"We called him Tortoise because he taught us"

Lewis Carroll was writing stories of fantastical events his whole life. In 1856 Carroll met Alice Liddell, the daughter of his friend. It's said that in July of 1862 Carroll told Alice and her sisters a story of a girl who fell into a rabbit hole. Thus Alice's Adventures Underground, later to be changed to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was published in 1865. The book was so successful that he wrote a second volume, Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, in 1872. Some of the more famous characters created were Humpty Dumpty, the White Knight, and Tweedledum and Tweedledee. They originally were in the "Jabberwocky", a piece written in 1855. Most children stories written during this time tried to influence morals. Carroll's stories were just feel good fun entertainment. Critics have tried to prove that there are political and religious tie-in's to the story, but non have ever been proven.
Although his Alice stories are the most famous, he did write other things. These include The Hunting of the Snark (1876), Sylvie and Bruno (1889), Pillow Problems, and A Tangled Tale (1885). He also wrote pamphlets about university affairs and mathematics books under different names. In 1881 Carroll devoted all of his time to writing.


Pictured: Alice Liddell photo taken by Carroll

Sources:
http://www.wakeling.demon.co.uk/page8-fact-sheet-1.htm
http://www.victorianstation.com/authorcarroll.htm
http://s3.hubimg.com/u/2491494_f260.jpg

Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle.

Lewis Carroll is a pseudonym of the English writer and mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson. The name Lewis Carroll came from taking his real name and using the Latin translation. Charles Dodgson was born on January 27th, 1832, becoming the third born of eleven children to a clergyman. In 1854 he graduated from Christ Church College in Oxford England. Dodgson remained at the school to teach math and writing, later to take the "deacon's orders". He was never made a priest though. This could have been due to the fact that he had a stammer and partially because he discovered he only did it because he wanted to be like his father. Dodgson instead became passionate about photography. He focused a lot of his time photographing children that he would later use as inspiration for his most famous character "Alice". He loved to photograph the Dean of Christ church college's children, and became very close with their family. Always an entertainer, he would tell stories, draw pictures, tell jokes, anything to get a laugh. He would later use these as starting points for his works. Dodgson was very private about his life when he was alive, and even in his death. Many of his personal papers and journals were destroyed when he passed away in January of 1898. Because of this, there are many rumors and myths about his life, some of these include: drug addict, socially inept, unhealthy interest in children. All we know of Dodgson we learn from " The Life Letters of Lewis Carroll" which was published posthumous by his nephew. Dodgson, better know as Lewis Carroll was never to be married. He has confused many historians and biographers. It is almost as if Lewis Carroll was the alter ego of Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.



Sources:
http://www.notablebiographies.com/Ca-Ch/Carroll-Lewis.html
http://www.insite.com.br/rodrigo/text/lewis_carroll.html
http://www.online-literature.com/carroll/