauty with wide eyes, the rector's daughter, who, thanks to Carroll, turned into fairy-tale Alice.
Carroll, indeed, was friends with her for many years, including after she successfully married. He took many wonderful photographs of little and big Alice Liddell.
Alice. Photo by Carroll
Dodgson was a rather strange person - he avoided making friends, had poor hearing in one ear and had diction defects. He delivered his lectures in a abrupt, lifeless tone. Carroll simply loved the theater. This was clearly visible from the outside when he, already a famous writer, was personally present at the rehearsals of his fairy tales on the theater stage, showing a deep understanding of the theater and the laws of the stage.
Dr. Dodgson often suffered from severe insomnia. At night, while trying to sleep, he would invent “midnight problems”—various mathematical puzzles—and solve them himself in the dark. Having collected these problems together, Carroll published them as a separate book, Mathematical Curiosities.
In 1867, Dodgson went on a very unusual trip to Russia. On the way, he visited Calais, Brussels, Potsdam, Danzig, and Koenigsberg. The journey was very exciting. In Russia, Dodgson visited St. Petersburg, Sergiev Posad, Moscow, and a fair in Nizhny Novgorod. After a month in Russia, he returned back to England. The return route passed through Vilna, Warsaw, Ems, and Paris. Dodgson loved children very much: as a young boy he wrote stories, small poems, came up with various games, and drew pictures for his younger brothers and sisters. Dodgson had such a strong attachment to children (mostly girls) that it even confused his contemporaries. It is difficult to say unequivocally what attracted Carroll to little girls, but in our time many biographers and critics, studying the psychology of the writer, never cease to accuse him of pedophilia.
Of Dodgson's childhood friends, the most famous were those with whom he had been friends since his youth - these were the children of the dean of his college, Liddell: Harry, Lorina, Alice (Alice), Rhoda, Edith and Violet.
Favorite Alice became the main character of Dodgson's improvisations, with which he entertained his young girlfriends on river walks or in his house, in front of the camera. Charles's photo models were his little girlfriends. He told the most unusual and fascinating story on July 4, 1862 to Lorina, Edith, Alice Liddell and Canon Duckworth near Godstow, walking in the upper reaches of the Thames. Young Alice persuaded Dodgson to write down his story on paper, which he did. Then, on the advice of J. MacDonald and Henry Kingsley, he rewrote his book so that it would be interesting not only for children, but also for adults. Charles added several more fascinating stories to the future book that he had previously told to Liddell's children. In July 1865, the book was published under the title Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Soon a continuation of Alice's adventures appeared, also collected from earlier and later stories. This continuation was published at Christmas 1871. The new book was called “ Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There. The illustrations for both books were created by D. Tenniel, who carried them out according to the exact instructions of Dodgson himself.
The fairy tales “Alice in Wonderland” and “Alice Through the Looking Glass” are loved by adults and children. They are quoted, philologists and physicists refer to it, they are studied by philosophers and linguists, psychologists and mathematicians. Many articles, scientific papers, and books have been written about them. Movies have been made based on Lewis Carroll's books and plays have been staged. Hundreds of artists drew illustrations for his books, including Salvador Dali himself. Alice's Adventures have been translated into more than a hundred languages.
Dodgson wrote wonderful and original humorous poetry. Carroll published some poems from the books about Alice in 1855 in the Comic Times and in 1856 in Train magazine. He published many more of his poetry collections in these and various other periodicals, anonymously or under his pseudonym Lewis Carroll. Carroll's most famous poetic work is the nonsense poem "The Hunting of the Snark."
In the winter of 1898, Lewis Carroll fell ill with influenza in Guildford. The flu caused a complication - pneumonia, from which Charles Dodgson died on January 14, 1898.
Carroll's ability to skillfully “juggle” words and invent various new words made it impossible to unambiguously translate his works. Despite the efforts of the translators, some of the subtext was still lost. Now there are dozens of different translations into Russian of Lewis Carroll's works. In the Soviet Union, the works of L. Carroll were first translated by A.P. Olenich-Gnenenko. From 1940 to 1961, the publication was published five times. The 1958 edition contained the first Soviet illustrations for "Alice", which were made by the artist V.S. Alfeevsky.
