MacTutor
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson
Times obituary
We regret to announce the death of the Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, "the delightful author of Alice in Wonderland" and other books of exquisitely whimsical humour. He died yesterday at The Chestnuts, Guildford, the residence of his sisters, in his 65th year. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, and distinguished himself in the schools, taking a first class in mathematics and a second in Classical Moderations, and a first in the Final Mathematical School, and a third in Human Literature. He became a Senior Student of Christ Church in 1861 and in the same year a mathematics lecturer, a post which he continued to fill for 20 years. In 1861 he was also ordained. He began his literary career in 1860 with the publication of "A Syllabus of Plane Algebraical Geometry," which was followed the next year by "The Formula of Flat Trigonometry." "A Guide to the Mathematical Student in Reading, Reviewing, and Writing Examples" made its appearance in 1864, and in 1865, "The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland" burst upon an astonished world. Few would have imagined that the quiet, reserved mathematician, a bochelor, who all his life was remarkable for his shyness and dislike of publicity, possessed the qualities necessary to produce a work which has stood the test of more than 30 years and still captivates young and old alike by its quaint and original genius. This was the first, or one of the first, of those entertaining books, since become numerous, which afford almost equal enjoyment to boys and girls and to those children of a larger growth who, although years have rubbed off the bloom of their youthful illusions, yet preserve their love of innocent laughter and nonsense. "Alice in Wonderland" was originally written to amuse one of Dean Liddell's daughters. The author was an intimate friend of the Dean and Mrs. Liddell, and took infinite pleasure in the company of their little girls. It was in order to beguile over hours of playtime that these diverting fancies were woven for one of the children. The success of the book was never in doubt, and the story is current, though we cannot vouch for its authenticity; the Queen herself was so delighted upon reading it that she commanded the author to send his next work to Windsor. He did so, and Her Majesty was almost as bewildered as Alice upon finding that it consisted of "An Elementary Treatise on Determinants"!
It is curious to notice how frequently "Alice in Wonderland" is quoted in reference to public affairs, as well as to the ordinary matters of every day life. Hardly a week passes without the employment of its whimsicalities to point a moral or adorn a tale, and only yesterday a letter from a correspondent was published in The Times in which the Dreyfus-Esterhazy ease was paralleled, with an aptness which was really surprising, from Lewis Carroll's immortal story. Some years ago Alice made her appearance on the London stage in a graceful dramatic version of the book and delighted the children home for the Christmas holidays, for whose special benefit ocular demonstration was given of her surprising experiences. In 1869 Lewis Carroll published "Phantasmagoria and Other Poems". In 1870, "Songs from 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' "; in 1871, "Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There," a continuation which obtained almost the success of the original work—and in the same year, "Fantasies relating to the British Factories and the Hebdomadal Council." "Euclid, Book V., Proved Algebraically," made its appearance in 1874, to be followed two years later by another example of the author's versatility in "The Hunting of the Snark, an Agony in Eight Fits." His subsequent works include "Doublets: a Word Puzzle," 1879; "Rhyme? and Reason?" 1888; "A Tangled Tale," 1885; "Alice's Adventures Underground," 1886; "The Game of Logic," 1887; Curiosa Mathematica, Part L—A New Theory of Parallels," 1888; and "Symbolic Logic," 1896.
Although, as is abundantly evident from this list of his works, Lewis Carroll was a serious and hardworking mathematician, there can be no doubt that his chief title to fame will always rest on those jeux d'esprit which have won for him so as to secure a place in the affections of readers for whom mathematics is, as a rule, the reverse of attractive. In many a home and many a schoolroom there will be genuine sorrow today when it is announced that the author of "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass" has passed away.
