10 Interesting Facts About Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll, real name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson was a proficient poet, satirist, inventor, and also a photographer. Yet, he is renowned as a children’s writer because of her celebrated creation of the character Alice and her adventures through the senses and nonsenses of Wonderland. Here are 10 interesting facts about Lewis Carroll.

Lewis Carroll as an Inventor

Like several other writers, Carroll was perturbed by losing the exceptional thoughts that inopportunely approach the mind during the nighttime. So, in the year 1891, the author invented a tool called nyctograph. This device is a card that has 16 square holes and it is designed in the order of two rows of eight that provides a guide for the user to enter a shorthand code of dashes and dots. The inventor also considered this device beneficial for the blind.

Hesitation and Suffering of Lewis Carroll

Carroll had a rough childhood and he used to call it his ‘hesitation’, he developed a stutter at a very early age of his life that stuck with the writer throughout his life. There is no evidence but apparently, he used to talk freely with children and only stutter in front of adults. Due to a childhood fever, the writer was deaf in one ear; whooping cough at the age of 17 weakened his chest for life. Later in life, Carroll developed aura- hallucinating migraines and the doctors claimed it to be epilepsy during that time.

Carroll as Dodo

Dodgson delivered the concept of Wonderland on a boating trip with his boss and his children. He gave each a character and gave the character of the dodo to himself – there is no legit evidence but it is said that he gave that character to himself because due to his stammering issue he often introduced himself as “Do-Do-Dodgson”.

Inspiration of His Main Character

The poet has always denied that Alice is not based on a real-life character but the poem at the end of Looking Glass spells out Alice Pleasance Liddell.

Carroll as a Letter Writer

Lewis Carroll was a huge letter writer, sometimes almost 2000 letters a year. He would write backward sometimes compelling the reader to hold it in front of a mirror to decipher the lines.

Lewis Carroll as a Mathematician

He was a master logician, his work and contribution in the topics of geometry, linear algebra and puzzle-making are remarkable. He wrote about a dozen of books on mathematics.

Carroll as Jack the Ripper

Among the list of a lot of people who were suspected to b Jack, the Ripper Lewis Carroll is one. According to the theory of author Richard Wallace the fact that Dodgson had a stern religious upbringing and faced bullying while in school, he grew up to be a killer following his versatile career. It is safe to say that Wallace certainly stretched his statement while trying to prove Carroll a murderer.

Carroll as Photographer

The writer created over 3000 photographic portraits including remarkable figures like Alfred Lord Tennyson, statues, skeletons, paintings, and more. According to the biography of him written by Morton N. Cohen, Dodgson owned his studio and for a short while considered living as a professional photographer in the 1850s.

Romantic Interest of Lewis Carroll

Lewis Carroll was a lifelong bachelor, but his photographs became the reason for different speculations like being a pedophile and having attraction towards 11-year-old Alice Liddell.

Carroll as Deacon

Carroll was ordained as a deacon in the year 1861 but he did not become a priest and for that, he had to submit a petition to avoid becoming a priest.

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