Lewis Carroll (Great Britain, 27.1.1832 - 14.1.1898) - English children's writer, mathematician, logician.
Real name: Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.
Under the name Lewis Carroll, English mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson became known throughout the world as the creator of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, one of the most popular books for children.
Born January 27, 1832 in Daresbury near Warrington (Cheshire) in the family of a parish priest. He was the third child and eldest son in a family of four boys and seven girls. As a boy, Dodgson invented games, composed stories and rhymes, and drew pictures for his younger brothers and sisters.
Dodgson's education until the age of twelve is handled by his father.
1844-1846 – studies at Richmond Grammar School.
1846-1850 - studies at Rugby School, a privileged closed educational institution that causes hostility in Dodgson. However, here he shows outstanding abilities in mathematics and classical languages.
1850 – enrolled at Christ Church College, Oxford University and moves to Oxford.
1851 – wins the Boulter Scholarship competition.
1852 – awarded first class honors in mathematics and second class in classical languages and ancient literatures. Thanks to his achievements, he is allowed to do scientific work.
1855 - Dodgson was offered a professorship at his college, the traditional condition of which in those years was taking holy orders and a vow of celibacy. Dodgson fears that due to his ordination he will have to give up his favorite activities - photography and going to the theater.
1856, among other things, was also the year Mr. Dodgson began his studies in photography. During his passion for this art form (he stopped filming in 1880 for unknown reasons), he created about 3,000 photographs, of which less than 1,000 have survived.
1858 – “The Fifth Book of Euclid Treated Algebraically”, 2nd ed. 1868.
1860 – “Notes on algebraic planimetry” (A Syllabus of Plane Algebraical Geometry).
1861 – Dodgson is ordained deacon, the first intermediate step towards becoming a priest. However, changes in university status eliminate the need for further steps in this direction.
July 1, 1862 - on a walk near Godstow, on the upper Thames, with the children of Liddell, the Dean of Christ Church College, Lorina, Alice (Alice), Edith and Canon Duckworth, Dodgson tells a story that Alice - a favorite who has become the heroine of improvisations - asks to be written down. He does this over the next few months. Then, on the advice of Henry Kingsley and J. MacDonald, he rewrote the book for a wider range of readers, adding several more stories previously told to the Liddell children.
1865 - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is published under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll (first the English name Charles Lutwidge was Latinized into Carolus Ludovicus, and then both names were swapped and were again anglicized).
1867 – scientific work “An Elementary Treatise on Determinants”.
In the same year, Dodgson left England for the first and last time and made a very unusual trip to Russia for those times. Visits Calais, Brussels, Potsdam, Danzig, Koenigsberg along the way, spends a month in Russia, returns to England via Vilna, Warsaw, Ems, Paris. In Russia, Dodgson visits St. Petersburg and its environs, Moscow, Sergiev Posad, and a fair in Nizhny Novgorod.
1871 - A sequel to Alice (also based on earlier stories and later stories told to the young Liddells at Charlton Kings, near Cheltenham, in April 1863) is published, entitled Through the Looking-Glass. Glass and What Alice Found There, year given 1872). Both books are illustrated by D. Tenniel (1820-1914), who followed Dodgson's exact instructions.
1876 – poetic epic in the genre of nonsense “The Hunting of the Snark”.
1879 – scientific work “Euclid and His Modern Rivals”.
1883 – collection of poems “Poems? Meaning?" (Rhyme? And Reason?).
1888 – scientific work “Mathematical Curiosities” (Curiosa Mathematica, 2nd ed. 1893).
1889 – novel “Sylvie and Bruno” (Sylvie and Bruno).
1893 - the second volume of the novel “Sylvia and Bruno” - “The Conclusion of Sylvie and Bruno” (Sylvie and Bruno Concluded). Both volumes are distinguished by the complexity of their composition and the mixture of elements of realistic storytelling and fairy tales.
1896 – scientific work “Symbolic Logic”.
1898 – collection of poems “Three Sunsets”.
January 14, 1898 - Charles Lutwidge Dodgson died at his sister's house in Guildford of pneumonia, two weeks shy of 66 years of age. Buried in Guilford Cemetery.