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At Christ Church, Oxford, yesterday morning, Canon Sanday, Margaret Professor of Divinity, made a feeling reference in his sermon to the death of the Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, senior student of Christ Church, so well-known as Lewis Carroll. He said that for all the retirement in which he lived Mr. Dodgson had for many years made Christ Church his home, and could not help filling no small place in the picture which the world without formed to itself of Christ Church. The outer man was familiar to most of those who frequented their streets and rambled through the lanes of the country round. The inner man was revealed in many a charming book, and in fact was so transparent that even the ordinary meetings of everyday life, with an occasional walk and talk, were enough to reveal its main outlines. All that made the individual, the infinite play of fancy and the subtle undercurrents of serious and chastened thought must needs be lost to them they went with him whose they were to inhabit another sphere than ours. The world would think of "Lewis Carroll" as one who opened out a new vein in literature, a new and a delightful vein which added at once wisdom and refinement to life. Was not this not much to have done? Did it not bespeak an original and creative gift of a high order and of great value in the eyes of those who had the best interests of the nation at heart? His books were wholly without spot or stain in the midst of so much that was the reverse of stainless, and were all seasoned with such a wholesome sense of humour as won for them a wide popularity. Might they not say that from their courts at Christ Church there had flowed into the literature of their own time a rill bright and sparkling, healthgiving, and purifying wherever its waters extended? Perhaps there were few happier spots in the English literature of the century than its books for children, and how large a share of this was due to him who was gone. For this all England was grateful, nay, more, all readers of the English tongue. But they in this place knew how fully the man bore out the promise of his books. They knew what an interest he took in an art which offered great scope for genius and great capacity for good, although beset with not a few temptations. They knew what a high and scrupulous standard he brought to this, and how excellent was his influence in regard to it. They knew his fondness for children and what trouble he took to make them happier and better. But, most of all, they knew what was the fount and spring from which all these varied activities took their direction. They knew how behind them all there lay a deep background of religion -- a religion severely quiet and retiring, like his character -- a religion almost of the closet according to the pattern of the Gospel. They knew that his public utterances were rare but striking in their rarity. They knew how he chose out by preference the smallest and least frequented of their services, and they know how when there the bowed head and close concentrated attention spoke of a soul seeking communion with its God. From these things they must not further lift the veil.
We regret to announce the death of the Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, "the delightful author of Alice in Wonderland" and other books of exquisitely whimsical humour. He died yesterday at The Chestnuts, Guildford, the residence of his sisters, in his 65th year. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, and distinguished himself in the schools, taking a first class in mathematics and a second in Classical Moderations, and a first in the Final Mathematical School, and a third in Human Literature. He became a Senior Student of Christ Church in 1861 and in the same year a mathematics lecturer, a post which he continued to fill for 20 years. In 1861 he was also ordained. He began his literary career in 1860 with the publication of "A Syllabus of Plane Algebraical Geometry," which was followed the next year by "The Formula of Flat Trigonometry." "A Guide to the Mathematical Student in Reading, Reviewing, and Writing Examples" made its appearance in 1864, and in 1865, "The Adventures of Alice in Wonderland" burst upon an astonished world. Few would have imagined that the quiet, reserved mathematician, a bochelor, who all his life was remarkable for his shyness and dislike of publicity, possessed the qualities necessary to produce a work which has stood the test of more than 30 years and still captivates young and old alike by its quaint and original genius. This was the first, or one of the first, of those entertaining books, since become numerous, which afford almost equal enjoyment to boys and girls and to those children of a larger growth who, although years have rubbed off the bloom of their youthful illusions, yet preserve their love of innocent laughter and nonsense. "Alice in Wonderland" was originally written to amuse one of Dean Liddell's daughters. The author was an intimate friend of the Dean and Mrs. Liddell, and took infinite pleasure in the company of their little girls. It was in order to beguile over hours of playtime that these diverting fancies were woven for one of the children. The success of the book was never in doubt, and the story is current, though we cannot vouch for its authenticity; the Queen herself was so delighted upon reading it that she commanded the author to send his next work to Windsor. He did so, and Her Majesty was almost as bewildered as Alice upon finding that it consisted of "An Elementary Treatise on Determinants"!
