In college, I took a children's literature course and reread Alice for the second time. It solidified my fascination with the story. But, after learning the literary history around Wonderland, I became more intrigued by the author than the book itself. Lewis Carroll, whose real name is Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, worked most of his life as a professor of mathematics, even after achieving fame with Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. He also had a keen interest in photography, which was still in its infancy during his adulthood - he was born in 1832 and died in 1898. Here are two more Carroll photographs:
As you can see, both photographs feature little girls. It was wasn't an accident that I picked these pictures. Carroll was rumored to be in love with Alice Liddell, a girl 20 years younger than him. He was about 30 when he met her and she was 10 or 11. No one knows for certain if that is true. Nonetheless, many literary historians have hinted that Carroll was some kind of pedophile. Though he never 'acted' on his supposed love for Alice or any other child, according to historical records. What we do know is this: a ten year old girl was his muse, he loved to photograph children, he was a mathematical genius and he wrote one of the most beloved children's stories of all times. Carroll was as mysterious and labyrinthine as the stories he wrote, quite an unusual treat!
So in honor of Carroll and his lore, expect a couple more Alice in Wonderland posts coming your way in the following weeks.
Janus here: A great Momus narrative on Lewis Carroll and his minions here, posted for your pleasure:
ReplyDeleteLeopards prowl the studios of the Duc de Berry's great chateau
Where Cocteau's beast rehearses Beauty's rape
Lewis Carroll marks his diary with a small white stone
As Kuniyoshi Kaneko prepares to paint
Listen to the shells my darling, what you hear is not the sea
But whispering, malicious human hearts
Adults who don't wish to know the Duc de Berry's great chateau
And hate the world of childhood and of art
We who paint or photograph to stop your dying in its path
And fix you in the permanence of spring
Can't stop the prattlers prattling
The rattlesnakes who, rattling, see ugliness in every living thing
See ugliness in every living thing
The calculated insolence of little girls in sailor suits
Whose faces seem to say more than they know
Appetites and ornaments for the libertine in all of us
From the cabinet of Kuniyoshi Kaneko
Follow to the studio where Alice Liddell plays the roles
Of tousle-headed naked gypsy girls
The Reverend Charles L. Dodgson from the darkness of his camera
Preserves her for himself and for the world
Children torn by cruel desires, the handiwork of murderers
Who hack their little bodies to the bone
Somehow live to tell the tale, astonishingly fit and well
They couple in the fabulous chateau
We who paint or photograph to stop your dying in its path
And fix you in the permanence of spring
Can't stop the prattlers prattling
The rattlesnakes who, rattling, see ugliness in every living thing
In every lovely living thing
A looking glass is not a world
A painted girl is not a girl
In games there can be no forbidden things
In life remain considerate, in art the Devil's advocate
Why deny that Pegasus has wings
In life remain considerate, in art the Devil incarnate
Why deny the siren when it sings?
In games there must be no forbidden things
So watch the wall my darling while the gentlemen go by
And mark your diary with a small white stone
Little hearts of marzipan and lacquer work from old Japan
In the cabinet of Kuniyoshi Kaneko