Q: What is the Myth exactly?
A: The Carroll Myth was a term coined by Karoline Leach in her book 'In the Shadow of the Dreamchild'. It refers to the traditional image of Lewis Carroll, as pedophlic, shy, socially very conservative, which is now being revealed as having been largely invented by his biographers.
Q: How did that happen?
A: A combination of factors. This page will tell youy more. Basically, a lot of the early biographies were written before there was any real evidence available, and so the authors had to guess or make assumptions.These assumptions got turned into accepted fact and just repeated by other biographers, who didn't think to check the evidence even when it became available.
Q: Does this mean I can't believe anything I read in his biographies?
A: No, but it means you have to be quite cautious and sceptical. A lot of the certitudes you'll find pronounced are not certain at all and some of them are totally fictitious. For example...
Q: Was he in love with the 'real Alice'?
A: Almost certainly not. At least, despite what can be read in many biographies, there is no evidence to show he was.
Q: Did he want to marry her when she was a child?
A:There is no evidence that he ever did. The only, very vague, contemporary rumor connecting him with her dates from a time when she was a young woman of 27, and not a child.
Q: Was he 'funny' about little girls?
A: Almost certainly not. The idea that he was 'funny' about children came about mainly because his first biographer, Stuart Collingwood suppressed the evidence for his numerous friendships with women. Obviously this doesn't 'prove' he wasn't pedophilic, but it does show that the main reason anyone ever thought he was is based on a falsehood.
Q: Did he hate boys?
A: No.
Q:Is it true he had no interest in adult women?
A: No it isn't. He was fascinated by adult women, had many adult woman friends. He once said his favourite age for a 'child friend' was 'about 25'. The only scandals pertaining to him during his life involved his relationships with women, not children. He actually made note of some of the gossip in his own diary.
Q: Okay, but what about those 'child friends' you just mentioned?
A: Dodgson did have 'child-friends' who were actually children (as well as many he jokingly called 'child friends' when they were actually women), and he loved the company of female children. But nothing like as much or as exclusively as has been claimed by the myth.
Q: Did he take nude photographs of little girls?
A: Yes he did. But so did most amateur and professional photograpers of his day. Such images were - incredible as it seems to us - considered innocent and mainstream, and were highly popular subjects. Naked children appeared on family Christmas cards and holiday postcards, and were considered a symbol of innocence. An equivalent now would be gambolling puppies or cute kittens. When Dodgson photographed child nudes he was being commercial, fashionable and artistic according to the lights of his time. Until recently his biographers entirely failed to understand this, presumably because they didn't bother to do the basic research into social history.
Q: Was he shy?
A: It doesn't seem so. He was very sociable and had a huge number of friends and acquaintances. He sometimes claimed to be shy, but there's not much objective evidence for it.
Q: Did he only stammer in front of adults?
A: No.His stammer varied in severity, but there's absolutely no evidence to support the popular idea he lost his stammer in the company of children.
Q: Did he lose interest in his child-friends after they reached puberty?
A: No. Not even slightly. This popular myth was invented by the biographer Langford Reed in 1932, and based on nothing but his own imagination.
Q: Was he a stuffy conservative?
A: Not in the sense it's always presented. He voted Conservative, but his religious and political views were often far from stuffy and conformist. He was a founder member of the Society for Psychical Research, he wass interested in Theosophy and often expressed views wildy at odds with the norms of his tme.
Q: Can I read more about the 'Carroll Myth'?
A: If you want to know about Lewis Carroll then begin by reading In the Shadow of the Dreamchild which gives a good breakdown of how the biographers managed to get it so wrong, and what is based on fact and what is not. Then read Morton N. Cohen's biography, which came out just before Leach's book, and while quite myth-influenced is still a great source of information. Meanwhile, since you're here, How it Happened will give you a quick virtual guide through the 'making of the myth'.
FAQ compiled by the webmaster, you are welcome to use this material under the stipulations of 'fair use', but please cite the source.