Lewis Carroll

Résumé : Falconer Madan wrote in 1931 that there was 'no real call for a new Life of Lewis Carroll' until his diaries have been published. Now they have at last Appeared; and Mr. Derek Hudson's book represents an attempt to provide a fresh and definitive biography of the author of 'Alice in Wonderland', based not only on the diaries but also on much other new material. The work, which takes into account the mass of information about C. L. Dodgson and his activities that has been made available since the appearance of S. D. Collingwood's 'official' Life of his uncle in 1898, is written with a frankness and detachment impossible to a Victorian nephew. Mr. Hudson has received every assistance from the Dodgson family, and has been given access to Lewis Carroll's correspondence with his publishers, Messrs. Macmillan (never before employed in a biography), to many letters now in the hands of American collectors, and to new material discovered at Christ Church, Oxford. He is able to provide a more detailed account of Lewis Carroll's parents and of his upbringing than has appeared before, and to show the unusual importance that his happy childhood had for him. New light is thrown on his emotional life; his kindness and courage-as also his touchiness-are all amply demonstrated; and an analysis of his handwriting at different periods has helped to assess a highly complex character. The illustrations are largely unfamiliar, and Appendices contain the recollections of some who knew Lewis Carroll in his last years (among them the late Viscount Simon) and the text of the introduction to his rare pamphlet, 'The Guilford Gazette Extraordinary'.