Mathematician Dodgson
Dodgson's mathematical works did not leave any noticeable mark on the history of mathematics. His mathematical education was limited to knowledge of several books of the “Elements” of the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid, the foundations of linear algebra, mathematical analysis and probability theory; this was clearly not enough to work at the “cutting edge” of mathematical science of the 19th century, which was experiencing a period of rapid development (the theory of the French mathematician Galois, non-Euclidean geometry of the Russian mathematician Nikolai Ivanovich Lobachevsky and the Hungarian mathematician Janusz Bolyai, mathematical physics, qualitative theory of differential equations, etc.) . Dodgson’s essentially complete isolation from the scientific world also had its effect: apart from short visits to London, Bath and to his sisters, Dodgson spent all his time in Oxford, and only in 1867 was his usual way of life disrupted by a trip to distant Russia (impressions from this trip Dodgson outlined it in the famous “Russian Diary”). Recently, Dodgson's mathematical legacy has attracted increasing attention from researchers who have discovered his unexpected mathematical discoveries that have remained unclaimed.
Dodgson's achievements in the field of mathematical logic were far ahead of their time. He developed a graphical technique for solving logical problems, more convenient than the diagrams of the mathematician, mechanic, physicist and astronomer Leonhard Euler or the English logician John Venn. Dodgson achieved particular skill in solving the so-called “sorites”. Sorites is a logical problem, which is a chain of syllogisms in which the removed conclusion of one syllogism serves as the premise of another (in addition, the remaining premises are mixed; “sorites” in Greek means “heap”). C. L. Dodgson outlined his achievements in the field of mathematical logic in the two-volume “Symbolic Logic” (the second volume was recently found in the form of galleys in the archive of Dodgson’s scientific opponent) and, in a simplified version for children, in the “Logic Game”.
Writer Lewis Carroll
The unique originality of Carroll's style is due to the trinity of his literary gift of thinking as a mathematician and sophisticated logic. Contrary to the popular belief that Carroll, along with Edward Lear, can be considered the founder of “nonsense poetry,” Lewis Carroll actually created a different genre of “paradoxical literature”: his characters do not violate logic, but, on the contrary, follow it, taking logic to the point of absurdity.
Carroll Lewis's most significant literary works are rightfully considered to be two fairy tales about Alice - "Alice in Wonderland" (1865) and "Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Saw There" (1871), usually called "Alice Through the Looking Glass" for brevity. Bold experiments with language, the many subtle logical and philosophical questions raised in the tales of Alice, the polysemy (“polysemanticism”) of the statements of characters and situations make Carroll’s “children’s” works a favorite reading of the “gray-haired sages.”
Features of Carroll's unique style are clearly noticeable in other works of Carroll: “Sylvie and Bruno”, “The Hunting of the Snark”, “Midnight Problems”, “The Knot Story”, “What the Turtle Said to Achilles”, “Allen Brown and Carr”, “ Euclid and his modern rivals,” letters to children.
L. Carroll was one of the first English photographers. His works are distinguished by naturalness and poetry, especially photographs of children. At the famous international photography exhibition “The Human Race” (1956), English photographers of the 19th century were represented by a single photograph by Lewis Carroll.
In Russia, Carroll has been widely known since the end of the last century. Fairy tales about Alice have been repeatedly (and with varying degrees of success) translated and retold into Russian, in particular by Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov. But one of the best translations was carried out by Boris Vladimirovich Zakhoder. The stories invented by Carroll are loved not only by children, but also by adults.
Birth of the pseudonym "Carroll Lewis"
Magazine publisher and writer Edmund Yates advised Dodgson to come up with a pseudonym, and in Dodgson's Diaries an entry appears dated February 11, 1865: “Wrote to Mr. Yates, offering him a choice of pseudonyms:
1) Edgar Cutwellis [the name Edgar Cutwellis is obtained by rearranging the letters from Charles Lutwidge].
2) Edgard W. C. Westhill [the method of obtaining a pseudonym is the same as in the previous case].
3) Louis Carroll [Louis from Lutwidge - Ludwick - Louis, Carroll from Charles].
4) Lewis Carroll [by the same principle of “translation” of the names Charles Lutwidge into Latin and the reverse “translation” from Latin into English].”
The choice fell on Lewis Carroll. Since then, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson signed all his “serious” mathematical and logical works with his real name, and all his literary works with a pseudonym, stubbornly refusing to recognize the identity of Dodgson and Carroll.
