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Lewis Carroll published Alice in Wonderland in 1865, and it was a huge success. As a result, many people became keen to know all about him - and he was just as keen not to let them know a thing. He went to great lengths to portray himself as a man whose emotional life revolved around children, and this, together with the air of secrecy which he cultivated, has generated many curious, disturbing or ridiculous theories about the kind of person he was. Now, his reputation has become so controversial that the question must be asked whether he was altogether wise to insist on such secrecy.
This biographical investigation returns to the documentary sources to discover the reality of the man who was “Lewis Carroll”. Some of the sources it uses are completely unknown or unpublished, others have only been discovered in recent years. For the first time, information gathered from Carroll’s recently discovered personal bank account is fully utilised. This enormous document was first published in 2005, and it is the only major uncensored personal document relating to Carroll in existence.
The picture of “Lewis Carroll” which emerges from a study of these varied sources is surprising and unexpected - and raises a few new mysteries of its own.
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