42 Seconds Under Ground: The Photography of Lewis Carroll
Published May 27, 2004
The fact is, it is not merely the nudes that come into question; but all of Dodgson's pictures of little girls and, beyond that, his relationships with his "child-friends" in general. Indeed, one cannot help but wonder why he has become the focal point of so much prurient speculation. In a letter to one of the sitter's parents, Dodgson remarked, "If I did not believe I could take such pictures without any lower motive than a love of pure Art, I would not ask it." (109, Princeton) Only four of these nude studies survive today, and they are heavily hand-colored, barely discernable as photographs. Dodgson took special precautions to destroy copy prints and negatives of these studies, which were always taken with the parents' full knowledge and consent. He was all too aware of the climate in Victorian England, the zeal with which the Society for the Suppression of Vice worked to search out and destroy cases of "indecent" photography and art, and to bring charges. The fact that the camera provided a more "clinical" picture than did paint made the matter of photography all the harder to define: at the time, many were still unsure whether photographs should be considered art at all.
One thing that becomes clear on examination is that there is a notable difference between how Dodgson's children are presented and how children were depicted by other artists of the time. These children do not have wings or halos; they are not sentimentalized or safely desexualized. Rather, there is a wildness, a savagery about them that rings all too true, perhaps too disturbing to viewers, precisely because there are virtually no props and no backdrop, save for a simple cloth. There are no suggestive wings or halos to reassuringly convey purity and innocence. These children are shown as they are, simple and direct, staring candidly at the camera, clearly willing participants in the game. They wear their own clothes, often reclining on a couch, playing in the deanery garden or his grounds at Christ Church.
Which is not to say that Dodgson never staged a tableau, such as St. George and the Dragon, Little Red Riding Hood, or the famed images of Xie Kitchin as China Man and Penelope Bootheby and Alice Liddell as Beggar Girl. But this form of dress-up was not at all uncommon for the time (as it is still common today). And even when in costume, Dodgson's children are not dressed up so as to be believable, as in Julia Margaret Cameron's elaborate scenarios. Their props are far more whimsical, obvious and cheap, mere suggestions of a theme, perhaps no more than amusements to help pass the time in the studio. Dodgson does not insult our intelligence by assuming he needs to spell it out for us. As Nickel notes, this is something the Victorian viewer in particular would have appreciated, for it requires a level of sophistication beyond what is called for when viewing the work of his contemporaries. Dodgson give us a nudge and a wink, seeming to say, "I don't need to spell it out for you; I know you get it."
But it is especially when there are no props at all that one can see the unmarked freshness of children, not yet weary of the world. They seem strong, at times even dangerous.
- 42 Seconds Under Ground: The Photography of Lewis Carroll
- Published: May 27, 2004
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- Section: Books
- Writer: Sadi Ranson-Polizzotti
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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.
exceptional and infomative - I love your theory on stopping time
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.
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.
a pity there is no posting of his pictures
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
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
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.
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
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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