Lewis Carroll: A Biography
Encyclopedia
Lewis Carroll: A Biography is a 1995 biography of author Lewis Carroll
by Morton N. Cohen
, first published by Knopf
, later by Macmillan
. It is generally considered to be the definitive scholarly work on Carroll's (real name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) life. Cohen's approach is mainly chronological, with some chapters grouped by theme, such as those on Carroll's religion, his love of little girls, and his guilty feelings. Cohen, a Carroll scholar for 30 years, opts to use Dodgson's first name, Charles, throughout the work, because it "seems most appropriate in a book dealing with the intimacy of his life".
The book generally assumes that Carroll's love of little girls was not just emotional but sexual—that he was a paedophile
, albeit a suppressed one. In the book Cohen writes:
While attributing the source of Carroll's chaotic emotional life to his sexual urges, Cohen opined that they were also responsible for his creative works.
Karoline Leach
in In the Shadow of the Dreamchild
(1999) writes that Cohen and previous biographers misunderstood the norms and customs of the Victorian era
, and that Carroll's adulation of children was not sexual but a reflection of the romanticisation
of the child prevalent in that era. Contrariwise, a website set up by opponents (including Leach) of the tradition Carroll image, reports that while Cohen acknowledges the peadophilic nature of Carroll's image, he "Inexplicably he lists the numbers of intimate woman-friends that Dodgson had through his life, yet still concludes that his existence revolved exclusively around friendships with small girls!"
Jo Elwyn Jones and J. Francis Gladstone in The Alice Companion: A Guide to Lewis Carroll's Alice Books (1998) criticises the book for what they say is a poor treatment of Carroll's involvement in controversies at the University of Oxford
. Megan Harlan in Entertainment Weekly
writes that "This beautifully written bio never shies away from the house-of-mirrors complexity of its subject." An issue of Victorian Studies
reported that there were issues with inconsistent references. Miles Edward Friend compares Cohen's handling of the material to Carroll's boat trips with the children, saying, "With Cohen at the tiller, we are deftly guided through the flow of Carroll's life." Ronald Warwick in Times Higher Education criticises Cohen's interpretation of Carroll's relationship with his archdeacon father; his "insecure grasp of 19th-century ecclesiastical history"; his prose, which Warwich called cliched; and his choice to use Dodgson's first name, which Warwick said was not used even by Dodgson's most intimate male friends.
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
by Morton N. Cohen
Morton N. Cohen
Morton Norton Cohen is an American author and scholar, and Professor Emeritus of the City University of New York, best known for his extensive studies of children's author Lewis Carroll, including his 1995 biography Lewis Carroll: A Biography.Cohen was born in Calgary, Canada, and grew on the...
, first published by Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. is a New York publishing house, founded by Alfred A. Knopf, Sr. in 1915. It was acquired by Random House in 1960 and is now part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group at Random House. The publishing house is known for its borzoi trademark , which was designed by co-founder...
, later by Macmillan
Macmillan Publishers
Macmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately held international publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. It has offices in 41 countries worldwide and operates in more than thirty others.-History:...
. It is generally considered to be the definitive scholarly work on Carroll's (real name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) life. Cohen's approach is mainly chronological, with some chapters grouped by theme, such as those on Carroll's religion, his love of little girls, and his guilty feelings. Cohen, a Carroll scholar for 30 years, opts to use Dodgson's first name, Charles, throughout the work, because it "seems most appropriate in a book dealing with the intimacy of his life".
The book generally assumes that Carroll's love of little girls was not just emotional but sexual—that he was a paedophile
Pedophilia
As a medical diagnosis, pedophilia is defined as a psychiatric disorder in adults or late adolescents typically characterized by a primary or exclusive sexual interest in prepubescent children...
, albeit a suppressed one. In the book Cohen writes:
"We cannot know to what extent sexual urges lay behind Charles's preference for drawing and photographing children in the nude. He contended that the preference was entirely aesthetic. But given his emotional attachment to children as well as his aesthetic appreciation of their forms, his assertion that his interest was strictly artistic is naïve. He probably felt more than he dared acknowledge, even to himself."
While attributing the source of Carroll's chaotic emotional life to his sexual urges, Cohen opined that they were also responsible for his creative works.
