|
In the Shadow of the Dreamchild uses new research to
show that the long-standing image of the life of Charles Dodgson,
better known to millions of fans around the world as Lewis
Carroll, as exclusively child-centred and unworldly, his pre-occupation
with Alice Liddell and his supposedly unnatural sexuality
are all in fact nothing more than myths: that they belong
to an invented persona, created around the name 'Carroll',
and have almost nothing to do with Dodgson's real but overshadowed
life.
Meticulously researched, the book traces the development of
this false persona and demonstrates how generations of biographers
have helped to create fictions about Dodgson's life, rather
than bring the documentary facts before the public. It uses
the data to re-create a startlingly new picture of Dodgson's
personality, his experiences and, crucially, his all-important
relationship with the Liddell family.
The dismantling of the myth and the new image that is put
in its place are inevitably controversial, and since the first
whisper of the book's conclusions became known last year reaction
in the press and from Carrollian scholars has been intense.
After all, In the Shadow of the Dreamchild challenges
almost every scholastic and literary insight on Carroll that
has developed over the past century.
'At last a book with something different and surprising to
say about Lewis Carroll.' - Daily Mail
'Persuasive . . . Leach makes a good case' - Daily Telegraph
'Excellent' - The Spectator
Karoline Leach has written for the theatre since the early
1990s, with her play The Mysterious Mr Love being staged
to critical acclaim in the West End's Comedy Theatre in 1997
For more information about Lewis Carroll visit Karoline Leach's
website here.
|
