Who exactly was Lewis Carroll?
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, known by his pen name, Lewis Carroll, was a man of diverse interests — in mathematics, logic, photography, art, theater, religion, medicine, science, and of course literature. He was happiest in the company of children for whom he created puzzles, clever games, and charming letters. And of course, he also told them stories. As all Carroll admirers know, his book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865), became an immediate success and has since been translated into more than eighty languages. The equally popular sequel Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, was published in 1872. The “Alice” books are but one example of his wide ranging authorship. The Hunting of the Snark (1876), a classic nonsense epic and Euclid and His Modern Rivals (1879), a rare example of humorous work concerning mathematics, still entice and intrigue today’s students. Sylvie and Bruno (1889), published toward the end of his life, contains startling ideas including a desc
