AUTHOR:

Stuart Dodgson Collingwood

This book was written by Carroll's nephew and published just 11 months after his death in December 1898. It's main purpose is to present a saintly image both of Carroll himself and of the whole Dodgson family, and has very little truly personal information in it. It accidentally started the entire image of Dodgson as a pedophile by deliberately suppressing all the evidence for his sometimes unconventional relationships with women, and actually pretending some of thos women had been little girls. He had no idea what would result from his actions, as the Victorians had no concept of our modern idea of pedophilia. In fact a man who loved pre-pubescent girls was considered especially saintly and innocent, and this was why Collingwood over-emphasised this aspect of his uncle's character so much. His book also notable for the small glimpses of reality he lets slip - like Dodgson's passion for Swinburne's sensual and 'scandalous' poetry - and that Dodgson had experienced an unhappy love affair. The writers who came after him soon got rid of all that, as you will see!

SOUNDBITE:

The start of the mythic 'Carroll' - with Dodgson peeking through

IMPACT AND INFLUENCE:

Highly influential up to a point; but it didn't really invent the classic 'Carroll'; that was done by later writers.

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