Blogcritics Comments on 42 Seconds Under Ground: The Photography of Lewis Carroll

Comment by interfaccia on 42 Seconds Under Ground: The Photography of Lewis Carroll

Sat, 17 Feb 2007 03:04:29 EST

Lavoro grande con il luogo! Siete il padrone!

Comment by sadi on 42 Seconds Under Ground: The Photography of Lewis Carroll

Mon, 20 Dec 2004 12:22:57 EST

yes, i've heard of alice in wonderland syndrome. i believe it's called that becaus eof the macropsia and micropsia, that are common to many temporal lobe seizures. the sense of time, things growing and shrinking, even the headaches, as you noted, the listmaking, the compulsive hypergraphia, etc etc. are all signs. Dodgson WAS officially diagnosed in his life several times as someone with temporal lobe epilepsy and had several grand mal seizures that are well-documented, themost famous of them being the one at the chapel at Christ Church where he was teaching. He was on several medications for seizures though none of them agreeable. He also had the classic migraine symptoms that often accompany TLE and took Dilaudid and other opiates for this. His friend Tennyson was also diagnosed with epilepsy and took treatment for it, though he was very private about it. this is understandable; at the time, epileptics were considered 'insane' or 'mad' and were often confined to asylums. sad, when i know that in other cultures, epileptics are often revered as shamans and medicine men (inuit and native american cultures often do this). What would be best would be for those with epilepsy to be treated just like everyone else, or for society to recognize the many good qualities that often accompany TLE and the many great men and women who have been the best leaders, artists, writers, etc. who all had well-documented cases - a few, Flaubert, Dostoevsky, Van Gogh, Napoleon, Julius Ceasar, Alexander the Great, Alfred Nobel, Socrates, Aristotle, Pythagorus, Lewis Carroll (of course), Tennyson, as noted, and on and on... i'm compiling a master list of document cases only that i hope to soon have on my site. Be well, and thanks for reading... Sadi

Comment by Melisande on 42 Seconds Under Ground: The Photography of Lewis Carroll

Mon, 20 Dec 2004 11:17:12 EST

Excellent work, enjoyed exploring the essay. Interestingly, Dodgson's epilepsy is, of course, a matter of some dispute. The fact that he tended towards neologisms, clang assosications and listmaking, indicates bipolar disorder rather than/in addition to temporal absence epilepsy. While looking up Dodgson's epilepsy, I happened across this interesting medical diagnosis, termed Alice In Wonderland Syndrome.

Comment by sadi on 42 Seconds Under Ground: The Photography of Lewis Carroll

Sun, 19 Dec 2004 12:12:13 EST

here is the link on my site to Dodgson's photographs. i've uploaded quite a good sample, but no doubt, this will increase over time.... http://www.tantmieux.squarespace.com/display/ShowGallery?moduleId=68673&galleryId=8877 cut and paste that into your browser, OR, go to www.tantmieux.squarespace.com and go to IMAGES and then select the gallery marked Lewis Carroll nee Charles Dodgson. Hope this helps and good luck... Cheers, Sadi

Comment by sadi on 42 Seconds Under Ground: The Photography of Lewis Carroll

Sat, 18 Dec 2004 15:28:47 EST

i can organize some pics online for you to look at. give me a few days and i'll post the link and you can go to it. be sure to check back. i'll try and get it done before the end of the day on monday and will post the link back here. be well, sadi

Comment by m on 42 Seconds Under Ground: The Photography of Lewis Carroll

Sat, 18 Dec 2004 03:23:29 EST

a pity there is no posting of his pictures

Comment by Robert Nagle on 42 Seconds Under Ground: The Photography of Lewis Carroll

Tue, 26 Oct 2004 16:09:22 EDT

This is a fascinating essay, especially the part about the epilepsy (which I'd never heard of). It's interesting to contemplate how our view of photographs differ from other generations. The generational difference is seen today by how nonchalantly teenagers take photos of themselves and friends without inhibition (and how in contrast, a middle aged man or woman grumpily declines). The novelty of the device in Dodgson's time probably ensured that neither parents nor children thought too hard about issues of exploitation. It also ensured that poses were more spontaneous (contrast this with Americans who see glamour shots of all kinds of models everyday and everywhere). Aside from the pseudo-prurience of these photos, it would be interesting to view these photos as indicating what people of that time period considered as tableux. In that time, the cliches were cherubs; in the time of playboy pinups, the cliches were water hoses and horses and automobiles. Future historians will find the setups more fascinating that the models themselves.

Comment by Purple Tigress on 42 Seconds Under Ground: The Photography of Lewis Carroll

Sun, 30 May 2004 19:20:52 EDT

I also have found Lewis Carroll's writings exceptional. I wasn't aware of his suffering from epilepsy and stuttered. I think this goes a long way to explaining his love of photography and his preference for the company of children. I also prefer not to think of him as a creepy pedophile although there are some more modern "art photographers" that I would consider coming under that category. Thanks for the book reviews.

Comment by Eric Olsen on 42 Seconds Under Ground: The Photography of Lewis Carroll

Fri, 28 May 2004 15:03:58 EDT

exceptional and infomative - I love your theory on stopping time

Comment by srp on 42 Seconds Under Ground: The Photography of Lewis Carroll

Fri, 28 May 2004 09:32:03 EDT

agreed. it is sad. I don't judge him that way myself, and i hope that is clear in the piece. It would indeed be sad if he were judged so. I'd like to think that as biographers, we really do our research before condemning anyone to something as serious as that... Let's hope so. Be well s.r.p.

Comment by Lono on 42 Seconds Under Ground: The Photography of Lewis Carroll

Thu, 27 May 2004 21:09:14 EDT

Charles Dodgeson is a phenomenal genius. I regard the Alice books as my favorite ever written, and I have a literature degree to back that up. It's unfortunate that history will probably judge him as a creepy pedophile. He was a mathmatic genius, and several of the passages in the second book (through the looking glass) are actually working puzzles. The first piece of music I wrote I put to Charles Dodgeson words (I think it was Shadowland). take care, lono