Lewis Carroll, a Biography - 1995

AUTHOR:

Morton N. Cohen

Cohen's massive work was a completely different prospect from any previous biography,and is in many ways highly scholarly and well-researched. Cohen was no Apologist, and was honest enough to see that the received image of 'Carroll' was indeed pedophilic, and to say so more bluntly than was comfortable to many. It just didn't occur to him to question the received image itself. Inexplicably he lists the numbers of intimate woman-friends that Dodgson had through his life, yet still concludes that his existence revolved exclusively around friendships with small girls! Also, like Clark, Cohen believes strongly in the 'Alice love story', and even this scholar invents 'facts' in support of his belief.

SOUNDBITE:

myth-maker or myth-breaker? he doesn't seem to know

IMPACT AND INFLUENCE:

Considerable, but lessened somewhat by the rise of the 'new Lewis Carroll studies' within a few years of the book's publication.