In the indissoluble union of the modest and somewhat prim Dodgson and the flamboyant Carroll, the former clearly lost to the latter: the writer Lewis Carroll was a better mathematician and logician than the Oxford “don” Charles Lutwidge Dodgson
The works of Lewis Carroll
A significant number of books and pamphlets on mathematics and logic indicate that Dodgson was a conscientious member of the learned community. Among them are Algebraic Analysis of the Fifth Book of Euclid (The Fifth Book of Euclid Treated Algebraically, 1858 and 1868), Notes on Algebraic Planimetry (A Syllabus of Plane Algebraical Geometry, 1860), An Elementary Treatise on Determinants, 1867 ) and Euclid and His Modern Rivals (1879), Mathematical Curiosities (Curiosa Mathematica, 1888 and 1893), Symbolic Logic (1896).
Children interested Dodgson from a young age; As a boy, he invented games, composed stories and poems, and drew pictures for his younger brothers and sisters. Dodgson’s unusually strong attachment to children (and girls almost ousted boys from his circle of friends) puzzled his contemporaries, while the latest critics and biographers do not cease to multiply the number of psychological investigations of the writer’s personality.
Of Dodgson's childhood friends, the most famous were those with whom he became friends earlier than anyone else - the children of Liddell, the dean of his college: Harry, Lorina, Alice (Alice), Edith, Rhoda and Violet. Alice was a favorite, and soon became the heroine of the improvisations with which Dodgson entertained his young friends on river walks or at home, in front of the camera. He told the most extraordinary story to Lorina, Alice and Edith Liddell and Canon Duckworth on July 4, 1862 near Godstow, on the upper Thames. Alice asked Dodgson to write down this story on paper, which he did over the next few months. Then, on the advice of Henry Kingsley and J. MacDonald, he rewrote the book for a wider range of readers, adding several more stories previously told to the Liddell children, and in July 1865 he published Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. A sequel, also from the earlier stories and later stories told to the young Liddells at Charlton Kings, near Cheltenham, in April 1863, appeared at Christmas 1871 (1872) under the title Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Seen There. What Alice Found There). Both books were illustrated by D. Tenniel (1820–1914), who followed Dodgson's exact instructions.
Both Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass talk about events that happen as if in a dream. Breaking down the narrative into episodes allows the writer to include stories that play on common sayings and proverbs, such as “the smile of the Cheshire Cat” or “the mad hatter,” or play on situations in games such as croquet or cards. Through the Looking Glass has a greater unity of plot compared to Wonderland. Here Alice finds herself in a mirrored world and becomes a participant in a chess game, where the White Queen's pawn (this is Alice) reaches the eighth square and turns into a queen. This book also features popular nursery rhyme characters, notably Humpty Dumpty, who interprets “made-up” words in “Jabberwocky” with a comically professorial air.
Dodgson was good at humorous poetry, and he published some of the poems from the Alice books in the Comic Times (a supplement to the Times newspaper) in 1855 and in Train magazine in 1856. He published many more poetry collections in these and other periodicals, such as College Rhimes and Punch, anonymously or under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll (the English name Charles Lutwidge was first Latinized to become Carolus Ludovicus, and then the two names were reversed and were again anglicized). This pseudonym was used to sign both books about Alice and the collections of poems Phantasmagoria (Phantasmagoria, 1869), Poems? Meaning? (Rhyme? And Reason?, 1883) and Three Sunsets (1898). The poetic epic in the genre of nonsense, The Hunting of the Snark (1876), also became famous. The novel Sylvie and Bruno (Sylvie and Bruno, 1889) and its second volume, The Conclusion of Sylvie and Bruno (Sylvie and Bruno Concluded, 1893) are distinguished by the complexity of their composition and the mixing of elements of a realistic narrative and a fairy tale.
The wonderful world of Lewis Carroll has captivated both adults and children for almost one hundred and fifty years. Books about Alice are read all over the world. And even more surprising is their creator, a serious mathematician and pedant on the one hand and a dreamer, the best friend of children, on the other.
