If you have read “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll, you may have found that the story is both whimsical and nonsensical. In fact, Lewis Carroll made this form of literature, also called the ‘literary nonsense genre’, a worldwide phenomenon with his first book.
His sequel “Through the Looking Glass” featured a poem called “Jabberwocky” which is considered the best example of nonsense literature.
Lewis Carroll was the pen name of Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who was born on January 27, 1832 in Cheshire, England. Dodgson was scholarly and immensely gifted. He graduated with a first class honours in mathematics in 1852, coming first in his college. He was an artist, photographer, poet, author and inventor. He enjoyed entertaining children with stories that he made up and developed the storyline of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ for a few of his young friends in 1862.
Prompted by their enthusiasm in the tale, he wrote it down and had it published in 1865. It instantly became a massive commercial success with fans appearing in the highest circles, including Queen Victoria of England!
Carroll could not repeat the success of the Alice books. His subsequent offering, ‘Sylvie and Bruno’ failed to elicit much interest and Carroll devoted the rest of his time to inventing small devices for practical use, photography and mathematics.
He died on January 14, 1898 in Surrey, England. At the time of his death, ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ had become the most popular children’s book in England. By 1932 it was one of the most popular and perhaps the most famous in the world.
2022 marks 190 years since the birth of Lewis Carroll, the legendary writer.
Picture Credit : Google
