Jenny Woolf (inset) explores the intricacies of Lewis Caroll's life in the book 'The Mystery of Lewis Caroll'.

Who is Lewis Carroll?

What is his contribution to literature? What can we learn from him today?

These and many more questions set the tone for Jenny Woolf’s analysis of the life and times of the very enigmatic and often misunderstood children’s book writer whose stories of mischievous Cheshire cats and tea parties gone awry have set many a young mind’s imagination on fire.

Jenny Woolf has written and broadcast worldwide. Her childhood was spent traveling with her military family but she always liked returning to London, where her grandmother lived, and where she now lives herself.

“Alice in Wonderland” was always her favorite book and she has had an interest in Lewis Carroll for 10 years. She belongs both to the UK and US Lewis Carroll Societies.

Jenny’s previous book, “Lewis Carroll in his own Account” was an annotated version of Carroll’s personal bank account, a previously unknown document which she unexpectedly discovered. Her discovery of the account and the conclusions she drew from it later became the subject of a BBC documentary.

STUDENTS AND CAMPUSES BULLETIN (SCB): What inspired you to write The Mystery of Lewis Carroll?

JENNY WOOLF (JW): I wrote it because I thought that the man who created “Alice in Wonderland” must really be very interesting and unusual.

SCB: When did you first read Alice in Wonderland?
JW: I was seven years old, or maybe a little bit younger. Alice, aged seven and a half, seemed like a “big girl” at the time!

SCB: Why do you think teens of today would like the story of Alice?
JW: Because it has so many aspects. One side of it is cute and imaginative. Another side is scary and dark. And yet another side of it is full of interesting ideas, paradoxes and hidden puzzles. Also, the characters are very unusual, and offer opportunities for dressing up, themed parties, and themed events.

SCB: A movie of the same title is now out, why do you think there is this sudden interest in Alice?
JW: There has always been interest in Alice but fashions rise and fall. Right now Alice has hit the height of fashion.

SCB: How did Lewis Carroll’s environment - his exposure to slavery, the prevailing epidemic of cholera, and abusive child labor shape him as a young writer?
JW: These bad things were the background to life in the 1830s, 1840s, and 1850s.

He was very upset by suffering, but he didn’t tell children stories about it. So these bad things don’t appear in “Alice”. But in his private life, he supported many charities which fought poverty, illness and abuse.

SCB: In some history books, Lewis Carroll might be considered a “heavy drug user” in this day and time. What do you think?
JW: Actually there is no record that he took drugs. And, in his day and time, many ordinary people took certain drugs based on cocaine and heroin, because nobody knew how harmful they were. But Lewis Carroll doesn’t seem to have done even this. His strange ideas seem to have come from his imagination, not drugs.

SCB: Were Lewis Carroll’s literary output a way to ease the loneliness he was feeling as an outsider of the world?
JW: Yes, I think so, in some ways. He very much liked entertaining children, acting and telling stories in his private life. But he lived in a solemn all-male college and he was expected by everyone to be very serious. He wrote his two Alice books at very unhappy times of his life, when he couldn’t really discuss his problems with his family. So I think he may have been pretending inside his head that he was telling these stories to children. He loved to do that, and it would cheer him up.

MENTALLY ILL?

SCB: Was Lewis Carroll a reclusive personality?
JW: Not really. But he really did like to have some time on his own to think and work without interruption. So when he got older, he stopped going out to social events with people he didn’t know very well, and he did not mix much with people in the college. However, he was very gregarious with his friends and his family, and had lots of friends. If you read his diaries, you see that for all his life he was visiting and seeing lots and lots of people.

SCB: Lewis Carroll seems to be an author favored by many people in psychology as a good author to study. Why do you think so?
JW: I think this is because he was so complicated and had a very unusual mind. Also, he and his family were private people and they did not talk to outsiders about their family life. That made people very curious. They wondered if he had any hidden secrets or problems, etc.

SCB: Was Lewis Carroll mentally disturbed or ill?
JW: He did not seem to be. But, he was very interested in madness and dreams and the unknown workings of the mind. His favourite uncle, Skeffington Lutwidge, helped to organize the treatment of mental patients. Lewis Carroll probably talked to him about this subject, and then got interested in it himself.

Some people think he had a mild form of epilepsy later in life, but that cannot be proved so long after his death.

SCB: In some books, it is alleged that he was involved in some kind of sexual misconduct. What can you say about this?
JW: He is often accused of being involved in some kind of misconduct with little girls. I have never found any evidence of this at all. The little girls remembered him with love and respect. But I do think that when he was a young man, perhaps he had woman friends in a way that he was not really expected to do. Many people do not realize that Lewis Carroll’s culture expected him to be non-sexual. Since he was very fond of women’s company, this was difficult for him.

SCB: What did Lewis love more? Mathematics or Literature?
JW: I think he loved them both. They each expressed different sides to his nature.

SCB: What have you found to be the most admirable quality of Lewis Carroll as an author?
JW: I like the way that I keep finding new things in his books. You can read the books many times and not notice them. Then, on the next reading, suddenly there they are! When I was younger, it used to seem like magic. Even now that I know the books so well, I still sometimes find surprises.

SCB: What would you advise teens who would wish to study and read about the author?
JW: Remember that he told the stories to entertain children that he loved. But when he told them he was an unhappy adult who wanted to express his inner feelings. So you will see both the kindness to children, and the sufferings of an adult in the books. It’s not often that you find both these things together. It can make the books scary, thought provoking, and fun.

And another thing.... Even though the language dates from 1865, try to stick with the original text. There are lots of secret meanings hidden in it!