Booklist Reviews
As its title suggests, this is more than a biography of Lewis Carroll, the famous but enigmatic author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. It is also the story of the books themselves, their inspiration, their writing, and their impact on the worlds of literature and popular culture. That culture worked both ways, though, for in its meticulous research this is also the story of how the Victorian culture of Carroll's day itself influenced the books, their creator, and their creation. Context, thus, is king in this work of sometimes overwhelming erudition and endless—and sometimes superfluous?—detail. As for Carroll himself, the quotidian details of his life are so well known that there is little new here, and the usual questions—Why did he break off his relationship with the Liddell family? Why his fascination with little girls? Why his photographing of them in the nude?—are acknowledged but not explicated. He remains, as the author puts it, "a frustratingly elusive figure." Though not for the casual reader, Douglas-Fairhurst's "story" will be catnip for serious Carroll enthusiasts and academics. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.
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