I'm currently reading Jackie Wullschlãger's Inventing Wonderland, a biographical study of children's literature authors from the Victorian Era and early twentieth century. Solid read, so far. Inevitably she takes a post-Freudian perspective in tying biography, psychology, and literature. But she also shows an affinity for the works themselves.
Not surprisingly, her first deep dive is into Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a.k.a. Lewis Carroll. And of course you don't have to get very Freudian to find something off about the man.
Carroll: I wonder if you'd let me take your daugh―
Any Responsible 21st Century Parent: No. Get out.
But whatever his issues, mainly what he did with them was create enchanting stories and indelible imagery.
All this dovetailed with the sense of fun and nonsense which had been part of his childhood, and with his love of mathematics and logic. Wonderland, therefore, took its character from the distorted, intellectual nonsense perspectives - the Cheshire Cat who leaves his grin behind, the Mock Turtle who was once a real turtle - unique to Carroll the poet-don, and it is thus at once an exciting, new, topsy-turvy world and an age-old, mythic place. It has, for example, the serpent of Eden - but only in the comic imagination of a hysterical character, the Pigeon, who mistakes Alice for a snake.
So the author does appreciate these books. I'm looking forward to reading about Lear, Barrie, Grahame, and Milne.
2 comments:
You won't be surprised to learn I haven't read this one but I was interested enough in what you wrote that I looked up some reviews. There weren't too many, no surprise there, and many of them were good, but I found some of the negative reviews very interesting.
Here's part of one: The entire book feels as if it began as a hypothesis and then relevant sources were searched to find evidence supporting the hypothesis. Each account of these men's lives is negative, focusing on negative influences or experiences and rarely including anything positive about them. Likewise, this book has a strong sexual orientation, focusing greatly on any actual or supposed sexual deviations. The author mentions pedophilia in every chapter and constantly refers to "Lolita".
Another reviewer said she preferred C.S. Lewis's analysis of children's literature. With that hint I found the book On Other Worlds: Essays and Stories and from there I came across a copy of his chapter called On Three Ways of Writing for Children. I've always loved C.S. Lewis's thoughts about most things and this composition I've saved.
Well really, I hadn't heard of it before I saw it listed on the library's website. It's the subject matter that I was attracted to.
The review you quoted is partially fair, but not entirely. You could say that she gives a negative account of the authors' lives. But then, I don't expect the creators of works I enjoy to lead entirely positive lives, or even know what that would mean. The reviewer may have found a tendency in the book to psychoanalyze, and yes, it is there. But she seems to have a genuine affection for the works. In some cases pedophilia is probably the elephant in the room, although I think it would be a reductive way to refer to Carroll. And I only caught a couple of Lolita references near the end. A propos of nothing I'd be curious to see what a children's book by Nabokov would be like.
CS Lewis is a great person to refer to on the topic. He found a way to write an ambitious children's fantasy that appealed to all ages. Something like a forerunner to JK Rowling, if a little more literal and not quite as commercially savvy. The Narnia books show clear influences by Barrie (group of siblings go to a fantasy land) and Carroll (the portal is a common household object.) The animal characters may have some Grahame in them as well.
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