Tag Archives: Lewis Carroll

Rev. Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll)

Several years ago, I became interested in Lewis Carroll (Rev. Charles Dodgson). I had read about him possibly having migraines, and experiencing migraines myself, I went on a search to uncover the truth. Quickly I was caught up in the man (who quite likely did have migraines) but also shared my background in mathematics, my interest in religion, and in all things psychic. Who would have thought this rather stuffy (by all accounts), conservative Victorian deacon would have been a founding member of the Society for Psychical Research?

Of course, most of us are familiar with Lewis Carroll for his nonsense poems and the Alice books. I have to confess that I never read the books as a child and only as an adult have I been drawn to them.

In 1862, the Rev. Dodgson, who was a mathematics don at Oxford, took three little neighbor girls out for a ride on a boat. On a hot, sunny July day, and in the company of his friend, Robinson Duckworth, the don began to spin yet another fantastic story for the amusement of the girls. Alice, who was ten at the time, begged Mr. Dodgson to write down the tale for her. She was presented with a handwritten copy of Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, illustrated by the author, during Christmas 1864. That copy resides in the British Museum and is probably the most famous book in all children’s literature. The next year the rest of the world welcomed Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland into history.

Alice Liddell

The Rev. Charles Dodgson was a fascinating man and I was caught up in the many mysteries and complexities of his life. So much so, that I spent the next year writing my own tale of Wonderland where he and Alice get swept up in their own adventure tale. So far, I’ve been unable to secure a publisher for this mid-grade novel but then again, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland was self-published. Will you and I, Mr. Dodgson, also share this?