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       #Post#: 346--------------------------------------------------
       Jenny Woolf, THE MYSTERY OF LEWIS CARROLL (2010)
       By: agate Date: June 6, 2014, 3:36 pm
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       WOOLF, JENNY
       THE MYSTERY OF LEWIS CARROLL: DISCOVERING THE WHIMSICAL,
       THOUGHTFUL, AND SOMETIMES LONELY MAN WHO CREATED ALICE IN
       WONDERLAND (2010)
       The mania for absurdly long book titles seems to have affected
       this author severely, but aside from the title length, this is a
       very readable and fair account of the life of C. L.
       Dodgson/Lewis Carroll.
       Lewis Carroll was not primarily an author of children's
       books. He was a mathematics instructor--and is also known for
       some contributions to mathematics.
       The Alice books for which he is known were written for the
       entertainment of Alice Liddell, a little girl of his
       acquaintaince.
       Photography was just evolving in Carroll's lifetime, and he was
       a very enthusiastic photographer though the process involved
       transporting a considerable amount of equipment around.
       Jenny Woolf describes his photography efforts in detail and is
       at pains to demonstrate that, given Carroll's situation and
       upbringing and the styles in photography at the time, the photos
       of little girls that he took by no means suggest that he was
       perverted or even that he was overly attracted to young girls.
       Indeed, the photos I have seen--and I don't know if these were
       all of them--hardly seem to warrant any brouhaha at all. Not one
       of them could be called provocative. These are pre-pubescent
       girls, many of them covered, and not one in a suggestive pose.
       The biographer's point about Carroll is that as the eldest son
       of a vicar, he was devoutly religious throughout his life so far
       as anyone has been able to determine.  The child, particularly
       the young girl, was idealized at the time as the quintessence of
       innocence, as anyone familiar with Romantic poetry can attest.
       Carroll also believed that draping the human form was almost
       sinful as it was covering up God's handiwork. However, in
       compliance with the mores of the time, all but a few of the many
       photos taken by Carroll are heavily d****d.
       Woolf also points out that of the young girls whom Carroll
       photographed, most remained in contact with him and on friendly
       terms for many years into their adulthood, and not one account
       of any improper advances on Carroll's part has come to light.
       She does have to deal with the fact that some of Carroll's
       personal records and diaries, covering over a decade, were
       apparently destroyed by his survivors.  She speculates on many
       possible reasons for the destruction of the records and
       concludes that since we can't know the reasons and there is no
       other evidence of his pedophilia, we cannot make assumptions
       about him.
       It is regrettable that she has had to spend so much time
       explaining away the scandal-mongering charges that have been
       made. Even so, this seems to be a thorough account of the life
       of this remarkable literary figure.
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