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Lewis Carroll is the pen-name o Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, the screiver o "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland", an a lecturer in Mathematics at Christ Church, Oxford. Dodgson stertit his famous bairns' tale on 4 July 1862, when, on a bonny simmer's efternuin, he tuik a lang jant in a rowin boat on the Thames Watter in Oxford, alangside his freen the Reverend Robinson Duckworth, Alice Liddell (ten year-auld) the dochter o the Dean o Christ Church, an her twa sisters, Lorina (aged thirteen), an Edith (juist aicht). Frae the poem at the stert o the buik, it's plain that thae three wee lassies threipt on at puir Mr Dodgson tae tell thaim a tale. Tho sweirt at the stert, he wycely gied in, an by the en o their day oot, he had gethert thegither the makins o an awfy guid splore aboot a steirin wee lass caad Alice. Spreid richt throu the feenishd wark, furst-published in 1865, are a wheen hauf-hidden references tae the five folk on that boat on that happy day. --
Thenks tae his "Poems Written Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect" screived by Robert Burns-born in Ayrshire twae-hunner an fifty-five years syne-the Scots Language still hauds on tae its virr an vigour in the southwest o Scotland in the twinty-furst Century; an is weel able tae add its unique flavour an zest tae the splores an jants o Alice-or in this case-wee Alison. Settin the tale in Scotland, I felt that "Alice" soundit a wee bit "ower English" for the Scots narrative; an being weel-acquaint wi "Alison" as a weel-loued, tradeitional Lowlan Scots lass's name, still uised frae weel afore the time o Burns till nouadays, I pickt it. On checkin its provenance in the The Oxford Names Companion (naiturally!), I fand oot tae my delicht that it cam frae a medieval Norman diminutive for Alice. A guid choice!
About the author
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832 - 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English writer, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, which includes the poem "Jabberwocky" and the poem The Hunting of the Snark, all examples of the genre of literary nonsense. He is noted for his facility at word play, logic and fantasy. There are societies in many parts of the world dedicated to the enjoyment and promotion of his works and the investigation of his life.
