AUTHOR:

Alexander Taylor

When Taylor's publisher told him his book about Carroll's mathematics and religion would never make it into print without some juicy biography, Taylor went looking for some evidence that Carroll really was in love with Alice Liddell, as legend had it and as Lennon had hinted. However, the Dodgsons were still refusing to let biographers see Carroll's private papers, so all he had was the guesswork of other biographers - and of course the by now well-known 'fact' that Carroll had no interest in adult women. Nevertheless, desperate to get into print, Taylor announced he had no doubt Carroll was in love with this little girl, and she was his 'lost love', and he 'proved' it with Carroll's love poetry, which he claimed was 'inspired' by Alice, even though it is not about her, or even about 'little girls', but about an unidentified, possibly fictional, woman.

SOUNDBITE:

"if I say he was in love with Alice, will you let me publish my book?"

IMPACT AND INFLUENCE:

Very influential, many later biographers used Taylor as the basis for believing Carroll was in love with Alice, though they tended to gloss over his total absence of evidence.

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