Karoline Leach
Karoline Leach
Karoline Leach is a British playwright and author, best known for her book In the Shadow of the Dreamchild , which re-examines the life of Lewis Carroll , the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...
in In the Shadow of the Dreamchild
In the Shadow of the Dreamchild
In the Shadow of the Dreamchild: A New Understanding of Lewis Carroll is a 1999 book by British author Karoline Leach that posited the concept of the "Carroll Myth": the idea that many of the most famous aspects of Lewis Carroll's biography, including his supposed adoration of Alice Liddell, are...
(1999) writes that Cohen and previous biographers misunderstood the norms and customs of the Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
, and that Carroll's adulation of children was not sexual but a reflection of the romanticisation
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
of the child prevalent in that era. Contrariwise, a website set up by opponents (including Leach) of the tradition Carroll image, reports that while Cohen acknowledges the peadophilic nature of Carroll's image, he "Inexplicably he lists the numbers of intimate woman-friends that Dodgson had through his life, yet still concludes that his existence revolved exclusively around friendships with small girls!"
Jo Elwyn Jones and J. Francis Gladstone in The Alice Companion: A Guide to Lewis Carroll's Alice Books (1998) criticises the book for what they say is a poor treatment of Carroll's involvement in controversies at the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
. Megan Harlan in Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
writes that "This beautifully written bio never shies away from the house-of-mirrors complexity of its subject." An issue of Victorian Studies
Victorian Studies
Victorian Studies is a peer-reviewed academic journal, published quarterly by Indiana University Press. It covers research on nineteenth-century Britain during the reign of Queen Victoria and publishes essays, forums, and reviews on a variety of topics concerning Victorianism, including...
reported that there were issues with inconsistent references. Miles Edward Friend compares Cohen's handling of the material to Carroll's boat trips with the children, saying, "With Cohen at the tiller, we are deftly guided through the flow of Carroll's life." Ronald Warwick in Times Higher Education criticises Cohen's interpretation of Carroll's relationship with his archdeacon father; his "insecure grasp of 19th-century ecclesiastical history"; his prose, which Warwich called cliched; and his choice to use Dodgson's first name, which Warwick said was not used even by Dodgson's most intimate male friends.
Sources
- Cohen, Morton N.Morton N. CohenMorton Norton Cohen is an American author and scholar, and Professor Emeritus of the City University of New York, best known for his extensive studies of children's author Lewis Carroll, including his 1995 biography Lewis Carroll: A Biography.Cohen was born in Calgary, Canada, and grew on the...
(1995). Lewis Carroll: A Biography. MacmillanMacmillan PublishersMacmillan Publishers Ltd, also known as The Macmillan Group, is a privately held international publishing company owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. It has offices in 41 countries worldwide and operates in more than thirty others.-History:...
. - Leach, KarolineKaroline LeachKaroline Leach is a British playwright and author, best known for her book In the Shadow of the Dreamchild , which re-examines the life of Lewis Carroll , the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...
(1999). In the Shadow of the Dreamchild: A New Understanding of Lewis CarrollIn the Shadow of the DreamchildIn the Shadow of the Dreamchild: A New Understanding of Lewis Carroll is a 1999 book by British author Karoline Leach that posited the concept of the "Carroll Myth": the idea that many of the most famous aspects of Lewis Carroll's biography, including his supposed adoration of Alice Liddell, are...
. Peter OwenPeter Owen PublishersFounded in 1951, Peter Owen Publishers is a family-run London-based independent publisher. Notable authors on an eclectic list include Paul and Jane Bowles, the Japanese Catholic author Shusaku Endo, Dali, Gide, Cocteau, Colette, Soseki, Mishima, Karoline Leach, the revisionist biographer of Lewis...
.
Further reading
- Dufreigne, Jean-Pierre (19 February 1998). "L'ébourniflant M. Carroll". L'ExpressL'Express (France)L'Express is a French weekly news magazine. When founded in 1953 during the First Indochina War, it was modelled on the US magazine TIME.-History:...
. Retrieved 9 September 2010. Google Translates. Archived by WebCiteWebCiteWebCite is a service that archives web pages on demand. Authors can subsequently cite the archived web pages through WebCite, in addition to citing the original URL of the web page. Readers are able to retrieve the archived web pages indefinitely, without regard to whether the original web page is...
on 9 November 2010.