Lewis Carroll: A Biography [Paperback]

Morton N. Cohen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 26, 1996

Under the pen name Lewis Carroll, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson became a legend for his children's books, which broke the constraints of Victorian moralism. Thirty years in the writing and drawn from a voluminous fund of letters and diaries, this exemplary biography conveys both the imaginative fancy and human complexity of the creator of Alice in Wonderland. Photos.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Biography of the multitalented author and mathematician.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

In his time, Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was known to the world as an outstanding pioneer photographer of children, particularly of female children, as well as for being the author Lewis Carroll. One of Dodgson's "child-friends," Alice Lidell, served as the inspiraton for his literary Alice. These child-friend associations subjected Dodgson to public scrutiny, gossip, and suspicion concerning his emotional and sexual proclivities, suppressed though they may have been. Dodgson chose to "let them talk." Biographer Cohen (Lewis Carroll: Interviews and Recollections, Univ. of Iowa Pr., 1988) uses previously unavailable family and personal documents, diaries, and letters to show that the shy bachelor Dodgson, Oxford mathematics don and lecturer, held himself to the strictest of moral codes. While Lewis Carroll has been probed and analyzed by countless writers (see, for instance, John Pudney's Lewis Carroll and His World, 1976), this book is about the intimate and complex life of the man behind all those who lived on the other side of the looking glass. Recommended for all literature collections.?Robert L. Kelly, Fort Wayne Community Schs., Ind.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 608 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (November 26, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679745629
• ISBN-13: 978-0679745624
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1.3 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #397,509 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cohen's Bio has No Peer, June 1, 2008

By 

Japonaliya "Japonaliya" (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lewis Carroll: A Biography (Paperback)

I am not going to review Morton's biography as it has been acclaimed for many years since it's publication.
What caused me to comment here is the statements by some readers that Cohen's book should be updated due to "new evidence" by Karoline Leach that Carroll was not in love with Alice, but her governess. She further states that the Carroll was not as attracted to children as one is led to believe and the whole "little girl" thing is a myth!

I will not comment in great length about this since I am not reviewing HER book, but I feel I must make a few points.

Nothing in the diary page that Ms. Leach quotes from proves anything, and is greatly taken out of context. She totally ignores more obvious evidence to the contrary.

While many people in Oxford thought Carroll's attentions to be for the governess, this was understandable because to think of a grown Oxford don in love with the Dean's daughter was more far fetched.

However, Mrs. Liddell and Carroll himself didn't think so....
Not only did Carroll in his later diaries admit to a long talk with Alice's' mother after her marriage, where he admits to his "foolish" ways (toward Alice) in the past, his estrangement from the Deanery. During that talk, Mrs. Liddell forgives him. (note: that with Alice's marriage, she didn't view Carroll as the "threat" he once was)

Ina, Alice's sister in letters to Alice before her death , mentions that she always thought Dodgson was in love with her sister, and when Alice denies this, Ina points out the many times she had been sitting inappropriately on Dodgson's lap and alludes to other incidents.

Then, there is the letter to Carroll's uncle, where he is upset at the news that his brother wants to marry 14 year old Alice Jane Donkin.
Carroll alludes to the similar problems he himself had gone through with "AL"..now..who could THAT be??

And why DID Alice's mother burn all of Carroll's letter to her daughter?

Because of his love for the governess?

I think not.

While it is certain that Dodgson was not the shy recluse, and had many adult friends including women, and did remain loyal to his girl friends even after they grew up.... a man who spent his time, money, and most of his life devoted to his child-friends is clearly not using it as a smoke screen to meet adult women.

If anyone still has doubts about Carroll's love and devotion to Alice, one just has to re-read the framing poems of the two Alice books again.

In Through the Looking Glass, published a few years after his falling out with the Liddell family, he wrote:
"Still she haunts me phantom wise, Alice moving under skys..never seen by waking eyes...

Yeah, he was in love with the governess all right!!!!

Read Morton Cohen's book if you seek the truth, as much as we can know, about Lewis Carroll.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Definitive Biography, May 27, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Lewis Carroll: A Biography (Paperback)

Cohen is clearly the world's foremost authority on Lewis Carroll, and his biography of this fascinating author is a rich amalgam of factual detail and careful analysis, supplemented with many interesting photographs.

Unlike the narrow thesis-driven Leach book, this biography provides a well-rounded and comprehensive portrait of Carroll the man and author.

Cohen has done more to establish the factual details of Carroll's life and work than anyone else, thanks to this biography and to his scrupulous editions of Carroll's letters.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A 5-star portrait with 4-star information, September 6, 2004

By 

Michael J. Riser "quemaqua" (Richmond, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lewis Carroll: A Biography (Paperback)

The only real negative about this beautiful and compassionate portrait is the fact that there is some newer information that conflicts with some of what is present in this book. Another edition of the book to address these issues would be welcome, but that doesn't mean this book is obsolete! It is still a very interesting and well-written account of the life of C. L. Dodgson, the man who would become better known as Lewis Carroll, and this book shouldn't go overlooked. If you are only mildly interested (or perhaps not very much at all) in the subject, you will likely find that this book is capable of holding your attention until the end. An excellent starting point for budding Carrollians, but less an excellent *ending*.