Carroll's books are a fairy tale intertwined with reality, a world of fiction and the grotesque. Alice's journey is a path along which the imagination of a person freely glides, free from the burdens of “adult” life, which is why the characters encountered along the way and the adventures experienced by Alice are so close to children. Alice's universe, created in a momentary impulse, shocked the whole world. Probably no work of art in the world has as many readers, imitators and haters as the works of Lewis Carroll. Sending Alice down the rabbit hole, the author did not even imagine where his imagination would lead the little heroine, and certainly did not know how his fairy tale would resonate in the hearts of millions of people.
Alice's journey to Wonderland and the mysterious Through the Looking Glass takes place as if in a dream. The travels themselves can hardly be called a logically complete narrative. It is rather a series of bright, sometimes absurd, sometimes funny and touching events and memorable meetings with characters. A new literary technique - breaking up the narrative into episodes - made it possible to reflect the flavor of British life, take a fresh look at traditional English hobbies such as croquet and card games, and play on popular sayings and proverbs. Both books contain many nursery rhymes, the characters of which later became very popular.
According to critics, Lewis Carroll was especially good at humorous poems. He published his poetry separately in popular periodicals such as The Times, Train, and College Rhimes. A luminary of mathematical science, the author of serious scientific works, he did not dare to publish his “frivolous” works under his own name. Then Charles Latwidge Dodgson turned into Lewis Carroll. This pseudonym appeared on both books about Alice’s adventures and on numerous collections of poems. Lewis Carroll is also the author of The Hunting of the Snark, a poem in the heat of the absurd, and the novels Sylvia and Bruno and The Conclusion of Sylvia and Bruno.
Carroll's creations are a mixture of parody and fairy tale. Traveling through the pages of his works, we find ourselves in an incredible world of fantasy, so close to both our dreams and the realities of our everyday life.
This is an amazing story of an English writer and scientist. At the same time, the whole world knows him as a storyteller who wrote one of the most famous stories about the adventures of the girl Alice. His career was not limited to writing: Carroll studied photography, mathematics, logic, and taught. He holds the title of Professor at Oxford University.
The writer's childhood
Lewis Carroll's biography originates in Cheshire. It was here that he was born in 1832. His father was a parish priest in the small village of Daresbury. The family was large. Lewis's parents raised 7 more girls and three boys.
Carroll received his initial education at home. Already there he showed himself to be a quick-witted and intelligent student. His first teacher was his father. Like many creative and talented people, Carroll was left-handed. According to some biographers, Carroll was not allowed to write with his left hand as a child. Because of this, his childhood psyche was disrupted.
Education
Lewis Carroll received his initial education at a private school near Richmond. In it he found language with teachers and students, but in 1845 he was forced to transfer to Rugby School, where conditions were worse. During his studies, he demonstrated excellent results in theology and mathematics. Since 1850, Lewis Carroll's biography has been closely connected with the aristocratic college in Christ Church. This is one of the most prestigious educational institutions at the University of Oxford. Over time, he transferred to study at Oxford.
Carroll was not particularly successful in his studies, excelling only in mathematics. For example, he won a competition for giving mathematical lectures in Christ Church. He did this work for 26 years. Although she was boring for a mathematics professor, she brought in a decent income.
According to the college charter, another amazing event occurs. Writer Lewis Carroll, whose biography many associate with the exact sciences, takes holy orders. These were the requirements of the college in which he studied. He is awarded the rank of deacon, which allows him to preach sermons without working in the parish.
Lewis Carroll begins writing stories in college. A short biography of an English mathematician proves that talented people have abilities in both the exact sciences and the humanities. He sent them to magazines under a pseudonym, which later became world famous. His real name is Charles Dodgson. The fact is that at that time in England, writing was not considered a very prestigious occupation, so scientists and professors tried to hide their passion for prose or poetry.
First success
Lewis Carroll's biography is a success story. Fame came to him in 1854; authoritative literary magazines began publishing his works. These were the stories "Train" and "Space Times".
Around the same years, Carroll met Alice, who later became the prototype for the heroines of his most famous works. A new dean arrived at the college - Henry Liddell. His wife and five children came with him. One of them was 4-year-old Alice.
