Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Morton N. Cohen

Critical Essay by Morton N. Cohen

SOURCE: Cohen, Morton N. “Lewis Carroll and Victorian Morality.” In Sexuality and Victorian Literature, edited by Don Richard Cox, pp. 3-19. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1984.

In the following essay, Cohen addresses critical speculation about Carroll's sex life.

A few years ago a well-known writer came to talk with me about Lewis Carroll. He was writing a biography of Carroll, and, as I was then editing Carroll's letters, he thought that I might be able to help him. Most of all, he wanted to know about Carroll's sex life. He asked me a long string of pointed questions, and he wanted specific, factual answers. I could not, in all honesty, supply them, and I fear he was disappointed. I did not know whether Carroll had sexual dreams; I could not speculate about Carroll's sexual fantasies or even say if he had any.

And yet, in spite of those negative...
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