It is curious to notice how frequently "Alice in Wonderland" is quoted in reference to public affairs, as well as to the ordinary matters of every day life. Hardly a week passes without the employment of its whimsicalities to point a moral or adorn a tale, and only yesterday a letter from a correspondent was published in The Times in which the Dreyfus-Esterhazy ease was paralleled, with an aptness which was really surprising, from Lewis Carroll's immortal story. Some years ago Alice made her appearance on the London stage in a graceful dramatic version of the book and delighted the children home for the Christmas holidays, for whose special benefit ocular demonstration was given of her surprising experiences. In 1869 Lewis Carroll published "Phantasmagoria and Other Poems". In 1870, "Songs from 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' "; in 1871, "Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There," a continuation which obtained almost the success of the original work—and in the same year, "Fantasies relating to the British Factories and the Hebdomadal Council." "Euclid, Book V., Proved Algebraically," made its appearance in 1874, to be followed two years later by another example of the author's versatility in "The Hunting of the Snark, an Agony in Eight Fits." His subsequent works include "Doublets: a Word Puzzle," 1879; "Rhyme? and Reason?" 1888; "A Tangled Tale," 1885; "Alice's Adventures Underground," 1886; "The Game of Logic," 1887; Curiosa Mathematica, Part L—A New Theory of Parallels," 1888; and "Symbolic Logic," 1896.
Although, as is abundantly evident from this list of his works, Lewis Carroll was a serious and hardworking mathematician, there can be no doubt that his chief title to fame will always rest on those jeux d'esprit which have won for him so as to secure a place in the affections of readers for whom mathematics is, as a rule, the reverse of attractive. In many a home and many a schoolroom there will be genuine sorrow today when it is announced that the author of "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking-Glass" has passed away.
_______________________________________________
At Christ Church, Oxford, yesterday morning, Canon Sanday, Margaret Professor of Divinity, made a feeling reference in his sermon to the death of the Rev. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, senior student of Christ Church, so well-known as Lewis Carroll. He said that for all the retirement in which he lived Mr. Dodgson had for many years made Christ Church his home, and could not help filling no small place in the picture which the world without formed to itself of Christ Church. The outer man was familiar to most of those who frequented their streets and rambled through the lanes of the country round. The inner man was revealed in many a charming book, and in fact was so transparent that even the ordinary meetings of everyday life, with an occasional walk and talk, were enough to reveal its main outlines. All that made the individual, the infinite play of fancy and the subtle undercurrents of serious and chastened thought must needs be lost to them they went with him whose they were to inhabit another sphere than ours. The world would think of "Lewis Carroll" as one who opened out a new vein in literature, a new and a delightful vein which added at once wisdom and refinement to life. Was not this not much to have done? Did it not bespeak an original and creative gift of a high order and of great value in the eyes of those who had the best interests of the nation at heart? His books were wholly without spot or stain in the midst of so much that was the reverse of stainless, and were all seasoned with such a wholesome sense of humour as won for them a wide popularity. Might they not say that from their courts at Christ Church there had flowed into the literature of their own time a rill bright and sparkling, healthgiving, and purifying wherever its waters extended? Perhaps there were few happier spots in the English literature of the century than its books for children, and how large a share of this was due to him who was gone. For this all England was grateful, nay, more, all readers of the English tongue. But they in this place knew how fully the man bore out the promise of his books. They knew what an interest he took in an art which offered great scope for genius and great capacity for good, although beset with not a few temptations. They knew what a high and scrupulous standard he brought to this, and how excellent was his influence in regard to it. They knew his fondness for children and what trouble he took to make them happier and better. But, most of all, they knew what was the fount and spring from which all these varied activities took their direction. They knew how behind them all there lay a deep background of religion -- a religion severely quiet and retiring, like his character -- a religion almost of the closet according to the pattern of the Gospel. They knew that his public utterances were rare but striking in their rarity. They knew how he chose out by preference the smallest and least frequented of their services, and they know how when there the bowed head and close concentrated attention spoke of a soul seeking communion with its God. From these things they must not further lift the veil.
