The White Knight - 1952

AUTHOR:

Alexander Taylor

Although it was originally conceived as a book about Carroll's mathematics and religion, this became the work that turned the vague assumptions about Carroll's supposed love for 'the real Alice' - Alice Liddell - into 'fact'. However, his total lack of any source evidence either for or against his idea (the Dodgsons refused him permission to see any private papers, as they usually did), means his 'fact' rests on nothing but some fragments of poetry,hardly any of which are to do with Alice Liddell or even with 'little girls', and he actually offers absolutely no biographical evidence whatsoever. Despite this, Taylor's book has been very influential and Taylor has been described by Morton Cohen (we do not know on what grounds) as 'one of Carroll's more perceptive biographers'.
We suggest people read Taylor for themselves and see if they agree with this diagnosis.

SOUNDBITE:

nice idea...shame about the lack of evidence

IMPACT AND INFLUENCE:

Very influential, the foundation of most of the current beliefs about the nature of Dodgson's relationship with 'the real Alice'.