"Alice in Wonderland"
The author's most famous work, the novel "Alice in Wonderland", appears in 1864. The biography of Lewis Carroll in English details the history of the creation of this work. This is an amazing story about a girl Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into an imaginary world. It is inhabited by various anthropomorphic creatures. The fairy tale is extremely popular among both children and adults. This is one of the best works in the world written in the absurdist genre. It contains a lot of philosophical jokes, mathematical and linguistic allusions. This work had a huge influence on the formation of an entire genre - fantasy. A few years later, Carroll wrote a continuation of this story - "Alice Through the Looking Glass."
In the 20th century, many brilliant film adaptations of this work appeared. One of the most famous was directed by Tim Burton in 2010. The main roles were played by Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp and Anne Hathaway. According to the plot of this picture, Alice is already 19 years old. She returns to Wonderland, where she was in her distant childhood, when she was only 6. Alice has to save the Jabberwocky. She is assured that she is the only one who is capable of this. Meanwhile, the dragon Jabberwocky is at the mercy of the Red Queen. The film seamlessly combines live action with beautiful animation. That is why the film became one of the highest-grossing films in the world in the history of cinema.
Travel to Russia
The writer was predominantly a homebody; he only went abroad once. In 1867, Lewis Carroll came to Russia. The biography in English of the mathematician tells in detail about this trip. Carroll went to Russia with the Rev. Henry Liddon. Both were representatives of theology. At that time, the Orthodox and Anglican churches were actively in contact with each other. Together with his friend, Carroll visited Moscow, Sergiev Posad, many other holy places, as well as the largest cities of the country - Nizhny Novgorod, St. Petersburg.
A diary kept by Lewis Carroll in Russia has reached us. A short biography for children describes this journey in detail. Although it was not originally intended for publication, it was published posthumously. This includes impressions of cities visited, observations from meetings with Russians and recordings of individual phrases. On the way to Russia and on the way back, Carroll and his friend visited many European countries and cities. Their path lay through France, Germany and Poland.
Scientific publications
Under his own name, Dodgson (Carroll) published many works on mathematics. He specialized in Euclidean geometry, matrix algebra, and studied mathematical analysis. Carroll also loved entertaining mathematics and constantly developed games and puzzles. For example, he owns a method for calculating determinants, which bears his name - Dodgson condensation. True, in general his mathematical achievements did not leave any noticeable mark. But work on mathematical logic was significantly ahead of the time in which Lewis Carroll lived. The biography in English details these successes. Carroll died in 1898 in Guildford. He was 65 years old.
Carroll the photographer
There is another area in which Lewis Carroll was successful. A biography for children details his passion for photography. He is considered one of the founders of pictorialism. This trend in the art of photography is characterized by the staged nature of filming and editing of negatives.
Carroll communicated a lot with the famous 19th century photographer Reilander and took lessons from him. The writer kept his collection of staged photographs at home. Carroll himself took Reilander's photograph, which is considered a classic of mid-19th century photographic portraiture.
Personal life
Despite his popularity among children, Carroll never married and did not have children of his own. His contemporaries note that the main joy in his life was his friendship with little girls. He often painted them, even naked and half-naked, naturally, with the permission of their mothers. An interesting fact to note: at that time in England, girls under 14 were considered asexual, so Carroll’s hobby did not seem suspicious to anyone. Back then it was considered innocent fun. Carroll himself wrote about the innocent nature of friendship with girls. No one doubted this, that in the numerous memories of children about friendship with the writer there is not a single hint of a violation of the norms of decency.
Suspicions of pedophilia
Despite this, serious suspicions have already emerged in our time that Carroll was a pedophile. They are mainly associated with free interpretations of his biography. For example, the film “Happy Child” is dedicated to this.
True, modern researchers of his biography come to the conclusion that most of the girls with whom Carroll communicated were over 14 years old. Mostly they were 16-18 years old. Firstly, the writer’s girlfriends often underestimated their age in their memoirs. For example, Ruth Gamlen writes in her memoirs that she dined with Carroll when she was a shy child of twelve. However, researchers were able to establish that at that time she had already turned 18. Secondly, Carroll himself used to use the word “child” to refer to young girls up to 30 years old.
So today it is worth admitting with a high degree of confidence that all suspicions about the unhealthy attraction of the writer and mathematician to children are not based on facts. Lewis Carroll's friendship with his dean's daughter, from which the amazing "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" was born, is absolutely innocent.
